98 PRODUCTIVE FARMING 



Flint corn, sweet corn, dent corn, and kafRr (Fig. 58), 

 sown broadcast or drilled in rows, will begin to furnish feed 

 as early as July ISth or August 1st. This will last until 

 fall frosts come. 



After these soiling crops are gone the dairy farmer may 

 use root crops, such as mangels, to furnish succulence for the 

 dairy in late fall and early winter, if ensilage is not available. 



Oats and Peas. — The benefits derived from using this 

 mixture as a crop each year on the farm are very great. As 

 forage this mixture is very good because of the high content 

 of protein. 



The ground should be plowed and harrowed early and 

 the seed drilled in as early as the weather will permit. Do 

 not be afraid of a little freezing weather afterward. Two 

 bushels of Canada field peas and one bushel of oats will seed 

 an acre. A bushel and a half of each may be used. 



For Green Feed. — Begin to cut the crop for green feed 

 just as the first pea blossoms are showing. This first field 

 will furnish green feed for the dairy herd for ten or fifteen 

 days, depending on the weather. 



For a herd of twenty-five or thirty cows, it is well to 

 allow two acres for each sowing of oats-and-peas, and make 

 three sowings — one as soon as the soil can be worked; the 

 next two weeks later; and the last about three weeks later 

 than the second sowing. The yields should be ten or twelve 

 tons of green feed per acre. 



A Good Hay. — The areas mentioned for each of these 

 sowings may leave a little each time to be cured for hay. 

 Those dairy feeders who are already familiar with the good 

 feeding qualities of hay made from oats-and-peas will be 

 sure to make the areas large enough to leave plenty of the 

 crop to be cured for winter use. In cutting it for hay it 

 must not be allowed to get too ripe. If the peas are hard 

 the cows do not like them so well. The cured hay is nearly* 

 equal to good clover hay as winter roughage. 



