CHAPTER XXXIII 



CLASSIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FORAGE 



CROPS 



FORAGE, in the broadest sense, means any kind of feed for stock, 

 including cereals or by-products, as well as hay or pasture plants. 

 In common usage, however, forage means plants that are fed whole, 

 in either the green state or dried state. Grass, millets, clover, and 

 alfalfa are always called forage plants. Root crops grown for stock 

 feed are also spoken of as " forage roots." 



Corn is considered a grain crop in the corn belt, but when the 

 whole plant is harvested and cured as fodder or put in the silo corn 

 is considered a forage crop. Also oats, wheat, and barley are often 

 cut before mature and cured as hay, when they are classed as forage. 



Classification of Forage Crops. In taking the Census the 

 United States Government has classed the forage plants into certain 

 convenient groups. The classes and their relative importance are 

 shown in the following table : 



Acreage, Production and Value of Hay and Forage for 1909 by Classes 



To understand more clearly just what is included in each class, 

 the following quotation from instruction for clerks in tabulating the 

 Census is given : 



(a) Tabulate as "clover alone" all crops reported after that designa- 

 tion, as well as all reported as " alsike,'' '' red clover," " crimson clover," 

 also other clovers unmixed with other grasses. The same crops reported as 



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