CHAPTER IV 



STRAW CEREALS AND GREEN- FORAGE GRASSES 



All cereal or grain crops produce herbage that 

 is acceptable and nutritious to animals. It is often 

 allowable to grow such crops solely for the herbage, 

 or forage, rather than for the gi-ain. Such crops 

 usually adapt themselves w^ell to farming plans; 

 or, rather, farming plans are likely to have been 

 so formed as to adapt themselves to these common 

 crops. In their ordinary relations, these crops are 

 well known, and only a brief discussion is neces- 

 sary to explain their forage crop cultivation. 



Many of the regular hay crops can also be uti- 

 lized to advantage for soiling and for other green 

 foraging. The utilization of such crops for special 

 purposes, when conditions are right, increases the 

 productiveness of animals and also allow^s, in some 

 cases, of a better system of handling the land. 

 Two of the commonest of such grass crops are dis-' 

 cussed in this chapter. 



RYE AS A FORAGE CROP (Fig. 3) 



Although not generally regarded favorably, rye 

 is a valuable soiling crop, primarily because in 



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