• 191 



Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. 



Crops to Raise for the Silo. 



In Illinois corn seems to be the best single crop for the silo. 

 lit not only produces a large quantity of nutritious feed that is 

 leasily placed in the silo, but it is of such a nature as to pack 

 Teadilv and keep well. The large southern varieties of ensilage 

 Icom which give enormous yields in tons per acre, have been 

 i recommended for silage; but such varieties do not produce much 

 J grain and the total nutrients are usually less than from ordinary 

 field com The best results are obtained with some variety that 

 I will give a good yield of grain, and by planting somewhat thicker 

 ithan for a grain crop. Under average conditions a larger ton- 

 nage of feed can usually be obtained per acre by combining com, 

 : sorghum and cowpeas or soy beans, but even with this combina- 

 tion the greater part of the crop should be corn. 



Legumes, as clover and cowpeas, have the power, through 

 bacteria on their roots, of utilizing the free nitrogen of the air 

 and storing up within themselves a comparatively large amount 

 of that most necessary constituent of food known as protein. 

 By so doing they not only prcxluce a food rich in protein without 

 exhausting the soil, but enrich the soil by adding to its mtrogen. 

 While they do not benefit the crop they are grown with, they do 

 benefit the succeeding ones. When either peas or beans are 

 erown With the com and the entire crop is put into the- silo, the 

 feeding value is greater, ton for ton, than that of com alone. 

 This is a much more economical method of obtaining protein 

 than by purchasing it in high priced concentrates, as gluten meal, 

 oil meal, etc. 



If cowpeas are planted at the same time as the corn and in 

 the rows with it, they will usually make a fair growth, as shown 

 in Cut S Since the vines will run up the com stalks, the entire 

 crop can be cut with the binder the same as com alone, making 

 practically no extra work in filling the silo. The only difficulty 

 in harvesting corn and cowpeas with the corn binder is that, if 

 the com is missing for a rod in the row, there is nothing to 

 ■carry the peas back into the binder, and it is likely to clog. 

 Where there is a fairly uniform stand of corn, all can be readily 

 bound together. As the stalks of soy beans are much stiffer 

 than those of cowpeas, no difficulty is experienced m cutting 

 them with the corn. 



