Soiling Crops. 153 



son and on good, rich soil, a much larger yield. 

 The best crop of millet I ever raised was after a 

 crop of clover, and when the hay was gone we sub- 

 stituted millet for the noon ration, with ensilage 

 morning and night. To my surprise the cows did 

 equally as well on it as on the clover hay, and it pro- 

 duced twice as much feed per acre as the clover. I 

 have also grown some grand crops of millet after 

 oats and peas, simply cultivating the ground and 

 sowing the seed, harrowing, etc. It wants to be cut 

 before the heads are in " the dough. " When allowed 

 to stand until the seeds are fully ripened, the stalks 

 are rather tough and woody. It may be sown as late 

 as July. One bushel of seed per acre, broadcast, and 

 harrowed and rolled. 



Clover. 



The principal reason why clover has not been 

 more extensively' used as a soiling crop is that, 

 while it is very valuable, there are other crops used 

 instead, which produce two, four, or six times as 

 much per acre, and yet are not so valuable for hay. 

 It is much cheaper to cut the feed for fourteen cows 

 from five or six rods per day, than to cut it from 

 ten, twenty, or thirty rods. "One acre of clover," 

 says Mr. H. Lewis, "will feed a dairj' of forty-five 

 cows fifteen days," and he adds that three acres fur- 

 nishes his herd of thirty-eight cows by soiling five 

 weeks. Mr. E. W. Stewart says: "Desiring to 

 know the feeding capacity of an acre of clover, I 

 measured off forty square rods, and I began feeding 



