472 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



3917 drought were hrought back to good condition with this feed. Analyses 

 are reported which show that the chopped soapweed has a chemical composition 

 comparable to native forage grasses and some of the poorer hay crops. Indis- 

 criminate cutting is to be avoided, as the plant requires perhaps 10 years to 

 attain a size suitable for profitable cutting. 



Beef cattle, W. E. Joseph (Montana Sta. Rpt. 1917, pp. 232-23.',).— A lot of 

 cows wintered for 160 days on straw alone showed greater loss in weight than 

 lots fed hay in addition, but soon picked up on pasture and produced strong and 

 healthy calves. Calves wintered on clover hay did not do so well as those 

 receiving an oats and barley mixture with the hay, but after the following 

 grazing season there was little difference between the groups. 



Pasturing sheep on irrigation ditches, R. E. Klaik ( U. S. Drpt. Apr.. Bur. 

 Plant Indus., Work Yuma Expt. Farm, 1917, pp. 33, 34, fig. 1). — A test con- 

 ducted in cooperation with the U. S. Reclamation Service In 1917 showed that 

 sheep can be used successfully to keep down vegetation in Irrigation ditches. 

 The ditch used was about one-half mile long, was thoroughly fenced, and con- 

 tained about 2\ acres well grown with Bermuda grass. Thirty-one sheep 

 grazed the grasses so short that the opportunity for settling and depositing of 

 silt was reduced to a minimum. Ordinarily the removal of this deposit and the 

 clearing out of weeds are tin- two most expensive items in the upkeep of an 

 irrigation ditch. In addition the sheep returned a small profit on mutton and 

 wool. 



Pasturing alfalfa with hogs, It. E. BLAIB (V. B. Deft, Apr., Bur. Plant 

 Indus., Work Yuma Expt. Farm, 1917. pp. 21-23).— The pasturing tests of 1016 

 (E. S. II., 39, p. 479), were repeated with some variation in 1017. On March 

 1, 16 grade Puroc-.Iorsey shods averaging 68 lbs. were turned into third-year 

 Peruvian alfalfa on a 0.75 acre plat, fenced for alternate pasturing. They were 

 fed a daily ration of 2 lbs. of cracked mtlo maize for each 100 lbs. of live 

 weight. When removed after 120 days they had gained in weight the equivalent 

 of 1,869 His. per acre. For a week in May the supplemental grain ration was 

 stopped and the hogs allowed on an adjoining field of barley which, however, 

 they ate sparingly. During the week they Inst 84 lbs. and the original system 

 was resumed. The grain fed per pound of gain was 2.41 lbs. 



Twelve younger shotes, averaging about 88.5 lbs., were placed on the same 

 pasture July 31 and fed a 2 per cent supplemental ration of rolled barley for 

 08 days. They gained the equivalent of S78 lbs. per acre nnd required 3.24 lbs. 

 of grain per pound of gain. The alfalfa suffered from over-pasturing during 

 the extreme heat of summer. With pork at 7 cts. nnd grain at 1 ct., the pri> 

 previously used, the alfalfa pasture during the whole season gave a net return 

 of $117.55 per acre. 



On November the hogs that had been carried through the second pasture 

 period were turned into a field of mature Dwarf milo mai/.e which they cleaned 

 up In 14 days. The per-ncre production of pork was 557 His., which was a 

 return at the rate of $31.3.'? per ton for grain that was worth at least $66 on 

 the market. 



Kansas State Live Stock Registry Board, C. W. M<< \\mh:t i t. (Kansas Sta. 

 Insp. Circ. 8 (191K), p. 11,9).— This publication contains a list of all the stnl- 

 lions licensed in Kansas during the calendar year 101$, the text of the State 

 law requiring registration nnd licensing, an account of the proceedings of the 

 annual meeting of the Kansas Horse Breeders' Association and several of the 

 nddresses delivered there, nnd n stntistical discussion showing that in 1010 when 

 the registration law went into effect only 40.8 per cent of the licensed stallions 

 were pure bred, whereas in 1918 the percentage was 64.2. 



