226 FORAGE CROPS 
advantage of furnishing a practically continuous 
supply of forage during the growing season. That 
this may be accomplished, it is necessary that a 
large part of the crop shall be cut either too early 
or too late; therefore it is desirable to have other 
forage crops if the very best results are to be 
reached. Care should be exercised when using it 
for soiling, particularly in the early cuttings, as 
animals are very fond of it and are likely to eat 
so much as to cause bloating. Animals have been 
soiled, with success, at the New Jersey Experi- 
ment Station for the past eight years, and notrouble 
has been eneountered, probably due to the fact that 
the animals, previous to feeding on alfalfa, have 
been supplied with other succulent forage, and the 
quantities have been adjusted so that there should 
not be an excess for any one animal. In the early 
cuttings, from thirty-five to forty pounds per day 
usually are fed, gradually increasing to fifty 
pounds on the third day after beginning. After 
once started in this way, there is no danger, and 
only favorable results are likely to follow. 
Another peculiar advantage of the soiling for- 
age is its richness in digestible protein; fifty 
pounds of the green forage will furnish very nearly 
two pounds of digestible protein. Therefore, the 
feeds used with alfalfa should contain more car- 
bohydrates than are usually fed with forage. A 
mixture of feeds that would make a good ration 
