l6 FORAGE CROPS. 



The crops that should immediately follow corn 

 sown for pasture will depend somewhat on the fact 

 as to whether other plants have been grown with the 

 corn and, to some extent, on the character of the 

 plants so grown. When the corn is sown alone, it 

 may fitly be followed the same season with winter 

 rye and rape to furnish fall pasture, or with crimson 

 clover or winter wheat, according to the locality. But 

 it will not avail to sow these crops unless there is 

 sufficient moisture in the soil to sprout the seed. A 

 crop of corn growing thickly, as for pasture, is 

 mighty to pump water out of the soil. When sown 

 with such crops as rape, cowpeas or vetches, these 

 crops will furnish more or less pasture after the corn 

 has been eaten down. The amount of the pasture 

 thus furnished will, of course, be largely dependent 

 upon the amount of moisture that falls late in the 

 season. The natural order the next year will be a 

 grain crop where some crop has not been sown after 

 the corn that is to live through the winter. 



Soil. — The soil best suited to growing corn for 

 pasture will be much the same as that best suited to 

 growing corn for other uses, that is to say, it will be 

 a deep, rich, mild, moist, friable loam. If well sup- 

 plied with humus, the condition will be further 

 improved. The decaying humus furnishes readily 

 available plant food and also much increases the 

 power of the soil to hold moisture. Stiff clay soils 

 may be made to produce strong crops of corn when 

 the season is favorable and when the plants get a 

 good start, but it is usually at an expenditure of 

 much labor in preparing the land. Moreover, the 

 corn grows slowly on these, and in a dry season it is 

 not likely to prove a success. Light, sandy soils are 



