166 CROPS FOR SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 



had very good success by putting barley, wheat, or rye crops into 

 the silo and cutting them a, little green. However, as the stalks 

 contain so much air, they must be carefully tramped and wet 

 down to keep, and do not make first-class silage, although they 

 are good. 



"In sections where sugar beets are grown, the tops are put 

 into the silo with good success, with not only a large saving 

 made on the crop, but they make excellent silage. 



"Cow peas and soy beans are grown in some localities very 

 successfully, and they make first-class silage. Sorghum is another 

 crop which- makes very good silage if allowed to mature fairly 

 well. It grows abundantly, ' both in the irrigated and the dry- 

 farming sections and yields heavily. 



"While there\ are a few other crops which undoubtedly will 

 prove to be ^ood for silage, they have not yet been tried out. We 

 have a great many grasses which, some of them, may prove 

 valuable for silage." 



Arizona, Colorado, etc. — A. B. Vinson of the Arizona Station 

 says that: "In certain sections of the semi-arid countries where 

 dry-farming can be practiced or fiood-water utilized in growing 

 corn and sorghum, the silo will probably be found to enable the 

 feeder to use more advantageously the natural pastures, which 

 during part of the year produce more than enough forage for the 

 herds and fiocks that can be permanently maintained upon them. 

 "The advantages to be anticipated from silos in Arizona are 

 several. A supply of succulent feed could be kept available for 

 the short winter -period of poor pasture and again for the long 

 period of summer drouth. This is' especially important where 

 dairying is practiced, and when there is a scant supply of irri- 

 gating water for the pastures in late spring and early summer. 

 In some localities it might be possible to grow fodder corn or 

 sorghum with the summer rains. This forage could be siloed 

 and fed to range stock during the drouth of the next year or used 

 to fatten them for the market. It has been found that as much 

 as three and one-quarter tons per acre of sorghum can be produced 

 by dry-farming methods in some parts of Arizona. This could be 

 preserved as ensilage in succulent condition until needed." 



Beet leaves and tops may be utilized to good advantage in 

 Colorado, Arizona and other sections by means of the silo. They 



