THE GRASS CROP 



I I 



grain hay consists mostly of oats cut and fed in the 

 sheaf, and of cow-peas. The thick patch of grain hay 

 shown in southern Louisiana consists entirely of cow- 

 peas grown on sugar plantations, both for hay and for 

 their fertilizing effect on the soil. At the North, Cana- 

 dian field peas are sometimes sown with oats for hay, 

 but the area is quite limited. They hardly extend as 

 far south as central Pennsylvania and central Ohio. 



The hay crop next in importance is alfalfa, of 

 wdiich 2,094,000 acres is reported in the Census ol 

 1900. This is confined almost entirely to the West, 

 and largely to irrigated land in that section. Alfalfa, 

 as an important crop, stops at the western limit of 

 " other tame grasses," as shown in Fig. 17. It is now 

 rapidly gaining ground in the East and South. The 

 average yield per acre is 2.5 tons — nearly double that 

 of any of the preceding crops. 



Last in the list of tame hay crops are ' ' Millet and 

 ^Hungarian grasses." Of these, 1,744,000 acres are 

 shown in the census returns, with an average yield of 

 1 . 6 tons per acre. Their distribution is shown in Fig. 

 20, and the millet crop is discussed in detail in Chapter 

 VIII. 



The acreage of forage crops is placed at 3,107,000. 

 The average }deld of dry forage is 2.6 tons per acre. 

 Kansas leads in the production of forage. Sorghum 

 and Kafir-corn are eminently adapted to the western 

 margin of the humid region ; sorghum does equally 

 well in the whole of the cotton-producing section, 

 where it is highly important as a fodder crop. It is 

 also much used in the South as a green feed for sum- 

 mer and as pasture for all kinds of stock. 



