174 



DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



becomes available. In this respect they differ greatly from Indian 

 corn, which will not yield satisfactorily when once checked in its 

 growth. This quality makes the grain sorghums especially valuable 

 under the conditions in the semi-arid western and southwestern 

 States. They bid fair to become of great agricultural importance 

 in these sections of the country. The areas sown to grain sorghums 

 in Kansas (Fig. 35), Oklahoma, and Texas have increased in a 

 marked manner during the last ten years, and they are apparently 

 replacing Indian corn to some extent in these States. 11 



The grain of the non-saccharine sorghums resembles corn in 

 chemical composition ; it contains a higher percentage of starch than 

 corn, but less protein and fat, and may be considered not quite equal 

 to corn in feeding value or palatability. The grain should be 



FIQ. 35. Diagram showing increase in area sown to grain sorghums in Kansas during the 

 decade 1904-13. (Ball.) 



threshed and ground for feeding to fattening cattle, while it may 

 be fed threshed or in the head to working horses and sheep, and 

 preferably " heads and all " to idle horses, colts, dairy cattle, and 

 young stock. Ground grain is fed with skim milk to calves, and 

 moistened with water or skim milk to hogs. As it is quite carbon- 

 aceous (N.R., milo 1: 9.7, Egyptian corn 1: 8.9), it makes a good 

 supplemental feed for hogs fed skim milk or alfalfa, either hay or 

 pasture. 



Rice. As in the case of many other seeds, rice is too valuable 

 as a human food to allow of its use for feeding farm stock, and it is 

 only used for this purpose to a limited extent in rice-growing sec- 

 tions. The hull or husk of the rice kernel is rough and brittle, and 



11 U. S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, 1913, p. 221. 



