4 BULLETIN 1045^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



less than with the corn silage, the cows produced approximately 

 equal quantities of milk and butter. The Canadian authorities re- 

 ported that the butter made from the sunflower mixture had a richer 

 flavor and higher color than that from corn silage. Instructions 

 were issued to Canadian farmers regarding the growing and utiliza- 

 tion of sunflowers in the Robertson silage mixture, and it received 

 considerable attention for a few years. The practice of making 

 silage in this way did not become established in American agricul- 

 ture, however, and little has been heard about it during the past 

 10 years. 



Outside of the experiments carried out in Maine, Vermont, and 

 New York, there has been but little investigation of the value of sun- 

 flowers in the United States until recently, although desultory trials 

 of the crop have been reported by New Hampshire, Nebraska, Colo- 

 rado, and a few other States. In 1915 the Montana Agricultural 

 Experiment Station grew a small acreage of sunflowers under irriga- 

 tion at Bozeman. The results were so satisfactory that the plantings 

 were enlarged in 1916, and the crop after being ensiled was fed to 

 dairy cattle. This jDreliminary test, described in Bulletin 118 of the 

 Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, demonstrated the high 

 feeding value of sunflower silage and resulted in a widespread inter- 

 est in the crop. Since the publication of this report numerous other 

 States, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture, have 

 experimented with sunflowers rather extensively as a silage crop. 



AREAS SUITED TO THE, PRODUCTION OF SUNFLOWERS. 



Sunflowers are widely distributed in nature and can be grown suc- 

 cessfully in nearly every part of the United States. Their value in 

 any region, however, depends more on the measure of success attained 

 in the production of other crops than on their own adaptation to the 

 local climatic conditions. Thus, it is doubtful whether sunflowers 

 will ever be popular for a silage in the central and southern Great 

 Plains, because the sorghums do so well there, nor in the com belt, 

 because corn so well fills the need for a silage crop. In the South- 

 eastern States corn, sorghum, Japanese cane, pearl millet, and other 

 silage crops are well adapted to the climatic conditions, and sun- 

 flowers are not likely to find a place. 



In the extreme northern part of the United States or at high alti- 

 tudes in the Western States where the temperatures during the grow- 

 ing season are relatively low, corn, sorghum, and other crops do not 

 produce heavy yields for silage. In such situations the sunflower is 

 recognized as an extremely valuable silage crop, and the acreage de- 

 voted to its production is increasing rapidly. Now that feeding ex- 

 periments have demonstrated the high quality of this silage, it is 

 probable that the sunflower will be grown quite widely in the New 



