The Grasses Including Indian Corn. 165 



better at the North thar at the South, because the northem-growu 

 cornstalks are more palatable and less woody. (341, 500) 



220. Corn forage for silage, — Indian corn is the only common 

 farm plant in America that experience has shown to be entirely sat- 

 isfactory for silage. Its use for this purpose has revolutionized 

 farm practice in many sections. Thru the aid of the silo the entire 

 plant is economically used without waste, and a succulent feed, 

 greatly relished by cattle, is produced. (360) 



221. The new corn product. — The pith of the cured corn stalk is 

 used as a packing between the walls of vessels to prevent the en- 

 trance of water should the hull be pierced. It has been found that 

 for each lb. of pith suitable for such purpose there are 15 lbs. of 

 blades, husks, and parts of stalks which remain as a by-product. 

 This waste, ground to a powder, has been named "the new corn 

 product." At the ]\Iaryland Station^ Patterson found the new corn 

 product somewhat more digestible than whole stover in feeding trials 

 with steers and equal to hay for horses. 



222. The sorghums, Sorghum vulgare.-^While the sorghums can 

 be grown over most of the United States they are at their best in 

 the southwestern plains region, reaching from Nebraska to Texas. 

 The saccharine sorghums, with their juicy stalks rich in sugar, are 

 grown for both forage and grain, principally the former. The non- 

 saccharine sorghums — kafir and milo — are grown for grain, with 

 forage second in importance. In 1907 Kansas^ grew 378,000 acres 

 of sweet sorghum and 508,000 acres of kafir for grain and forage, 

 the 2 crops having a value of over $8,000,000. Conner^ of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, reporting for Northwest Texas, 

 states that sorghum, milo, and kafir yield from 5 to 6 tons of dry 

 forage per acre in average seasons. When growTi in drills, not too 

 thickly, the sorghum stalks are coarse and much seed is produced. 

 It is then usually harvested into shocks, the same as Indian corn. 

 Thiekly-so^\^a sorghum becomes a coarse grass which may be cut 

 with the mower and cured in cocks, the same as the meadow grasses. 

 The leaves of the sorghum plant are quite free from dust and very 

 palatable, making with the sweet, juicy stalks a desirable roughage 

 for stock, especially horses. 



The merits of sorghum as silage are but little known. When en- 

 siled, sorghum usually makes a sourer silage than com. Soule of 

 the Tennessee Station* has found, however, that well-matured sor- 

 ghum properly ensiled makes sweet silage. 



^ Buls. 43, 51. ' Texas Exp. Sta., BuJ. lO."?. 



^ Qt. Rpt. Kan. St. Bd. Agr., Dec. 1907. ♦ Bui. Vol. XVll, No. 1. 



