CHAPTER XX. 



SILAGE AND FORAGE CROPS. 



Soiling, or the system of feeding farm animals 

 green food in stables or yards instead of allowing 

 tiiem to go to pastures, has never become common in 

 the United States. Farmers have generally believed 

 the cost of the additional labor made necessary, more 

 than equaled the gain from this system. Partial soil- 

 ing is common, and there is an increasingly large 

 acreage devoted annually to the growth of crops to 

 be used in the early spring, during summer drouths, 

 or when the pastures begin to fail in the autumn. 

 There is now a large area devoted to growing crops 

 to be stored in silos. This system of preserving fod- 

 ders is extending year by year, more especially among 

 dairy farmers. 



Maize. — Indian corn is easily first among the 

 crops grown for ensilage in this country, and is very 

 largely grown for feeding during the summer and 

 early autumn. No crop gives a larger return of nu- 

 tritious and palatable food. It is easily cultivated 

 and is well adapted to a large part of the United 

 States. One of the great wastes in our system of 

 farming has been in the general failure to at all fully 

 utilize the stalks and leaves of the corn crop when it 

 has been grown for the grain. The proportion of the . 

 crop which is being well cared for in this respect is 

 steadily increasing. 



What has been said about soil, climate and cultiva- 

 tion in the chapters given to corn as a grain crop, ap- 



228 



