A NEW FORAGE PLANT 



Russian Sunflower of Great Promise for Irrigated Mountain Valleys of Northwest 



— Crop Stands Ten Feet Tall and Keeps Down Weeds 



— Is Valuable for Silage. 



F. B. LiNFIELD 



Director of Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozcnian, Mont. 



IN ALL new agriculatural countries 

 the farmer's first problem is to sub- 

 due the native sod and replace 

 nature's crop by something of greater 

 economic value. The soil is generally 

 rich, and quite free from weeds. By 

 the adoption of crops best suited to the 

 climatic conditions, provided an ample 

 water supply may be provided, good 

 crops are possible for many years. 

 Sooner or later, however, the farmer 

 runs up against two difficulties if he 

 continues "to grow grain exclusively 



upon his land. A reduction in available 

 plant food reduces his crop yields to the 

 point of vanishing profits and weeds 

 also cut into those profits by increasing 

 the amount of labor necessary to get a 

 crop, or they may even crowd the crop 

 out altogether. 



SOIL ENRICHMENT NECESSARY 



In any system of farming, therefore, 

 the farmer is finally compelled to grow 

 soil enriching crops or to apply home 

 produced or artificial fertilizers. Such 



HARVESTING SUNFLOWER SILAGE 



Growing from nine to twelve feet tall, as much as thirty tons of green feed per acre. 

 When put in the silo, it kept well and was readily eaten by cows and fattening steers dur- 

 ing the winter. (Fig. 13.) 



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