1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 191 



clean in common with the preceding one ; its leaves were 

 slightly injured by frost, May 29. The growth w^as three 

 inches high, June 11; five and one-half inches, June 2G ; 

 eight inches, July 3 ; seventeen inches, July 17 ; twenty-four 

 inches, August 21, when blossoms appeared. The first cut 

 for fodder w^as made September 1, and the last, September 

 10. The entire yield of green fodder amounted to 6,125 

 pounds, or 10 tons per acre. The average moisture of the 

 crop when fed was 83.07 per cent., leaving, for the solid 

 vegetable matter, 16.93 per cent. The frequent rains during 

 the late summer and the autumn have apparently favored an 

 increase in the yield of green fodder. Whether their com- 

 position has suftered, will be learned from a comparison of 

 our analyses of past years. 



The general characteristics of the crops above mentioned 

 have been stated in previous reports, and their good services 

 in the dairy are confirmed by our own observations. AVe 

 can only repeat in this connection the views advanced in 

 previous reports. 



The practice of raising a greater variety of valuable crops 

 for o-reen fodder deserves the serious consideration of farmers 

 engaged in the dairy business ; for it secures a liberal supply 

 of healthy, nutritious fodder, at the same time when hay 

 becomes scarce and costlv, and when it would be still a 

 wasteful practice to feed an imperfectly matured green 

 fodder corn. The frequently limited area of land fit for a 

 remunerative production of grasses, and the not less recog- 

 nized exhausted condition of a large proportion of natural 

 pastures, make it but judicious to consider seriously the 

 means which promise not only to increase, but also to 

 cheapen, the products of the dairy. 



Each farmer ought to make his selection, from among the 

 various fodder plants, to suit his individual resources and 

 wants ; yet, adopting this basis as his guide, he ought to 

 make his selection on the basis that the crop w^hich is capable 

 of producing, for the same area, the largest quantity of 

 nitrogen-containing food constituents, at the least cost, is, as 

 a rule, the most valuable one for him. 



Our prominent fodder crops may be classified, in regard 

 to the relative proportion of their nitrogenous organic food 



