SORGHUM 217 



cannot make headway against them. For hay pur- 

 poses, cut when the grain is in the dough, using a 

 mower, binder, or, if planted in rows, a corn har- 

 vester. After cutting allow the sorghum to remain 

 on the ground until it is partially cured, then rake 

 up and store in shocks. Little difficulty is encoun- 

 tered in curing and if good-sized shocks are made 

 they will, as a rule, turn the water. The sorghum 

 hay can either be fed from the shocks or taken to 

 the barn and fed or stored in stacks. From 3 to 

 12 or 15 tons of cured forage are made to the acre. 

 Two cuttings give larger returns than a single 

 cutting. More forage will generally be obtained 

 from the sorghum than if the same land were given 

 over to corn. 



As a soiling crop sorghum is well liked. At any 

 time during the summer the green forage can be 

 fed to all classes of live stock, but it is generally 

 used for feeding dairy cows. It is not advisable 

 to allow either sheep or cattle to have free access 

 to a green sorghum until they have got used to it, 

 and often then death may occur to some, due to the 

 prussic acid that is formed when sorghum is cured 

 into hay. Feeding is done as with corn stover, 

 either in the barn lot or in the open fields. As a 

 silo crop sorghum has not proved a success. The 

 most satisfactory returns from feeding the grain 

 are secured when ground and fed in connection 

 with some other feeding stuff relatively rich in 

 protein. 



Harvesting for Fodder. — Two methods may be 

 followed in harvesting sorghum. The most com- 

 mon is to cut with mower, let it cure for a few days, 

 then pile up in large shocks 8 or 10 feet high, and 

 let it remain in the field until wanted for feed or 



