254 FIELD CROPS 



group ot forage plants, the Leguminoseae, which includes the 

 Clovers, alfalfa, cowpea, soy bean, and many others. 



325. Importance of Forage Crops. The total area of the 

 farms in the United States, according to the Census of 1910, 

 was 878,798,325 acres, while the area of improved lands was 

 478,451,750 acres. Of this area of improved lands, 311,- 

 293,382 acres were in harvested crops, and 167,158,368 in 

 woodlands, pastures, and orchards. The improved wood- 

 lands are practically all pastured, while the acreage in 

 orchards is comparatively small. It is safe, therefore, to 

 assume that 155,000,000 acres are used for pasture. Of the 

 area in harvested crops, 72,280,776 acres, or about 23 per 

 cent, were devoted to hay and other forage production. In 

 addition, a very large part of the area not Hsted in farms, 

 about 80 per cent of the total area of the United States, is 

 used as pasture, including the range lands of the western 

 prairies, the mountain slopes and valleys, and other lands not 

 devoted to farming or too rough for improvement. The total 

 acreage in harvested forage crops and improved pastures was 

 something like 227,000,000 acres, as compared with 98,383,- 

 000 acres in corn and 93,000,000 acres in other grain crops.i 



326. The Classes of Forage Crops. Practically all our 

 forage plants belong to one or the other of the two great 

 famines, the grasses and the legumes. The more important 

 forage grasses are perennial, and are used either for pasture 

 or meadow. These include timothy, redtop, Kentucky blue 

 grass, orchard grass, Johnson grass, and many others. The 

 annual forage grasses are used either as hay or as soiling 

 crops, though they may occasionally be utilized as temporary 

 pastures. They include the millets and sorghums, and also 

 the cereals that are sown for hay production in some sections 

 of the United States. The leguminous forage plants may also 



lit may be of interest to the student to compare the above percentages with 

 corresponding figures for older settled countries, as Englfind and Germany. See 

 Agricultural Economics, by H. C. Taylor, and the Cyclopedia of American Agricul- 

 ture for data. , 



