258 TwENTY-FiBST Biennial Eepoet 



Pearl millet, sometimes called Maud's Wonder For- 

 age Plant, and Pencilaria (Penmsetum typhoideum) 

 would seem a very wonderful plant indeed if we did not 

 have com and sorghum. It is not as coarse as com, and 

 has a head somewhat like that of timothy, but reaching 

 a length of twelve inches. It is an annual, but when cut 

 in our plots made a good second growth. 



A small plot from which two cuttings were secured 

 in 1901 yielded dry fodder at the rate of 16.4 tons per 

 acre. The first cutting was made June 17, and the sec- 

 ond, September 26. The plant comes from the East, 

 where it is grown extensively for its seeds. 



We have had but one other plant in the plots that 

 produced such large quantities of fodder. This is the 

 Mexican forage plant, Teosinte (EucMaena luxurioms). 

 It is the nearest relative of com occurring in America, 

 and is much like it in the character of forage produced. 

 In 1901 we took, in a single cutting at the rate of 15.5 

 tons of dry fodder per acre. The plant produces no seeds 

 here, which puts it at a disadvantage in competing for 

 favor. It is certainly a wonderful plant for green for- 

 age, and is easily grown here. 



The Canada field pea is much like trailing varieties 

 of the garden pea, and is, I thiok, no better for forage. 

 It, also, requires some support, and should be grown with 

 oats, or a grass, if it is desired to cut it. It mildews in 

 Kentucky ; I think we are too far south for it. 



The velvet bean from the far south makes a very sur- 

 prising growth of vine, but requires a longer season than 

 ours. I have secured well developed pods from it during 

 a long mild fall, but ordinarily it is cut down by frosts 

 before it has bloomed. From what I have seen of it here, 

 I judge it to be a very valuable plant for the Gulf States. 



The cowpeas have proved the most easily managed 

 of the trailing beans, and the iron, new era, and gray 

 goose have done best in the plots, producing from 2.5 

 to 5.4 tons of hay per acre and from 20 to 40 bushels of 

 seed. 



After growing these plants for a good many years 

 side by side with soy beans, my preference is for the 

 latter as a forage plant and soil improver. It has a 

 more erect growth and is thus more easily cultivated and 



