172 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



ing large crops of coarse forage under favorable conditions, it is 

 usually inferior to the foxtail millets for hay, and to corn for soilage. 

 The broom-corn millets, previously described, are grown chiefly for 

 seed production, as the yield of forage is low and the stems woody. 

 Pearl millet, also called pencillaria or cat-tail millet, is adapted to the 

 same conditions as the sorghums, which have proven more valuable 

 and have largely displaced it in both the semi-arid regions and the 

 South. As a soiling crop this tall growing grass has value in the 

 southern states, yielding three or more cuttings in a season. It should 

 be cut when 3 to 4 feet high, before the stems become hard. 



Teosinte, a giant millet resembling sorghum, requires a rich, moist 

 soil and is too tropical to have value north of the southern portion of 

 the Gulf states. The culture of this grass is decreasing in the United 

 States, because on moderately fertile soils it yields less than sorghum, 

 and on rich land less than Japanese cane. 



Cereal grains for forage. — All the small grains are suitable for hay, 

 soilage, and pasturage. Over four million acres of small grains were 

 cut for hay in 1909, half of this area being in the Pacific coast states. 

 More than 40 per ct. of the hay grown in the southeastern coast states 

 is from the small grains. Cereals should be cut for hay when the 

 grains are in the early milk stage, and the bearded grains before the 

 awns harden. 



In the North fall-sown rye or wheat furnishes excellent late fall and 

 early spring pasture and soilage, while spring-sown oats or barley 

 provide green forage in early summer. Barley, being more rust resist- 

 ant, is the best cereal grass for late summer seeding. In the South 

 fall-sown grains may be pastured moderately thru the winter and will 

 still yield considerable hay or grain. Green rye gives a bad flavor to 

 milk unless the cows are pastured on it for but two or three hours 

 after milking. A field' sown to rye, wheat, oats, or barley for tem- 

 porary pasture may be changed to a permanent one by sowing clover 

 and grass seed thereon early in spring. The grass and clover plants 

 will then begin growth under shelter of the young grain. Stock may 

 graze on the cereal plants regardless of the young grasses and clovers 

 but should be kept off the fields after rains. As the cereal plants 

 gradually die, the grasses and clovers spread until they form a dense, 

 permanent sod. 



If ensiled when the kernels are just past the milk stage or slightly 

 earlier, the cereals make fair to good silage. The crop should be run 

 thru a silage cutter and unusual care taken in tramping down the 

 mass to force the air out of the hollow stems. 



Bermuda grass. — This low-growing, creeping grass is to the cotton 

 belt what bluegrass and timothy combined are to the northeastern 



