AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 149 



were grown for forage. The chief objection to this 

 crop is the hand labor required to grow it. The 

 crop is rather exacting both in soil and culture. The 

 soil must be rich and calcareous to give best results. 

 The dry nutrients of beets have been shown to be 

 equal in feeding value to grain concentrates. Beets 

 are prized in feeding dairy cows for record milk 

 yields because of the variety it gives the ration as 

 well as its large feeding value. 



Corn for silage is the preeminent green forage 

 crop. jS'early 260,000 acres of coarse forage is pro- 

 duced and gives an average yield of seven and a 

 half tons of green forage to the acre, equivalent to 

 about two tons of dry matter to the acre. Thus corn 

 stands next to alfalfa in its ability to produce nu- 

 trients. Corn, however, makes a good growth over 

 a much larger area than does alfalfa. The area of 

 corn for coarse forage is equal to half that devoted to 

 corn for grain. New York is far from being a corn- 

 producing state because of the cool summer climate, 

 but for succulent forage, corn has no equal. A dairy 

 farm without a silo is now regarded as unprogressive 

 and relatively few of them exist. A silo of smaller 

 diameter for summer use is now coming to take its 

 place together with the larger winter silo in the 

 adoption of the system of summer feeding. Higli 

 summer rainfall, warm temperature, and a moder- 

 ately calcareous soil combine to produce the largest 

 yield of green-corn forage. The best yields are se- 

 cured in the counties of Jefferson, Herkimer, Madi- 

 son, Chenango, Delaware, Montgomery and Living- 



