CHAPTER XXIV 



THE DRY ROUGHAGES 



329. Legumes vs. non-legumes.— The legumes are the leafy 

 roughages, such as clover, alfalfa and peas. They are much higher 

 in protein and lime than are the non-legumes as is shown by the 

 following table : 



Crop Protein Lime 



Red clover hay (legume) 12 . 8% 1 . 60% 



Alfalfa hay (legume) 14.9 1 .95 



Timothy hay (non-legume) 6.2 0.25 



Corn fodder (non-legume) 7.8 0.66 



Considering that neither class of roughages has a marked 

 advantage as regards other nutrients, the above figures show 

 clearly the greatly superior feeding value of the legumes. The 

 latter have another point of superiority. By the aid of certain 

 bacteria which grow in nodules on their roots, legumes obtain 

 nitrogen from the air to form protein. Therefore, instead of 

 depleting the soil of its nitrogen as do other crops, under the right 

 conditions of culture they actually leave the soil richer by adding 

 to it nitrogen from the air. In this way the legumes furnish more 

 protein for feed with less depletion of the soil than do non-legumes. 

 However, the same thing does not hold true as regards lime. 

 Legumes, due to their high lime content, take lots of tL A s element 

 from the soil and they will not grow unless the soil contains plenty 

 of it either naturally or through its addition as fertilizer. In fact, 

 this is the big reason why it is difficult to grow legumes in many 

 places — the soil does not contain enough lime; it is too "acid" 

 or "sour, " as we commonly say. Liming overcomes this. 



330. Legumes the best roughage.— From the standpoint of 

 feeding value and keeping up the fertility of the soil, everything is 

 in favor of the dairyman's raising legumes for his dry roughage. 

 The only disadvantage is that they may be more difficult to grow 

 because they require special soil conditions. 



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