METHODS OF UTILIZING THE CROPS. 21 



The plants which can be used to advantage in Nebraska for tem- 

 porary pasture are the grains as mentioned above, rape, cowpea, and 

 soy bean. The various kinds of sorghum, especially the ordinary 

 sugar sorghum or cane, are used in Texas and northward for this pur- 

 pose. In the southern portion of this area sorghum can usually be 

 used for pasture with impunity, but in Nebraska its use in this way 

 is attended with some risk from poisoning. An account of this sub- 

 ject will be found in Bulletin No. 77, Nebraska Experiment Station. 



Meadows. — The term meadow is applied to land where the crop is cut 

 for hay, whether fenced or unfenced. When the hay is cut from native 

 grass land, the land is called a wild meadow. As shown by the statistics 

 in the first part of this bulletin, the wild meadow land of Nebraska 

 amounts to over 2,000,000 acres and produces about 2,500,000 tons of 

 hay. Nebraska leads all States in the acreage of its wild meadows. 

 The grasses composing this wild hay will be discussed in another para- 

 graph devoted to the native grasses. 



The tame meadows consist in that State of alfalfa, timothy, clover, 

 and brome-grass. Orchard grass and meadow fescue are used to a 

 limited extent and their wider use is to be recommended. 



Some annual plants are widely used for hay, such as millet, sorghum, 

 Kafir corn, and corn. For this purpose the last three are sown thickly 

 in order to produce a large number of small stalks. 



These coarse plants are often grown in rows and cultivated, the 

 nearly mature stalks being cut by hand or with a corn binder and 

 shocked, when the dried material is called fodder rather than hay. In 

 a general sense, however, it is hay and contributes no inconsiderable 

 amount to the sum total of dry, rough feed. The same remarks are 

 true of the corn fodder which results after the ears have been removed, 

 although such fodder if it is gathered at the time most favorable for 

 grain production from necessity is relatively poorer in nutrient material 

 than that cut earlier. Ordinary corn fodder has about the same feed- 

 ing value as oat straw. When corn is. husked in the field the remain- 

 ing stalks are usually utilized by turning stock upon them. Aside 

 from the waste grain recovered such stalks have very little nutriment. 



In the Southern States the cowpeas and soy beans are widely used 

 for hay, but in Nebraska they have not been used for this purpose, for 

 which they are not so well adapted as other hay plants. 



Soiling crops. — The feeding of cut green forage to stock in the stall, 

 yard, or pasture is known as soiling. The advantage of soiling is the 

 saving of fodder when compared with pasturing upon the same field, as 

 in the latter case there is some loss from trampling. This is especially 

 true of the coarse fodders, such as corn and sorghum. Other advan- 

 tages of minor importance are that by soiling the rations of animals 

 may be more definitely controlled, that fodder may be taken from 

 fields a part of which is to be used for other purposes, and that this 



