432 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



fodder. When the land is appropriate, it springs up 

 rapidly, and soon covers the ground. When it reaches the 

 height of eight inches, and its root has become well estab- 

 lished, sheep may be folded upon it, and crop off four or 

 five inches. The hurdles should be moved each day, to 

 prevent its being eaten too close. It will spring up anew, 

 and more completely cover the ground than before. If 

 care is taken it may be folded over three or four times in a 

 season, at from 14 to 20 days apart. This food is highly 

 relished by sheep, because the leaves and stems, at that 

 stage of growth, are very tender and succulent. Small 

 pieces may be sown at different times, so as to be ready for 

 feeding one after the other. A good crop will produce, at 

 three or four feedings, ten tons of green food on an acre, 

 and pasture 50 sheep 25 to 30 days. There are several 

 varieties of millet, but the common (Panicum milliaceum), 

 Hungarian grass (Panicum Germanicum], and golden mil- 

 let are the kinds most grown. The latter produces the 

 largest growth, and for pasturing may be found the most 

 profitable. 



We have given these numerous annuals which may be 

 cultivated as pasture plants for sheep, to show the re- 

 sources of sheep feeders in providing green food which may 

 be eaten off by the sheep during the summer ; but we do not 

 mean to set these annuals up as preferable to the perennial 

 grasses and the biennial clovers. These annuals are only to 

 be used to assist in fitting the land for growing profitable 

 crops of the perennial grasses and clovers. The perennial 

 grasses and the clovers are the sheet-anchor of successful 

 stock-feeding, for they yield successive crops without 

 annual labor. But the annual grasses are often necessary 

 in the preparation of the soil for the permanent ones. 



KOOTS FOR SHEEP-FEEDING. 



The question of economy in the production of root crops 

 for stock-feeding in this country has never been settled be- 



