NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION, 1913-1922 63 
to make it exceed any of the other silage crops in feeding value. 
On the average, corn perhaps is the best forage crop for either fodder 
or silage. 
OTHER FORAGE CROPS 
A number of other forage crops, such as field peas, rape, chick- 
peas, vetch, soy beans, and cowpeas, have been grown. None of 
these produced yields that compared favorably with the millets, 
sorgos, or alfalfa. 
SUMMARY OF FORAGE-CROP EXPERIMENTS 
Alfalfa is the best legume hay that has been grown at the station. 
Only hardy varieties should be grown, as common alfalfa ordinarily 
will winterkill in this area, and during a combination of severe con- 
ditions even the most hardy varieties may be killed. 
Sweetclover does not yield on the average as much as alfalfa. It 
winterkills, to some extent, nearly every year. It is difficult under 
dry-land conditions to get a stand of sweetclover, and it must be 
seeded every year. 
Brome grass produces good hay, but does not yield as heavily as 
crested wheatgrass, which produces hay of high quality. 
Millets are of value as crops that can be sown late. Dakota 
Kursk, Siberian, and Gold Mine, are the best varieties for this area. 
They may be exceeded in yield, in favorable seasons, by later-growing 
varieties, but the coarse hay from these latter is of inferior quality. 
Corn and sorgo have been grown for both fodder and silage. Red 
Amber sorgo has produced. the highest yield per acre. It is no 
doubt surpassed by corn in feeding value. Dakota Amber sorgo has 
matured regularly, and is the most satisfactory forage sorghum for 
conditions similar to those in this region. Sudan grass makes a 
fodder of good quality, but its yield is low. 
VARIETAL TESTS WITH CORN 
Varietal tests with corn have been conducted in cooperation with 
the Office of Cereal Investigations during the eight-year period from 
1915 to 1922, inclusive. Twelve flint and 18 dent varieties have been 
involved in these tests. 
During the three years 1915-1917 the varieties of corn were on 
heavy soil in the south field. From 1918 to 1922, inclusive, they 
were on light soil in field M, which adjoins the main field in which the 
crop rotations are located. The crop-rotation results show the 
lighter soil to be the better for corn. According to those results 
yields would have been obtained in 1917 if the varieties had been on 
the lghter soil that year. 
The varietal tests usually have been on spring-plowed ground 
following small grains. The cultural methods have been the same 
as in the crop-rotation work. The planting has been done with a 
two-horse planter, the rows being drilled 44 inches apart and the 
plants thinned to 18 inches apart in the row. Planting dates have 
been confined to narrow limits, from May 18 to May 23, an extreme 
range of five days in the eight years. The harvesting, in most cases, 
was done with a corn binder. In 1921 the flint varieties were so 
short that it was necessary to cut them by hand, and in 1922 all 
varieties were husked from the standing stalks. 
