Suni))ier Foddn-x for tho Xortli. ooo 



w])ere the rainfall is good, there is no doubt but that on well pre- 

 pared land, where the seed is not sown too thickly, the results are 

 quite siitisfactory. Where the seed is sown thickly the plants are 

 -small, and so also are those grown in land that has been ploughed too 

 late in the season, and contains little reserve of soil moisture. 



Mai/iC can only be considered at Dookie as a forage croj) which 

 })lays its part before the sorghums are ready. It is a good plan to 

 have a small area of it in the field in order to prepare the stock for 

 the sorghum, which they do not relish at first ; but, by confining 

 them to it, it is not long before they begin to eat it and improve. 



Maize, unlike sorghum, does not readily grow again after Ijeing 

 once eaten down, though occasionally, when good rains have fallen, 

 there are a few shoots thrust forth. Maize can be ])astured at any 

 time, and when grown for shee|) it is not generally allowed to grow 

 too tall, especially when there is a succession of fodders coming in, 

 and the field may be utilised for other purposes. For cattle, it may 

 be allowed to grow until the cobs are beginning to form, but here it 

 is better to graze it down before the hot winds dry up most of the 

 foliage as they frerpiently do. Calves ap])ear to like and thrive on it, 

 <;!S])ecially in conjunction with other food, in order to form a more 

 balanced ration, while pigs, too, make good headway when grazing 

 on it. The seed can be sown earlier than that of sorghum. 



The following varieties were tried during 1902 : — White Horse 

 Tooth, White Cap, Sibley, Long Yellow 90-day, Klondyke, Ohio 

 ■Gold Mine, Learning, Red Flat, Cuzco, Mastodon. 



From year to year a number of varieties of sugar maize have been 

 grown, but the setting of the cobs has not been good ; nor, in fact, 

 is it good, as a rule, in regard to any of the varieties ; but as it is 

 only as a fodder that Ave need them, more Jtttention is ])aid to the 

 «talks than to the cobs. 



In all the American agricultural papers there is mention of corn 

 stover or maize stalks, from which the cobs have been picked. This ' 

 is doubtless a useful stand-by for winter, and the sooner it is 

 stacked after the cobs are picked the more nutritious it will be. In 

 the irrigable areas, where the maize is grown for the cobs, this may 

 be done, but in the di-ier parts this does not enter into our plans, as 

 the plants never reach that stage if properly utilised. 



This summer there has evidently been a good deal of maize 

 grown successfully in the northern districts, judging from the 

 corresj)Ondence received at the College concerning it, and in some 

 cases there has been a surplus, no doubt owing in a great measure to 

 the splendid rains of December last, and the utilisation of that surplus 

 has evidently been a matter of consideration. 



Sometimes maize is grown with other fodders, but in the dry 

 North I do not think this advisable until we can find a more suitable 

 plant to grow with it. It is too early for cow-peas, which are more 

 suitably sown with the later maturing" sore-hum. 



