274 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



324. Utilization. Sorghums for forage may be utilized 

 as soilage, hay, fodder or silage, and with due precautions, 

 may be pastured. The crop should be harvested before 

 frost, if possible, but light frosts do but little damage. If 

 the crop becomes injured by frost, the harvesting should 

 be completed as rapidly as possible. 



325. Soilage. Sorghum is an excellent crop to feed 

 green, and is probably thus used to a greater extent than 

 any other forage crop in America. For this purpose it 

 may be cut at any time after it is 2 or 3 feet high. It is 

 not desirable to cut, however, until it heads, as both the 

 yield and the quality are better at that time. The second 

 growth is more rapid if it be cut before heading than after- 

 wards, but the total yield is probably reduced if cut either 

 before heading or after the dough stage of the seeds is 

 reached. 



In growing sorghum for soilage, sowings may be made 

 at intervals of about 15 days, as this is about the length 

 of time that a sowing will afford desirable green feed. 

 Or early and late varieties may be used. The average 

 yield of green forage an acre may conservatively be placed 

 at 15 tons. 



326. Fodder. Sorghum in cultivated rows is har- 

 vested much the same as corn, being cut either with a row 

 binder or with a corn knife. The crop is commonly cut 

 for this purpose when the seed is in the early dough stage. 



The thick, juicy stems cure with difficulty. It is best, 

 therefore, to begin the curing by having the stalks in 

 small shocks, and to combine these into larger ones as the 

 curing progresses. The large shocks are put under cover 

 when dry enough, or they may be left in the field until 

 used. If left in the field, they should be capped or at 

 least tied closely at the top so as to shed rain water. 



