FORAGE CROPS 95 



All crops may be used for making silage, but green corn is the 

 one generally used. Silos above ground may be built of stone, 

 concrete, brick, or other material. When wood is used, the wall 

 may be of upright studding with an airtight lining, or of staves 

 bound together with hoops. Silage is excellent for milch cows, 

 and every farmer should have a supply for them. The Romans 

 and some of the- early Europeans were familiar with the uses of 

 silage over two thousand years ago. In this country it has been 

 known since 1875. 



The Annual Forage Plants. Plants of this class produce a 

 strong vigorous growth and mature during the course of a single 

 year. Many of the cereals furnish by-products that can be util- 

 ized as forage. Corn and oats are both often planted for this 

 purpose. The stalks and blades of the corn together with the 

 shucks make good feed for stock whether fed green or dry. In 

 using this kind of forage it is not advisable to permit cattle to 

 pick over stalks that hogs have been running over and trampling 

 under their feet as it is likely to cause disease. When corn is used 

 for this fodder, the stalks are cut shortly before they mature and 

 are placed in shocks fifteen to twenty feet apart. Oats when used 

 as a forage may be pastured while green like ordinary grass or they 

 may be cut after maturity, and put in shocks or ricks as may suit the 

 fancy of the farmer, and later may be fed to the stock at his con- 

 venience. In this form they are known as sheaf oats. In addition 

 to the cereals the next most important annual forage plants are 

 the various kinds of millet grown in this country. It is estimated 

 that millets comprise less than 5 per cent of our supply of hay and 

 forage. Sorghum and Kaffir corn are also grown extensively as 

 forage. 



Millets. The farmers in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska 

 grow a great deal of millet. It has also been successfully grown 

 in Oklahoma, Illinois, Texas, the Dakotas, and in Michigan. 

 Recent experiments and observations, indicate that millets may 

 be profitably grown in many of the Southern States. The 

 millets known in this country may be roughly grouped as follows: 

 (1) broom-corn millet, (2) foxtail millet, (3) barnyard millet, 

 (4) pearl millet. 



Millets may be regarded as a kind of coarse annual grass, very 



