18 BULLETIN 68, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Winter wheat. — Many fanners use the main winter-wheat field for 

 hoj; pasture. If the autuniii rains begin early enough in the fall 

 to do the seeding during the first part of September, wheat usually 

 makes suHicient growth to furnish pasture from October 15 until 

 the ground is so wet that it is injured by the tramping of the hogs. 

 If so^^^l during September, winter w^heat also makes very early 

 spring pasture. It is used from the time the ground is settled until 

 the grain begms to head, or mitil the hogs begin to chew the heads. 

 Ordinarily this will be from March 15 until Jmie 1, 



Excellent summer and autumn pasture is provided by sowing 

 whiter wheat early in May on a well-prepared seed bed. If not 

 pastured very closel}'' during the autumn, wheat that is sown during 

 May can be used during much of the winter. 



If sown just before the last cultivation m corn that has been well 

 cultivated, w'heat generally furnishes an abmidance of green feed 

 during the autumn when corn is being hogged off. 



'Clover and alfalfa. — Red clover is adapted to the wheat-growing 

 districts having a clayhke subsoil and the maximum precipitation, 

 ^Vhile alfalfa is adapted to the same territory it has a much wider 

 range of usefulness, for it succeeds with less rainfall and on lighter 

 soils than clover. Clover begins to grow earUer m the spring and 

 continues to grow later in the fall than alfalfa. The young tender 

 growth of clover is not so easily injured by severe frosts as that of 

 aKalfa. Red clover fits nicely into short rotations because it is short 

 hved and so easily killed by plowing. Where the land is to be used 

 continuously for hog pasture for a number of years alfalfa easily 

 stands first. 



The carrying capacity of both clover and alfalfa is greatly reduced 

 by the summer drought, and it is usually necessary to provide addi- 

 tional feed during this time. 



The essentials m successfully growing both of these crops are given 

 in detail in Popular Bulletin 31 and Bulletin 80 of the Washington 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, Pidlman, Wash. 



Kale and raj^e. — Thousand-headed kale and Dwarf Essex rape 

 are very closely related. The mature individual kale plants are 

 generally larger than those of rape. In the more humid portions 

 of the wheat belt of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington few crops are 

 more satisfactory for pasture during the summer and autimin than 

 kale and rape. The green aphis sometimes attacks both of these 

 crops duiing the last of August. While kale is seldom injured very 

 much, rape is frequently damaged considerably. For this reason 

 kale is the preferable crop. A field of kale is shown in figure 7. 



To grow either rape or kale successfully the land to be planted 

 receives an apphcation of stable manure and is plowed during the 

 late fall. As soon as the surface soil is dry enough in the spring, 



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