SOY BEANS AND SORGHUM. 153 



mixed with corn, and like other legumes they improve the silage 

 by tending to counteract the acid reaction of the corn. The mix- 

 ture also produces a more nearly balanced ration than either crop 

 alone, and avoids the necessity of using purchased concentrates 

 such as grain, bran, cottonseed, etc. Some have found that the 

 soy beans save rt least half the grain bill. The crops may be 

 mixed to best advantage for both cutting and feeding, by placing 

 the soy beans on top rf the corn as it enters the silage cutter, in 

 the proportion of two, three, four or five parts of corn, as desired, 

 to one part of soy beans. The latter should be siloed when the 

 pods are well formed and the seeds are nearly grown. Of other 

 southern crops tnat are used for silage may be mentioned chicken 

 corn and teosinte. 



Sorghums. Sorghum crops, both saccharine and non- 

 accharine (sweet and non-sweet), can be used for silage with good 

 results. The saccharine sorghums include the Amber, Orange, 

 Sumac and Gooseneck groups. The non-saccharine varieties em- 

 brace the Kafir and White Milo groups, and the Dhoura group. 

 Their drouth-resistant qualities have done much to make sorghum 

 the leading crop in the drier parts of the South and West they 

 remain fresh and green through drouths that would ruin corn. 

 They are also less liable to be damaged by insects than corn. The 

 yield per acre of green sorghum will often reach 20 tons, or one- 

 half again as much as a good crop of corn. The Ottawa (Can.) 

 Station states that sorghum, where it can be grown, makes an 

 excellent crop for silage. It needs to be cut, the best length, as In 

 the case of corn, being about one-half inch. 



While the sorghums are adapted for growing on almost any 

 kind of soil they. produce best on fairly heavy, well drained loams, 

 rich in humus; but when grown on gumbo, hard-pan, sandy or 

 other poor soils, they are more successful than most other crops. 



Sorghums usually yield well with little care. They are excel- 

 lent to plant on prairie sod or alfalfa sod. For silage, sorghum 

 should be planted in rows like corn and cultivated; in fact, the 

 crop is handled throughout like corn. 



In experiments at the Tennessee Station, A. M. Soule found that" 

 "as fine a quality of silage can be made from sorghum as from 

 any other crop and there seems to be little choice between the 

 feeding values of sorghum and corn silage for beef production." 



