WASHINGTON CROPS. 169 



The prickly pear, both spiny and thornless, are grown along 

 the coast and interior valleys of California and in the warmer 

 parts of Arizona and southern Texas. As with cactus, best feed- 

 ing results are produced by running through a feed cutter and 

 fed in combination with dry roughage. 



Mr. David Griffiths, Government Agriculturist at Washington, 

 says: "A number of attempts have been made to make silage 

 of prickly pear, but so far as I am aware none of them have been 

 entirely successful. The material is very succulent and can be 

 fed in the green, succulent state any day of the year, and the 

 necessity of making it into silage is not the same as that for 

 ordinary crops which perish at the close of the season. It is a 

 warm country crop and can be fed at any time of the year without 

 making it into silage." 



In Washington, says Prof. Nystrom of the Pullman Station, 

 "while corn is the best crop, we have been getting good success 

 by using peas and oats, vetch and oats, barley and peas and 

 clover. In some localities also alfalfa has been put in whole, and 

 good silage has resulted. We advocate the use of the corn 

 wherever it will grow; a large part of this state is not fitted for 

 the growing of corn, but will grow Canada field peas and oats. 

 In such localities we advocate this crop for the silo. Most of the 

 crops that are used in a silo have been cut up, that is, run through 

 an ensilage cutter, and good silage has resulted." Alfalfa, kale, 

 corn and clover, barley and vetch, and clover and rye grass are 

 other crops mentioned in Bulletin No. 46 from the Pullman Sta- 

 tion, as being used in that state. 



Silage Crops in the South. 



Japanese cane has been found best adapted for growing 

 throughout Florida, Louisiana and the southern parts of Georgia, 

 Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, or in any sections in which the 

 velvet bean will mature seed. This will be up to 200 or 250 

 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. 



Japanese cane makes a good silage. It keeps well and is 

 relished by cattle. It has been used in feeding experiments with 

 the dairy herd at the Florida station with quite satisfactory re- 

 sults. The cost of silage from this crop should not exceed 



