FORAGE CROPS 



FORAGE CROPS 



303 



FORAGE CROPS. 



Forage is herbage food, whether green or cured. 

 The forage crops are grasses (whether utilized in 

 meadows, pastures or otherwise), all coarse natural 

 grazing crops such as animals are likely to find 

 provided in nature, and miscellaneous roots and 

 vegetative parts grown specifically for feeding 

 purposes. They are distinguished from the threshed 

 grains and all manufactured products. It will be 

 seen at once that there are two cultural groups 

 comprised in the class of forage crops, — the group 

 occupying the land for a series of years (meadows 

 and pastures), and the group comprising the 

 annual-grown or biennial-grown plants (as maize, 

 cowpea, pea, millet, roots). These groups overlap, 

 however, so that no hard and fast line can be 

 drawn between them. 



The word roughage is applied to the coarser for- 

 age products, as maize, cowpeas, kafir corn ; some- 

 times it is used as equivalent to forage. 



Fodder is practically equivalent to the word for- 

 age, but is less specific ; it is by some restricted to 

 dried or cured forage. The word is commonly used 

 for the coarser kinds, in distinction from hay. 



Soiling is the feeding of green harvested forage 

 direct from the field to the animals. The feed is 

 carried to them. This system is distinguished from 

 pasturing. The animals are kept in small enclo- 

 sures or in stalls, and thereby their feed is regu- 

 lated and the crop is not injured by them. The term 

 is probably derived from that use or origin of the 

 verb to soil that indicates to satisfy or to Jill. 



A species of pasturing is sometimes known as 

 soiling. By means of movable fences, the animals 

 are allowed to graze a part of the crop clean, and 

 then to move on at the 

 next feeding to fresh for- ^^M 

 aging. This use of the 

 term is allowable, since 

 the object is the same, — 

 to supply the animal 

 with a given amount of 

 succulent food : the ani- 

 mal does the harvesting. 

 This practice may _ be 

 known as pasture soiling. 



It would not do to al- 

 low animals to roam at 

 will and to gorge them- 

 selves in such crops as 

 maize, growing grain, 

 heavy alfalfa, clover or 

 cowpeas ; consequently 

 the animals are soiled on 

 these crops in one way 

 or another. 



Silage is green or un- 

 cured forage that is pre- 

 served, or ensiled, in a tight receptacle or silo. 

 Silage is discussed in Vol. Ill in its feeding rela- 

 tions. Its philosophy is discussed in the present 

 volume under Maize and Silage. 



There are several special or restricted usages of 

 the term "forage plants" or "forage crops" ; but 



common-language usage must prevail with a word 

 which has so long been general property. 



In this Cyclopedia, the main forage groups are 

 treated separately, for cultural and other reasons. 

 Some of the leading forage discussions may be 

 found under Grasses, Meadows and Pastures, Le- 

 gumes, Root-Crops, Soiling Crops, Silage. Detailed 

 information on the different kinds of forage crops 

 is given under the names of the crops, in the 

 proper alphabetic order. Some of the leading for- 

 age crops are alfalfa, cabbage, the various cereals, 

 clovers, cowpea, kafir corn, maize or Indian corn, 

 mangels, millet, rape, soybeans, sorghum, vetches. 



There are very many minor plants that are used 

 for forage in a small way now and then. Such of 

 these plants as give promise of becoming impor- 

 tant or have attracted attention are treated 

 together in this article. Many native plants are 

 foraged by live-stock now and then, but it would 

 be interminable and unprofitable to try to dis- 

 cuss them here. Their names sometimes occur in 

 current agricultural literature. Most of them have 

 been mentioned in one place or another in experi- 

 ment station literature, and they can be traced 

 through The Experiment Station Record. Unless a 

 plant has been prominently mentioned, it is not 

 discussed in this book. 



Literature 



The current periodical and bulletin literature on 

 forage crops is very large. Some of the book- 

 writings are as follows : Flint, Grasses and Forage 

 Plants, J. H. Sanders Publishing Company, Chicago; 

 Shaw, Forage Crops, Clovers, Grasses, Soiling Crops 

 and the Silo (four books). Orange Judd Company, 

 New York city ; Wallace, Clover Culture, Iowa 



Fig 411 White Flint forage com 



Yield, twelve tons per acre. New Jersey. 



Homestead, Des Moines, Iowa ; Hunt, Forage and 

 Fiber Crops in America, Orange Judd Company; 

 Beal, The Grasses of North America, two vols., 

 Henry Holt Co.; Spillman, Farm Grasses of the 

 United States, Orange Judd Company, New York ; 

 Myrick, The Book of Corn, Orange Judd Company : 



