FORAGE CROPS 



139 



No. 3 (Del.), 160 lbs. nitrate soda; 160 lbs. muriate potash; 400 lbs. dis- 

 solved bone black. 



No. 4 (N. H.), 125 lbs. nitrate soda; 275 lbs. muriate 'potash; 200 lbs. dis- 

 solved bone black; 250 lbs. ground bone. 



The field used was in cultivation with corn the previous sea- 

 son. The yield per acre was as follows : 



Plot No. I = 5 tons, 1,157 lbs. ; No. 2 = 6 tons, 1,608 lbs. ; No. 3 = 4 tons, 

 1,720 lbs. ; No. 4 = 4 tons, 262 lbs. 



The following season, the same fertilizers were used on land 

 with a comparatively heavy, old grass sod, plowed for the first 

 time in a number of years. The yields were as follows : Plot 

 No. I, I ton, 952 pounds; No. 2, 2 tons, 608 pounds; No. 3, 4 

 tons, 256 pounds; No. 4, 3 tons, 1,160 pounds. 



In an experiment carried on the past season in reference to 

 seed sown in drills and broadcast, there was a yield of 5 tons, 

 400 pounds, as against 2 tons, 1,200 pounds in favor of the 

 broadcast method. It must be said, however, that the beans in 

 rows did not receive' the cultivation usually given, and that both 

 plots were not sown until June 15th. When sowing broadcast, 

 use from one to two pecks more seed per acre. 



From our experience thus far. we do not advise farmers to go 

 into raising the Soy bean on a very extensive scale, until its 

 value as a food has been more thoroughly demonstrated. It 

 has not come up to our expectations. The land, of course, may 

 not be adapted to it. However, taking into consideration the 

 facts that its yield is so small compared with corn ; that it 

 requires fully the same amount of cultivation and labor in hand- 

 ling, though it is less bulky in harvesting ; that it is not relished 

 by cattle, and that there is more or less indigestible matter in 

 the woody stem, we are not prepared to recommend it until we 

 have had further experience with it. 



THE cow PEA {Dolichos etiVig) 



This plant is grown very commonly in the South, and is con- 

 sidered there as one of the plants best adapted to green manur- 

 ing. Like the Soy bean, it is a leguminous plant; hence, a 

 nitrogen gatherer, composed of valuable plant food. If, as is 



