102 



KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS. 



Kentucky Blue grass is the most valuable of the grasses. It 

 makes the best pasture of any grass during the early part of the 

 season, but does not withstand drought very well. The leaves, which 

 are numerous, are sweet, nutritious and rich, containing much protein. 

 In a permanent pasture, Kentucky Blue grass forms, after a year or 

 two, a very dense turf. As a hay crop it is not recommended on 

 account of the shortness of the plants and the small amount of 

 aftermath. 



MILLETS. 



Millets are used mostly as soiling crops but make excellent hay. 

 Their rapidity of growth, large yield, great palatability and high 

 feeding qualities make them valuable forage plants. To give satis- 

 faction as hay, the millet must have been sown thickly, 50 to 60 

 pounds per acre, and must have been cut just as the heads were 

 appearing. When so handled, the forage is largely freed from 

 coarseness and is much more digestible. 



OAT HAY. 



Green oats are made into hay with profit only when there is a 

 shortage of other hay or when the crop lodges badly and the grain 

 is not likely to ripen satisfactorily. For hay making, oats should 

 be cut in the early milk stage while the leaves and stems are still 

 bright and clean and before any signs of ripening appear. Oat 

 hay is cured the same as ordinary hay and fed out with the grain 

 unthreshed and either mixed with ensilage or by itself. Cut with 

 the binder and cured in shock it makes a cleaner and more accept- 

 able forage but there is, of course, less of it. 



OAT AND PEA HAY. 



This is one of the best forage crops grown. It is valuable on 

 account of its high nutritive qualities and its large yields per acre. 

 It is rich in protein and very palatable. In choosing varieties of 

 seed to sow together, a variety of oats which will be in the milk 

 stage when the peas are in full bloom should be chosen, for this 

 is the best time to cut the crop for hay. 



