FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 261 



for the trouble expenclc^d. This crop will come in just after the above 

 named crops have been rendered unfit for feed from becoming too ripe. 

 In feeding this soil crop I have found the best plan is to feed it in the 

 pastures, hauling it out once or twice per day as required. In feeding, 

 begin on one side of the pasture, spreading it out sio that the cows will 

 all get a share, and the feed be kept clean. Feed each day with method, 

 that is, spread each day's feed in a new place, so as to accomplish two 

 objects, namely: To keep the feed clean and also to spread the resulting 

 manure evenly over the pasture. 



After the sweet and field corn crops have been planted we then plant 

 a good sized field of sorghum, both for soiling and other uses. Th? 

 yield of sorghum being much greater than corn, it will pay anyone well 

 to have some every year, whether he is a dairyman or feeding other 

 kinds of stock. It is relished by horses, steers and hogs alike, and in th<. 

 silo is a gc'od feed. The Tennessee experiment station reports better 

 results from feeding sorghum silage to steers than in feeding silage 

 made from corn. In planting sorghum, to insure harvesting it easily, 

 I advise planting in drills. My method is to plant with a corn planter, 

 using the small plates, a set of plates that will plant one grain of corn 

 will drop ten pounds of sorghum per acre, which is enough on good land. 

 It should be planted thick enough to keep the stalks from growing too 

 large and in cultivating this crop I have found the weeder the best 

 tool for the early stages of growth, in fact it could be used to the 

 exclusion of any other tool. In 1902 we raised ten acres that produced 

 twenty-two tons per acre and was only worked once with a cultivator, 

 the weeder did the rest. 



As, a soil crop for all kinds of farm animals Sorghum ranks among 

 the best and when it becomes fit to feed it will keep in a green stage 

 up to freezing weather; this quality is of value to those who have silos, 

 as it gives them a longer period in which to fill them with a crop with 

 the right amount of moisture and in case one has sbme corn that has 

 become too dry he can mix it with the sorghum in the proportion neces- 

 sary to make the silage keep well. 



I have now covered the period between early pastures and winter 

 feeding period. I have shown how I provide my stock with ample green 

 feeds throughout the summer season, and in concluding the subject of 

 this summer period Ij will say that the value of all the feeds named is 

 governed to a great extent by the environments of the animal that 

 receives it. A cow will not return a profit on the feeds if she is sub- 

 jected to the torture of flies, and in this matter or flies, let me say that 

 I have tested the results of flies or no flies a great many times in the 

 past fifteen' years, and have found that the loss represented full 33 1-3 

 per cent, which is more than any dairyman can afliord to lose. We not 

 only lose the immediate product, but in the case of young cows lose 

 the growth as well, and with mature cows they lose a great amount of 

 weight that they will consume food to replace after the files are gone. 



Another source of loss is in the water supply not being ample. Still 

 another loss and one not often considered is irregular milking. It is 

 so easy for a farmer in the busy season, to put off his milking for 



