6Q AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



furnishing nutritious green fodder to the dairy when pas- 

 tures may fail and green corn fodder fit for an economical 

 consumption cannot yet be had ; but, converted at a proper 

 time into hay, they can also materially increase the stock of 

 valuable winter fodder. 



The addition of foliaceous fodder plants to those of a 

 scanty leaf development insures, frequently, a success of the 

 latter, when an exceptional dryness of the season may en- 

 danger a satisfactory result. A mixture of clover and grass 

 may be a success where either clover or grass, alone, would 

 be a doubtful crop. They frequently tend to improve also 

 the general chemical and physical condition of the soil they 

 grow on, and render it thereby better fitted for a successful 

 cultivation of winter grains. Winter and summer grains are 

 most frequently cultivated together with varieties of vetches, 

 field beans, field peas ; buckwheat, also, frequently enters 

 into the mixture. The early harvesting of most of these 

 mixtures leaves ample time for the preparation of the soil 

 for winter crops. 



The proportion in which the seeds of the dilferent crops 

 ought to be mixed depends somewhat on the cost of the seed. 

 In case the seeds of leguminous plants are cheap, it is ad- 

 visable to let the mixture consist of two-thirds leguminous 

 plants to one-third of cereals ; whilst, in case the leguminous 

 seeds are costly, one-half of leguminous plants and one-half 

 of cereal plants. The scanty supply of horse bean seed 

 obliged us to depart from the previous recommendation. 



After both crops had been housed, the field was at once 

 ploughed, and, after being manured with one-half the quan- 

 tity of fertilizer used for the production of the first crop, 

 seeded down, broadcast, July 16, with thirty-four pounds of 

 Hungarian grass seed. 



The young plants made their appearance July 22 ; they 

 beo"an to head out August 5, and reached the height of from 

 twenty to twenty-four inches September 3. 



The crop was cut for hay September 8 ; it amounted to 

 2,395 lbs., or 2,444 lbs. of hay per acre, as a second crop 

 for the season. 



