ANNUAL FORAGE PLANTS IIQ 



those of sorghum, but much longer, and the stalks contain from 8 to 10 per 

 cent, of sugar. Its value for feeding and soiling is apparent from the fact 

 that the entire crop of 50 tons per acre grown at the Louisiana Station was 

 sold to local dairymen at the rate of $2 per ton while standing in the field. 

 Its season of growth is so long that it seldom matures seed north of latitude 

 30 degrees, but it has ripened well at the Louisiana and Florida stations. 

 The seed, 1 to 3 pounds per acre, should be planted in hills 4 to 5 feet apart 

 each way, about cotton-planting time, and the crop cultivated like corn. The 

 greater distance should be given on the richer soils." J 



125 Salt-bushes. There is a large number of introduced 

 and native species of the genus Atriplex, known as salt-bushes. 2 

 Some are perennial, others are annual. These salt-bushes are 

 adapted to the strongly alkaline lands in the arid sections of 

 the United States. Australian salt-bushes, introduced into this 

 country, are said to produce 15 to 20 tons of green food and 

 3 to 5 tons of dry forage per acre. It is claimed that lands 

 slightly too alkaline for the growth of cereals may, by the 

 growth of salt-bushes, be made to produce cereals on account 

 of the removal of the alkali by the salt-bushes. 



The seed may be sown at any time during spring and summer 

 when the soil is sufficiently warm and moist to germinate the 

 seed. Seeds germinate best when sown on the surface without 

 any covering. Good results have been obtained, it is claimed, 

 by sowing the seed on the ground when it is wet and at once 

 driving a flock of sheep over the land. 



126. COLLATERAL READING. A. A. Crozier: Millet. Michigan Sta. Bui. 

 No. 117, 1894. 



Thomas A. Williams: Millets. U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bui. No. 

 101, 1891. 



C. R. Ball: Saccharine Sorghums for Forage. U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' 

 Bui. No. 246, 1906. 



T. L. Lyon and A. S. Hitchcock: Pasture, Meadow, and Forage Crops in 

 Nebraska. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bu. PI. Ind. Bui. No. 59, 1904. 



F. Lamson-Scribner: Progress of Economic and Scientific Agrostology. In 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 1899, pp. 347-366. 



!U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bui. No. 102 (1899), p. 27. 

 - Farmers' Bui. No. 108 (1900) mentions 18 species. 



