17 



(3) Toosinto yields lioavy crops of oxctlli'iit (orngo, ninch rolislicd l»y stork. Tlie 

 averajjo of a ;} years' tost is a yield of 2'.\.'J tons per acre. 



Varictica of miUet. — The following is a suiumaiy of a test with live 

 varieties of millet iu 1890 : 



Miscellaneous forage plants. — Brief notes are given on experiments 

 with teosinte {EuchUvna Ivjcurians), pearl millet, spring vetches, 

 yellow lni)iiie, thoii.sand-hondod kale, several varieties of soja beans 

 {Glycine hispi<U(),;wd other Japanese forage plants. Tiie Kansas stock 

 melons are described as a "non-saccharine variety of the watermelon, 

 or possibly a cross between the(;itron and the watermelon, as the fruit 

 l)artook of the solid character and lack of sweetness of the former, while 

 it had the shape and size of the latter." 



The llcsli of tlieso melons is firm and solid tlironj^hout, with eompnrntively few 

 seeds. Cattle and liojjs eat them jjreedily, lint tliej' liav(> hnt littl(? food v.ilne. An 

 examination kindly made by the eliemical dcpartnuMit of this station showed them 

 to contain 9r> per cent of water and only .^) per cent of dry matter. They were fed 

 experimentally to a portion of the Iierd, which will be reported on later. It maj' 

 here bo remarked that while tlu^y did not furnish much nourishment, they jjave the 

 animals a better appetite for dry food, and thus indirectly inllneneed the productive 

 capacity of the stocic. They furnish in a eh(>ap form the sncculeni food wiiich is so 

 intensely craved by cattle iu the winter months. 



Va.ricties of silafic corn. — Tabnlateil data are given for 11 varieties of 

 corn tested in 1890. 



Sorghum and corn for silage. — Tnbnlated data are gi v«'n for 14 fifteenth- 

 acre plats on which corn and sorghnm were planted separately and also 

 together in alternate rows and in the same row.s. The average yields 

 per acre were as follows: Corn and sorghum iu alternate rows, 12.29; 

 corn and sorghum in the same rows, 11.74; corn ah)ne, 10.00; sorghum 

 alone, 10.42 tons. 



The sorghnm when grown alone outyielded any eombin;i(ion of the two; but it is 

 worthy of note that while the average of tlu^ plats with corn and sorghnm mixetl in 

 the same rows nMchtul 11. 74 tons per .acre, the .average of the plats on which corn 

 and sorghum are grown singly reaches only II?. ^l tons per acre, the result thus Kup[»ort- 

 iug th(^ theory of the effect of a mixture. 



Summary. 



(1) The non-saccharine sorghums .are among our best dronth-resisting plants, and 

 among them are several sorts tli.at will yield good cro^is of seed in dry seasons, and 

 the seed will compare favorably with corn for food. 



(2) Of several varieties of millet tested, German millet gave the best yield of liay, 

 followed iu order by Hung.arian, conunon, broom corn and Golden Wonder millet. 



