449 



forage amounts to from 6 to 8 tons per acre, and of the beans from 

 40 to TOO bushels. The feeding value of the bean has been found 

 to be greater than that of any other known forage plant except the 



peanut. 



Hcdysarnm coronarium (Sulla ; Spanish sanfoin ; French 

 honeysuckle ; Soola clover ; Maltese clover ; honeysuckle. Fig. 

 12). This perennial legume is a native of southern Italy, and was 

 first introduced into cultivation in 1766. It grows best on sandy or 

 clayey soils which are well drained, or which have the ground 

 water from six to ten feet below the surface. It will withstand 

 slight frosts, but is killed if the roots are frozen. It is a perennial 

 in southern Italy, Sicily, and Algeria, but must be resovvn each 

 year in northern Italy, where the winters are more severe. It has 

 not as yet been largely introduced into this country, but deserves 

 to be given a trial in Florida and the Gulf States. The practice is 

 to sow the seeds in September or October, on land that has been 

 deeply ploughed and thoroughly pulverised, either alone or \vith 

 winter oats or wheat. After the latter has been taken off the field, 

 a crop of sulla four to six feet high springs up, and is ready to cut 

 from the latter part of May to July. In feeding value it compares 

 very favorably with either red clover or alfalfa, and is better 

 adapted to tropical or sub-tropical climates, provided seed is sown 

 on well-drained and well-prepared land. If the seed bed is only 

 given a shallow cultivation in preparation for sowing, it will require 

 a full year before one crop can be taken from the land. The same 

 precautions are necessary in using sulla as a soiling crop as with 

 clover and alfalfa, to prevent loss of cattle through bloating. 



Helianthus annuus (Sunflower). The sunflower is a well- 

 known annual weed, a native of Peru, which has become widely 

 spread throughout the United States. Its leaves and heads make 

 good green fodder for cattle and horses, and its oily seeds, which 

 are produced at the rate of from 40 to 50 bushels to the acre, 

 furnish an oil cake which is a valuable stable food. Six pounds are 

 required to seed an acre. It is said to endure the excessive 

 summer heat of central Australia better than any other cultivated 

 herb that has been tried there, and deserves to be regarded as other 

 than a useless weed in our own arid and semi-arid grazing and 

 pastoral districts. 



Helianthus tuberosus (Artichoke). The artichoke is a native of 

 North and South America, and has been cultivated in this country 

 for fifty years or more for its edible tubers. Fed to milch cows, 

 these tubers, which contain large amounts of sugar and gum, 

 increase the flow of milk enormously. The leaves are also eaten by 

 all kinds of stock. Artichokes are planted like potatoes, but 

 greater distances apart, and the yield is from 200 to 500 bushels per 

 acre. On rich and friable soils it yields spontaneously and un- 

 interruptedly for several years without replanting. The tubers 



