9 



show remarkable cropping capacity. Panicum italicum in half- 

 acre plots has yielded in one instance at the rate of seventy- 

 two bushels of heavy seed and two and one-sixth tons of straw, 

 and in another at the rate of seventy-six bushels of seed and 

 two and one fifth tons of straw per acre. This straw will be 

 analyzed, but from its appearance it is judged that it must equal 

 corn stover in feeding value. An experiment in feeding will 

 be undertaken this winter. Another vcnWet, Panicum cims g alii, 

 yielded at the rate of forty-two and a half bushels of seed and 

 nearly seven tons of straw to the acre ; and another, Panicum 

 miliaceum, at the rate of ninety and eight-tenths bushels of seed 

 and six and one-half tons of straw. The latter when green was 

 eaten with all the avidity which cattle usually show for green 

 corn fodder, and promises to be a valuable crop for soiling or 

 for the silo. 



Several of the varieties of Soja bean, Glycine Jiisjjida, 

 which have been under cultivation, prove well adapted to our 

 soil and climate, and on soil of medium quality have yielded in 

 different years from about twenty-five to thirty-five bushels to 

 the acre. About eight bushels of these beans were ground into 

 a fine meal by the local miller last winter, and an experiment 

 in feeding the meal to milch cows would have been undertaken, 

 had not the destruction of our barn by fire prevented. This 

 experiment will be undertaken the present winter, upon a 

 smaller scale, made necessary by the loss of our stock of seed. 



White mustard seed at the rate of about sixteen bushels per 

 acre has been raised, and was ripe in season for use in seeding 

 for green manuring upon stubble land and in standing corn. 

 Careful experiments in the use of this crop as a nitrogen con- 

 server and soil improver have lieen begun. 



Hemp of two varieties and flax of three have been success- 

 fully raised ; but the experiment with flax, which occupied 

 three-fourths of an acre, has demonstrated the impossibility, at 

 present prices, of growing the crop at a profit in this section. 



Black Tartarian oats and early race-horse oats from Japan, 

 and a large number of varieties of English and American 

 wheats, both winter and spring, have been under trial upon a 

 small scale. The most striking point brought out by these 

 trials is the unsuitability of English wheats for this climate. 

 They are very late and unusually susceptible to rust. Full 

 reports on these crops will be published in future bulletins. 



