FORAGE jN DBY REGIONS 9 



for dry roughage in winter, and thus reduce the 

 necessity for purchasing feeds. 



REGIONAL QUESTIONS 



The semi -arid regions of the West present 

 peculiar conditions in relation to forage. In certain 

 seasons, it is possible to secure good yields of the 

 ordinary forage crops ; but large areas which were 

 formerly considered to bo beyond the i-each of 

 profitable cropping are now productive, because 

 of the improvements of methods and of the intro- 

 duction of new plants. These lands have now a 

 distinct crop -producing value, notwithstanding the 

 shortage in rainfall. Advance in knowledge of the 

 conditions may not make it possible to grow corn, 

 but other well-established plants, that may be 

 called "dry w^eather" plants, have been introduced, 

 and are likely to be of greater service than those 

 now regarded as better adapted for conditions 

 of greater rainfall. Among these plants are the 

 non- saccharine and saccharine sorghums, the first 

 of which includes kafir corn and plants of that 

 type, and the second the regular sugar-producing 

 varieties. It seems desirable, in a work of this 

 kind, that special mention should be made of these 

 plants and their usefulness for these conditions, as 

 their value has now been well established. 



In certain parts of the South, owing to the 



