FORAGE CROPS 



FORAGE CROPS 



305 



ing crop successions have been published by the 

 experiment stations, those by the New Jersey, 

 Connecticut (Storrs) and the Massachusetts Stations 

 probably being the best. 



The preservation of herbage in an air-dried state 

 for winter use is a common practice in all countries 

 where snow covers the ground part of the year. 

 In the northern part of the United States, east of 

 the Mississippi, grasses and clovers are more gen- 

 erally grown for hay than any other crops. In the 

 southern belt of states cowpeas, soybeans and 

 Japan and crimson clovers form the chief hay crops, 

 while in parts of the Rocky mountain region and 

 Pacific coast states alfalfa is grown almost exclu- 

 sively as a dry fodder. On many farms where dairy- 

 ing is an important branch of farming the grain 

 crops, cut before the seed is matured, add much to 

 the supply of dry fodder. Some of the annual 

 grasses, such as the millets and Hungarian grass, are 

 grown in most of the states. These prove especially 

 valuable because of the short period needed for 

 their growth and the large yields given by some 

 varieties, especially the Japanese millet. They often 

 prove useful to supplement the regular hay crop 

 during seasons of shortage in that crop. In some 

 of the southern states and in Kansas and Nebraska, 

 sorghum and kafir com are grown considerably and 

 iield-dried as cattle feeds. These crops thrive better 

 in regions of low rainfall than do the common 

 grasses or maize. In the older states of the East, 

 the stover of the corn crop has been carefully saved 

 and utilized for many years, but in the great corn 

 belt, up to within a few years, this part of the 

 crop has been left in the field to be used only for 

 grazing, while much of it was trampled by the cat- 

 tle and thus wasted. As a system of mixed hus- 

 bandry replaced exclusive grain-growing, the value 

 of the stover was more fully appreciated, and the 

 crop is now generally saved and used in feeding. 



The preservation of forage in the form of 

 silage has given rise to a newer branch of for- 

 age-cropping. It affords a means of preserving 

 coarse, bulky fodders, that can be dried only 

 with difficulty, in a small space, and thus renders 

 them available in a succulent form when 

 green feeds cannot be obtained. While the 

 preservation of fodders in a closed pit was 

 practiced in Germany before 1850, the first 

 experiments with the silo in this country 

 were made in 1875. At first their introduc- 

 tion was slow, but they soon found many 

 advocates, and since 1880 their use has - ^ 

 increased rapidly. The chief reason for the >?^*i> 

 general adoption of the silo in the northern ^' _. 

 belt of states is that corn, a crop well 

 adapted to the climate, is the best one for 

 preserving in the silo, coupled with the 

 fact that silage is a cheap and valuable feed for 

 dairy stock. Silage is not likely to replace dry 

 fodders, yet in all of the older states it has become 

 an important adjunct to the older system of dry 

 feeding, particularly for the dairy. 



The growing of forage crops lies at the founda- 

 tion of the practice of mixed husbandry. The 

 rearing of live-stock and the marketing of the 



B20 



greater part of the farm crops in the form of 

 animal products affords greater immediate profit 

 and causes a smaller drain on soil fertility than 

 does the direct sale of farm crops. Except in warm 

 climates, animal husbandry, and especially dairying, 

 can be practiced successfully only where forage is 

 grown and stored for winter use. As the market 

 value of grains becomes higher, owing to the 

 increasing demand for cereal foods by man, forage- 

 cropping is sure to take a more prominent place 

 in animal husbandry, and effort will be made to 

 ' produce forage of higher food value. 



The great group of forage crops comprised in 

 the grass family are all deficient in protein, while 

 .the plants of the clover family are relatively rich 

 in protein. The tendency of late years has been to 

 grow more forage of the plants of the clover 

 family, and their use for this purpose is likely to 

 increase as grain-feeds become more expensive. 



Forage-cropping affords opportunity for a more 

 complete system of crop rotation than does grain- 

 farming. On all stock- or dairy - farms a rotation 

 should be arranged so as to include grasses and 

 clovers, the smaller cereals, and com grown for 

 silage or for grain. A valuable rotation on dairy- 

 farms will be found to be a six-years plan consist- 

 ing of (1) rye sown after grass, with clover as a 

 cover-crop ; (2) corn, with a cover-crop of rye or 

 clover ; (3) oats ; (4) clover and mixed grasses, to 

 be continued for three years. 



Where the winters are mild and the ground is 

 free from snow much of the time, there is great 

 waste of fertility unless a winter cover is provided. 

 Forage crops like rye, rape and clover, often can 

 be grown for this purpose, and at the same time 

 furnish valuable pasturage in the fall or spring. 

 The adaptability of the crimson and the Japan 

 clovers to the mild climate of the South makes 

 these crops particularly valuable as cover-crops 

 in that part of the country. Experiments at the 

 Minnesota Experiment Station have shown that 

 continuous grain-growing is very wasteful of soil 

 fertility, not so much because of the large amount 

 of plant- food removed by the crops as because of 



'^^^^B^^'^^ ■-■■■■ 



Fig. 413. Hay-stacking scene in Oregon. 



the decomposition of the humus and the loss from 

 the surface soil of the soluble constituents. A 

 rotation with cereals and clover was found greatly 

 to reduce the loss from what took place under 

 continuous grain-culture. Most forage crops are 

 also directly less exhaustive of soil fertility than 

 the grain crops, and than many of the truck crops. 

 The grass crop serves, in a measure, as a soil-reno- 



