328 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



too numerous, the success attained has been only 

 partial. This would seem to be true even of soy 

 bean and cowpea silage. Silage made from these 

 crops is too frequently acid in character, and in too 

 many instances it has become more or less decom- 

 posed and off in color and smell. And these facts 

 are probably true in a greater degree of the common 

 pea and the common vetch than of the soy bean and 

 the cowpea. This would seem to indicate that the 

 two plants first named are usually put into the silo in 

 a form too succulent. Whether the numerous fail- 

 ures in the attempt to preserve these crops in the 

 silo arises from want of knowledge of the proper 

 methods of doing the work, cannot as yet be stated 

 with certainty, but there would seem to be no good 

 reason why it should not be possible to preserve 

 them with more uniform success than has heretofore 

 been attained. 



The same necessity does not exist for preserv- 

 ing the common pea and the common vetch in the 

 silo as for preserving the soy bean and the cowpea. 

 Since the two former may under average conditions 

 be easily cured in the dry form. They are so fine in 

 foliage that they readily give up their moisture when 

 being cured. Not so however the soy bean and the 

 cowpea. They are so coarse of straw that so much 

 time is necessary to cure them properly and also so 

 much handling, that unless great care is exercised in 

 doing the work, the value of the hay thus made will 

 be greatly impaired through the loss of the leaves. 



When the soy bean and the cowpea are stored 

 in the silo it should, when practicable, be along with 

 corn or sorghum in some of its varieties. Some 



