STEER FEEDING IX THE SUGAR-CANE BELT 3 
satisfactory crop, and is in poor physical condition on account of 
the lack of humus. Cane tops, cotton stalks, and rice straw have 
been burned ordinarily, and the bagasse — sugar cane which has 
gone through the mills — has not been put back on the land. The 
cottonseed and rice have been shipped away. 
Since the production of legumes is one of the best ways to add 
nitrogen and humus to the soil, and since much of the fertilizing 
constituents of crops can be returned to the soil by feeding them 
to livestock, it seems highly desirable to determine to what extent 
livestock production can be carried on advantageously in this dis- 
trict. 
OBJECT OF THE EXPERIMENTS 
The primary object of the experiments reported in this bulletin 
was to determine the relative efficiency of different silage crops in 
Fig. 3. — Steers of lot 8, 1916-17, at the beginning of the experiment. They were 
fattened on whole sugar-cane silage and cottonseed meal 
combination with cottonseed meal, when fed with and without mo- 
lasses to steers from 2 to 3 years old. 
CATTLE USED IN EXPERIMENTS 
Of the 90 head used in the first winter's work, 23 were high-grade 
Shorthorn and Hereford steers purchased at Fort Worth, Tex., and 
67. of which the majority showed at least one cross of a beef breed, 
were purchased in Mississippi. All the 60 steers used during each of 
the second and third winters were purchased in Mississippi and 
were similar in breeding to the Mississippi cattle used the first year. 
In the fourth winter 56 high-grade Hereford and Shorthorn steers 
purchased on the Fort Worth market were used. They showed more 
quality, were of better breeding, and were in better condition than 
any steers fed in the previous years. Lots, consisting of 15 animals 
each the first year, 10 each in the second and third, and 8 each in 
the fourth, were made as nearly uniform as possible in breeding, 
weight, conformation, quality, and condition. Some of the cattle 
used in the experiments are shown in Figures 2 and 3. 
