GREEN FORAGE AND HAY CROPS 127 



cowpeas, especially on soils that are not adapted to the growing 

 of this crop. One to two tons of hay per acre may be obtained by 

 planting the Spanish peanut in rows 24 to 30 inches apart and quite 

 close in the row. After the hay has been removed, the pods can be 

 turned out by means of a plow, and cured and stored for winter 

 feeding. Instead of harvesting the crop in this manner, hogs are 

 frequently turned in to gather it. 21 



Poisonous Plants. A number of plants that are poisonous to stock are 

 found in different parts of the country, the more important of them being 

 loco weeds, larkspur (Astragalus), death camas, water hemlock (Cicuta), 

 common horsetail ( Equisetum ) , etc. Serious losses are often sustained by 

 animals eating these plants, especially in western grazing districts where 

 sheep, cattle, or horses are kept in large numbers and eat these plants for 

 want of better feed. 



Marsh has shown that stock poisoning as a general rule is due to a 

 scarcity of feed. 22 He concludes, from his investigations of the subject in the 

 western range country and elsewhere, that stock seldom eat poisonous plants 

 by choice, but only when induced or compelled by a scarcity of feed. The 

 following precautions are recommended: 



" 1. Stock should not be, turned out upon the range where there is little 

 to eat except poisonous plants. This is especially dangerous when the stock 

 have been on dry feed. 



" 2. In a region where certain areas are definitely known to be infested 

 with poisonous plants, stock should be kept away. This is especially neces- 

 sary when the general range is short, either because grass has not started 

 or because it has been overgrazed. When the range is well covered with good 

 grasses, herding away from poisonous areas is ordinarily unnecessary. 



" 3. When stock are trailed from one place to another, they should, so 

 far as possible, be driven through a country with plenty of good feed. If it 

 is necessary to drive them through a locality supposed to be infested with 

 poisonous plants, care should be taken to see that the stock are not hungry 

 when going through this region. It is much better to make such a drive in 

 the afternoon rather than in the morning. Special precautions must be taken 

 when it is necessary to pass over a trail that has been used by many others, 

 for all good feed will have disappeared and the stock will eat whatever is 

 left. Sheep should not be bedded for several successive nights in the same 

 place." 



Other sources of poisoning are plants containing prussic acid (such as 

 second-growth sorghum and kafir, Johnson grass), cornstalk disease, ergot, 

 corn cockle, castor beans, mountain laurel, night shade, etc. 83 



QUESTIONS 



1. What are the special points in favor of growing leguminous hay crops? 



2. Discuss briefly the value of alfalfa to the American stock farmer. 



3. Mention the different species of clover used for hay crops, and give the 



main points in favor of each. 



4. Describe the value and uses of field peas, vetches, cowpea, and soybean in 



stock feeding. 



5. Give a number of southern leguminous forage crops and state their main 



uses and feeding values. 



6. Name some of the more important poisonous plants. State where stock 



poisoning most frequently occurs and with what classes of farm animals. 



7. How may poisoning of stock be best avoided? 



a Farmers' Bulletin 431. ^Farmers' Bulletin 536. 



23 See Chestnut, "Thirty Poisonous Plants of the United States," 



Farmers' Bulletin 66, 1897 ; Pammel, " Manual of Poisonous Plants," 

 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1911. 



