FORAGE CROPS 115 



much more so than any of the millets. This millet stands dry 

 weather well and grows rapidly after it once gets a start. It 

 is better to sow this millet in rows and cultivate it. It takes 

 about one or two pounds of seed per acre, if it is drilled in 

 rows three feet apart. This millet is not very valuable as a 

 hay plant. 



Teosinte. — Teosinte is a forage plant looking much like 

 corn. It is adapted only to southern states, as it requires a 

 long season in which to grow. 



Indian Corn. — Sometimes corn is sown broadcast with a 

 drill, or quite thick in rows two or three feet apart. Being so 

 thick very little grain is formed. When cut and dried, corn 

 handled in this way is called fodder corn. It is really corn 

 hay. When corn is planted in the usual way and cut and 

 shocked it is called fodder. When the ears have been shucked 

 out, the stalks remaining are called stover. Fodder and stover 

 are very common forms of forage in the corn belt. 



Silage. — Many crops have been used for silage, but there 

 is only one satisfactory crop. This crop is Indian corn. 

 For silage, corn is planted in the usual way and given the 

 same cultivation as when grown for grain and stover. When 

 some of the lower leaves have begun to turn yellow and the 

 husks on a few of the ears are getting ripe the corn is ready 

 to put into the silo. 



The silo is really a big barrel set on end and without a head 

 in either end. It is made out of staves of wood held together 

 with iron rods for hoops. The bottom is usually set on a con- 

 crete foundation. Some silos are covered with a roof, others 

 are not. A roof is desirable to keep out rain and snow. A 

 silo is usually from twenty to thirty-five feet high and ten to 

 twenty feet in diameter. • There are doors in the sides for 



