680 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CORN AS SHEEP PASTURE. 



PROF. THOMAS SHAW, IN AMERICAN SHEEP BREEDER. 



Corn is seldom used for providing pasture for sheep and yet it may 

 be used so when occasion calls for it. Where sheep are grazed on the 

 extensive plan it will seldom be required for such a use, if indeed ever, 

 but when confined to small areas it may be thus used sometimes with 

 much advantage. It may be made to furnish a large amount of grazing 

 relatively on a small area and at a season when other grazing may not be 

 plentiful as for instance during the dry hot weather of summer. 



One great benefit from such grazing arises from the short time in 

 which it grows. This makes it possible to sow it after winter rye has 

 been grazed down in the spring, and to follow it with winter rye in the 

 autumn or with some other crop that will stand the winter climate in 

 the locality. In the northern states winter rye gi'azing will be completed 

 about the end of May or early enough in May to admit of sowing the corn 

 that follows about June 1. Warm weather is then on and the corn grows 

 rapidly, so rapidly usually, that it will be ready for grazing in about fifty 

 days from the date of sowing and in some instances in forty days. The 

 grazing will then be on in July and will last through August, and if a 

 second sowing has been made elsewhere later, it will carry on into Septem- 

 ber until the season of frost. There is then time to follow with rye should 

 it be so desired. 



Corn may iDe sown to provide such grazing on the broadcast plan, that 

 is may be sown by hand, or what is better with a grain drill all the tubes 

 in use, when the drill is capable of sowing seeds so large. The depth to 

 bury the seed should depend largely on the condition of the soil at the 

 time of sowing as to moisture. The seed must be buried deeply enough 

 to reach moisture. If the weather is dry at the time of sowing the seed, 

 the roller can generally be used with advantage both before and after 

 sowing. If the seed is broadcasted by hand and covered with me harrow, 

 much of it will fill to germinate in vary dry weather. From 1 to 1^2 

 bushels will be enough to sow and of any variety that grows well in the 

 neighborhood. Before the corn is up, the surface of the ground should be 

 well stirred by a weeder or by a harrow with the teeth aslant so as 

 not to pull up the corn. Stirring the soil thus will destroy myriads of 

 weeds and will lessen the escape of soil moisture. Whether a second 

 stirring of the surface should follow a few days later must be determined 

 by the relative good and harm that will follow under the conditions 

 present; usually however, if the ground is thoroughly stirred before the 

 corn appears, it will subsequently keep weeds well in check by its rapid 

 growth and abundant shade. Whether any other seed should be sown at 

 the same time will depend somewhat on how soon the ground is to be 

 ploughed after the corn is grazed down. If several weeks are the 

 interval, before the next ploughing, it may on good soil be advantageous 

 to sow two or three pounds of Dwarf Essex rape seed, not long with the 



