BuBBAu OF Agbioultuee, 257 



I have been very favorably impressed with some of 

 the so-called non-saccharine sorghums, such as yellow 

 millo maize and white millo maize. They produce a 

 greater growth of blade than sorghum, resembling com 

 in this respect, and possess some of the productiveness 

 of common sorghum. They seem to me, from their habit, 

 well suited to produce large quantities of green fodder 

 and of silage. They have yielded in small plots from 

 25 to 28 tons of green fodder per acre, making about 14 

 tons of dry forage. All these sorghums seem to have the 

 advantage of corn in standing drought better, but the 

 fodder is a little harsher. 



The sorghums should be recognized as an estab- 

 lished feature of our agriculture. We have occasional 

 dry seasons that cut down the corn crop so as to leave 

 the farmer, with stock on his hands, in a precarious con- 

 dition. He can generally count on the sorghums to come 

 through such dry weather in pretty good condition, and 

 it is always wise on stock farms to have a reserve of 

 sorghum kept as a precaution against failure of the com 

 crop. The variety in diet it will affoi'd is of itself a 

 desideratum even when the com crop is abundant. 



In non-saccharine sorghums we have giant grasses 

 that furnish no food to man, and since I have opened up 

 this branch of my subject, I may as well consider briefly 

 a few others of importance, pausing now only to call 

 attention to root crops which furnish us food, and are 

 calculated to provide palatable fare for domestic ani- 

 mals. Beets, mangels, turnips, carrots, are a very con- 

 venient form in which to preserve fresh vegetable food 

 for stock in the winter. They keep well in either cellar, 

 or buried out of doors, and for the best health of dairy 

 cattle ought to be provided. 



Of the millets, we have tested nothing more promis- 

 ing than German millet, which I think has come to stay, 

 though not as much grown now as it will be later. In 

 America it is used only for stock, but it has been grown 

 for food for centuries — seems even to have been one of 

 the grasses gathered by pre-historic man, and is still 

 used for food in eastern countries. 



Japan millet shows no qualities to commend it es- 

 pecially. It is closely related to our common barn-yard 

 grass, and has been considered only a variety. 



agr. — 9 



