192 THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE 



be used for soiling, but, if dried, are unpala- 

 table. 



332. The production of forage and soiling 

 crops is extremely simple. They may be inter- 

 tilled or not. Large plants, which require abun- 

 dant food and moisture and a full supply of 

 sunlight, as maize, should be tilled ; but small 

 and quickly maturing ones, as barley, may be 

 raised without inter -tillage. 



333. The two great forage plants of the 

 United States are maize and alfalfa. The latter 

 is well suited to the semi -arid districts of the 

 West, and thrives to an astonishing degree in the 

 bright sunshine of the Plains, when supplied 

 with moisture by irrigation. It is perennial, and 

 several cuttings may be taken each season. It is 

 one of the leguminous crops, and, therefore, 

 appropriates nitrogen of the air. Like clover, it 

 has a deep root- system. 



334. But the king of all grasses, the one most 

 useful, most easily raised and harvested, and the 

 most productive, is Indian corn, or maize. In a 

 little more than one hundred days from planting, 

 from four to six tons of air-dried stalks and from 

 forty to fifty bushels of grain may be secured 

 from each acre ; or from twelve to twenty tons of 

 uncured material may be secured for the silo. 



335. Rye, though not a first-class forage or 

 soiling plant, may be sown in the fall, cut when 



