126 



DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



has also a high feeding value and should be fed along with other 

 kinds of hay or starchy concentrates. Fed in this manner, it makes 

 a valuable feed for all classes of live stock. 19 



Florida beggar weed (Desmodium tortuosum) is a sub-tropical 

 plant that is grown in the South for either green forage or for hay, 

 and is well liked by all classes of farm stock. It has rather woody 

 stalks, from three to eight or ten feet high, with abundant leafage ; 

 when grown for hay it is cut at the beginning of bloom, three to 

 four feet high, when it makes a very fine quality of hay, yielding 

 about four tons to the acre. The hay contains about 12 per cent of 



FIG. 21. A field of soybeans, a valuable protein feed, both for seed production and as a 

 forage crop. (Wisconsin Station.) 



crude protein and 29 per cent of fiber, on the average, indicating that 

 it is of somewhat lower feeding value than alfalfa or clover, ton 

 for ton. 20 



Peanut (Arachis hypogea). This legume is grown for com- 

 mercial purposes in the south Atlantic States and westward to and 

 including California. The fruit or nut is matured beneath the sur- 

 face of the ground, instead of above ground, as in the usual order 

 of things. It is an important human food, and the by-products, 

 cull nuts, pods, and vines, furnish excellent forage for farm stock. 

 The tops of the plant are also often cut and cured in the same 

 manner as other legumes, and make a hay of a feeding value almost 

 equal to that of clover hay. Peanuts form a valuable substitute for 



19 Farmers' Bulletin 451; Division of Agrostology, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, Circular 14; U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 141, iii, 



20 Division of Agrostology, U. S, Department of Agriculture, Circular 13. 



