186 FORAGE CROPS 



much greater. The hay cost $8.24 per ton, and 

 the oat- and -pea feed, $22.60, and the oat -and -pea 

 straw, $6 per ton. The use of fife pounds of the 

 straw and seven pounds of the oat -and -pea feed 

 resulted in 2.6 per cent larger yield of milk than 

 fourteen pounds of the hay, although the feed cost 

 of milk per hundred was 61.6 cents, when the oat- 

 and-pea ration was fed, and 49.9 cents when 

 the oat- and -pea hay ration was fed. The experi- 

 ment showed clearly that both rations are palatable 

 and digestible, and can be successfully used as 

 partial substitutes for purchased feeds, although 

 indicating the greater economy as a source of 

 nutrients of the oat- and- pea hay. Allowing the 

 crop to ripen, therefore, is not a profitable prac- 

 tice, excepting when labor is abundant and cheap, 

 or when it is more desirable to produce fine feeds 

 than to purchase them. 



Composition of Oat-and-Pea Crops 



Oat-and pea-green forage 

 Oats and peas, matured . 

 Oat-and-pea hay . . 

 Oat-and-pea straw . . . 

 Oats and peas, ground . 



These analyses are the average of those made 

 at the New Jersey Station, where the pea is used 

 in larger proportion than is here given, or at the 



