VARIOUS CROPS FOR SILAGE. 155 



silo with corn, or with cow peas, field peas or other legume, 

 and with success. 



Further information regarding the sorghum crops for silage, 

 including the latest experiments along that line, will be found in 

 Chapter VIII., where silage crops for the Semi-Arid Regions are 

 discussed. 



Sorghum bagasse is the name given to the crushed stalk of 

 sorghum cane, and has been used with some success as silage. 

 In Prof. Henry's "Feeds and Feeding," he says: "The bagasse, or 

 waste, of the sorghum syrup factories, which has considerable 

 feeding value, should not be wasted, but may be satisfactorily 

 ensiled." Naturally, bagasse is a little dryer than most crops as 

 they are put into the silo, and the addition of water would greatly 

 assist in packing it tight enough together to keep out the air and 

 thus prevent spoiling. Com may be mixed with the bagasse if 

 desired. As a, safeguard against spoilage, the bagasse should be 

 siloed as soon as It comes from the mill and in considerable 

 quantity each day. 



Feterita is a comparatively new semi-arid crop that has abso- 

 lutely proved Itself as an early maturing drouth-resistant feed. 

 Its superiority over any similar crop was conspicuous under the 

 severe conditions of 1914 throughout Oklahoma. It is generally 

 conceded to be almost exactly the equal of kafir corn and milo 

 maize In food value and in its proportion of various elements, and 

 since both of these crops make excellent silage it will doubtle.ss 

 follow in the same class. A large number of silo owners in the 

 Southwest have tested out this crop with success. The Ft. Hays 

 Branch Experiment Station in Kansas used a daily ration of 15.4 

 pounds feterita silage in connection with alfalfa hay in feeding 

 tests with two-year-old heifers during 1915-16 and wintered them 

 at a cost of 6.3 cents a day each. The feterita silage was relished 

 though much of it was a little dry and slightly moldy. The kaflr 

 silage in this test was better preserved and more palatable. 



Teosinte. — This forage plant in tassel and appearance closely 

 resembles corn with no ear formed. Stock relish it and its food 

 value is high. It Is very juicy and succulent and has been suc- 

 cessfully siloed, but is not so good for this purpose as corn. Burk- 

 ett says that if allowed to mature and used as dry fodder it makes 

 a very heavy yield, running several tons of dry matter to the acre. 

 It demands a rich soil with a good deal of moisture, and is partial 



