ARID AGRICULTURE. 



153 



COMBINING 

 OATS AND 

 PEAS 



."Many eastern writers make a strong point of 

 the value of growing field peas in connection 

 with some grain, generally oats. It is usually 

 claimed that the grain helps hold up the peas and 

 increases the efficiency of both crops as food. 

 Our experience indicates that in most places it 

 will pay better to grow the peas and the grain 

 separately. The grain is apt to grow more rap- 

 idly than the peas in the early part of the season, 

 and its effect in shading and crowding the pea 

 vines usually produces small grow r th or entirely 

 smothers them. The combination for feed of 

 pea hay and well cured oat or barley hay pos- 

 sesses important advantages, as it makes a better 

 balanced ration. 



The West is not a corn country. The great 

 value of corn, how r ever, as a forage crop and as a 

 cultivated crop for dry farming, makes it of 

 much importance. There are parts of the West 

 where corn can be raised for grain with profit, 

 but its high value is as a fodder. 



Corn is one of the most productive plants we 

 can grow in the amount of roughage produced 

 per acre. Yields of from four tons to twelve 

 tons per acre are obtained of cured fodder. 

 When properly raised and cared for, corn fodder 

 is worth almost half as much as alfalfa, and it 

 produces a large amount of digestible food per 

 acre. 



Corn is one of the best drouth-resistant for- 



