210 NORTHEAST EXPERIMENT FARM. 
of grain crops, with grass in short periods. Where possible 
cornfodder has been planted on new land broken the pre- 
vious summer, and worked down in the spring. The crops 
of 96, 97 and 1900 wereraised onsuch land and gave large 
yields, while the cultivation of the crop left the soil in excel- 
lent condition for grain. Thecorn binder which is in univer- 
sal use in other sections, can seldom be afforded on new and 
stumpy farms. Cutting by hand is facilitated by the plant- 
ing in rows. The shock should not be large, though late in 
the fall, if the labor can be afforded, the small shocks may 
with profit be thrown together into larger ones for protec- 
tion. In this section it is not possible to stack cornfodder, 
as it will always spoil inthe stack. It should be fed from 
theshock. Cutting pays with coarse stalks, but where power 
and acutter are not available it is a simple matter to grow 
them fine by close planting. The feeding value of cornfodder 
is equal to that of timothy hay, with the advantage of being 
succulent. It will not take the place of clover or of bran for 
milk cows, nor will timothy. Butit will winter stock over 
in very fair condition. 
Sorghum or sugarcane is occasionally tried in place of 
cornfodder. The experiment farm has demonstrated that 
this is a great mistake. Sorghum will never give the yield 
in this section that cornfodder will. In 1900, a season par- 
ticularly favorable tosorghum by reason of dry, hot weather 
in the spring and summer, the yield was 3.8 tons as against 
5.1 to 6.4 10ns for cornfodder. In 1902, a cold, moderately 
wet year, sorghum gave practically no crop—cutting 1.25 
tons, partly weeds, against 5 tons for corn. Sorghum is a 
plant for dry, hot climates, and the seed is much slower than 
corn to germinate, which cuts down the growing season and 
increases the danger of weeds choking out the crop. It 
should never be substituted for corn. The same is true of 
such crops as Kaffir and Jerusalem corn or Dhoura maize, 
Teosinte and others, all southern forage plants, the results 
from which on the experiment farm have been even less en- 
couraging than with sorghum. 
Millet is a heavy feeder and does best on bottom land. It 
is apt to be light on sandy soil. Itis a useful crop when 
there is not enough meadow seeded down to produce hay 
