CHAPTER L 



FORAGE CROPS. 



Forage in its widest sense means any food 

 suitable for horses, cattle, sheep and swine. Thus 

 applied, it would include pasture, soiling and fodder 

 crops, and all manner of matured seeds. In the title 

 given to this book, however, and in the book itself, 

 it will be used only in the more restricted sense of 

 pasture crops other than those provided by the vari- 

 ous grasses. It is thus used for the reason, first, that 

 in the ordinary phraseology of the farm, it is so 

 understood. Second, that there is a felt necessity for 

 a more restricted and precise use of certain terms in 

 agriculture that have heretofore been used in a loose 

 sense. And, third, that it would seem to express the 

 various subjects considered in the book more accu- 

 rately and more concisely than any other term that 

 could be chosen. The terms forage crops as thus 

 defined, and pastures, are frequently regarded as 

 synonymous and interchangeable. But grasses are 

 not included in the discussion, for the reason, first, 

 that where grazed off they are usually spoken of as 

 pasture crops, and, second, that to include them 

 would unduly swell the contents of this volume. 



In nearly all instances these forage crops are 

 sown from year to year, whereas grass pastures usu- 

 ally endure for several years. In many instances the 

 latter grow, as it were, spontaneously; the former 

 seldom do. Forage crops, like pastures, are fed off 

 I 



