CROPS SUITABLE FOR THE SILO. 327 



For autumn feeding it would seldom probably be 

 advantageous to make sorghum into silage since it 

 may be fed so conveniently at that season from the 

 shock or heap, as the case may be. But for late 

 winter and spring feeding, in climates subject to al- 

 ternations of high and low temperatures in winter, 

 it is perhaps better preserved in the silo. Alternate 

 freezing and thawing tend to affect adversely the 

 value of its saccharine content. 



The Non-Saccharine Sorghums. The value of 

 the non-saccharine sorghums as silage is probably 

 not far different from that of sorghum, although ex- 

 perience in storing these crops in the silo is so limited 

 that their relative value for making silage should be 

 spoken of with a prudent reserve. Since they are 

 grown in areas where the need of silos is not so im- 

 perative as where corn grows at its best, there is not 

 the same necessity for making them into silage. 

 They are grown to the greatest extent in dry areas 

 where the fodder is not much liable to injury from 

 rain when exposed in stacks, either in the autumn or 

 winter. There should be no difficulty in preserving 

 any of the non-saccharine sorghums in the silo, but, 

 since they are usually less succulent than corn, they 

 should be put into the silo at a somewhat less ad- 

 vanced stage of development. 



Leguminous Plants Other Than Clover. The 

 chief of these, under conditions that now prevail in 

 the United States, are the ordinary field pea, the 

 common vetch, the soy bean and the cowpea. These 

 can all be preserved with more or less of success in 

 the silo, but when preserved thus without admixture 

 or alternation with other crops, as corn, in instances 



