ROOTS, TUBERS, AND OTHER SUCCULENT FEEDS 141 



green feed for fall and early winter feeding, viz., 30 to 40 tons or 

 more per acre. Under ordinary conditions 20 tons are probably an 

 average yield. All kinds of stock, including poultry, like kale, and 

 it is specially valuable as a feed for milch cows, sheep, and swine. 

 According to the Oregon station, 35 pounds of kale a day, with 20 

 pounds of hay, make an excellent ration for dairy cows, very little 

 grain feed being needed in addition. 7 



Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo). The use of pumpkins in feed- 

 ing stock is old in this country, being planted in the corn and left 

 in the field till " the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the 

 shock ! " The crop has never assumed much importance as a stock 

 feed, however, and is fed, especially to milch cows and swine, more 

 as an appetizer than for the amount of nutrients that it supplies. 

 It contains about 10 per cent of dry matter, and resembles turnips 

 quite closely in composition. The Vermont station 8 found that 

 two and one-half tons of pumpkins are equal to one ton of corn 

 silage for dairy cows. They are generally cooked for swine and 

 mixed with grain feeds, but it is a question whether the cooking 

 adds anything to their value (p. 67). The seeds are often removed 

 in feeding pumpkins; some farmers believe that they tend to dry 

 up cows. There is probably no foundation in fact for this belief. 

 According to Grisdale, pigs like the seeds best, and no injury comes 

 from feeding them. Henry states 9 that the seeds contain much 

 nutriment and should not be wasted. 



Pie melons (also called citron or cow melons) are grown for 

 feeding purposes to a limited extent in western States. " Like the 

 ordinary field pumpkin, they can be produced readily in large 

 quantities on most lands, and ripen at a time when green feed is 

 likely to be scarce. When fed to dairy stock they produce an in- 

 creased milk yield, which is more than commensurate with their 

 actual content of feed substance. This is because of their palata- 

 bility and beneficial effects upon digestion and the addition of 

 wholesome variety to the ration. They may be fed with profit to 

 swine and poultry when in confinement, and to sheep, especially 

 during nursing periods. 10 Pie melons contain 5.5 per cent dry 

 matter on the average, or only about one-half as much as field 

 pumpkins. The relative feeding value of the two crops is, in all 

 probability, represented by this f ratio. 



7 Circular Bulletin 5. 9 " Feeds and Feeding," 10th ed., p. 195. 



8 Report, 1908. 10 California Bulletin 132. 



