wheat heads show themselves, wliich in our locality is the last of 

 May This green crop will remain in feeding condition for 12 to 14 

 days. If more of the fodder mixture has been produced than can 

 be fed green, the balance may be made into hay. The yield will vary 

 from 6 to 10 tons of green fodder to the acre, depending upon the 

 fertility of the soil, rainfall, and spring temperature. Immediately 

 after the removal of the crop the land may be planted to Hungarian, 

 barnyard millet or corn. In one season, from the same piece of 

 land, we have secured at the rate of 10 tons of green wheat and vetch 

 and 17.6 tons of fodder corn to the acre, containing nutriment 

 equivalent to 5 tons of well-cured hay. The wheat and vetch mix- 

 ture is hardy, and will contain approximately 3.40 percent of protein 

 equal to 12 to 15 per cent in air dry material. Because of the cost 

 of the vetch seed it is doubtful if the ordinary dairyman can afford 

 to grow the mixture ; but the milk producer in the vicinity of profita- 

 ble markets, who receives an extra price for his milk, may find it of 

 value as an early green feed.' 



Vetch sown by itself is not satisfactory for forage, as it is recum- 

 bent in its habit of growth and rots badly, especially if the weather 

 is moist. It has been highly recommended by ShameP as a cover 

 crop to follow tobacco. Sown broadcast about September i at the 

 rate of 1^2 bushels of seed to the acre, it grows rapidly and makes a 

 good covering before winter. We have grown 9 to 10 tons of green 

 material to the acre, cut June 2, equivalent to some 120 pounds of 

 nitrogen. This plant appears to be valuable as a forage crop grown 

 together with a cereal, and likewise as a cover crop and producer of 

 humus for sandy soils and as a gatherer of nitrogen. 



The green crop that would naturally follow the 



Clover or wheat and vetch is clover or grass and clover. 



Grass and Clover. If a grass and clover mixture is preferred the 



grasses should be of the varieties blossoming 



in early June. The following seed mixture costs about six dollars 



per acre : Alsike or red clover, 8 pounds ; orchard grass, 6 pounds: 



tall oat grass, 8 pounds ; and Kentucky blue grass, 6 pounds. The 



seed should be sown in early August, if possible, in order to enable 



the clover to become well established before winter. The yield will 



' For a fuller report on this crop, see Fifteenth Report of the Hatch Experiment Sta- 

 tion, pp. 6J-67. • 

 2 Cdnn. Expt. Sta. IJull. 149, 1905. 



