6 Colorado Experiment Station. 
more properly designate as a chemical study of the fodder. It was 
advisable then from either standpoint to study the effects of the 
hay when fed alone, and it is not intended that any statement made 
shall be construed as indicating that hay made from this plant 
might not give more satisfactory results than will be presented in 
this bulletin if properly mixed with some other fodder but, as al¬ 
ready stated, the conditions under which it would have to be fed 
have alone been considered. 
So far as the readiness with which this saltbush can be grown 
is concerned and its ability to make a good growth with a small 
supply of water it commends itself. The other questions pertaining 
to it may be succinctly stated in a few words, does it present 
difficulties in cutting and being made into hay, will animals eat it 
readily and do they do well on it, i. e., does it furnish sufficient 
nourishment to maintain or perhaps fatten the animals ? 
Under our conditions the plant is an annual which forms a 
spreading mass of growth on the ground, unless planted very thick, 
as it is apt to be in the case of self-seeding, when it might be 
feasible to mow it and handle it as we handle alfalfa in hay mak¬ 
ing. If, however, the plants are single it would seem necessary to 
adopt some other system of gathering it, probably the best method 
would be to turn up one side of the row and cut off the root with a 
chisel-like instrument. It would have to be handled as green as pos¬ 
sible as, when dry, the leaves drop off badly. 
The statement is made that animals eat it readily. To again 
quote the California Bulletin 125, p. 8: “At Tulare sub-station 
saltbush was fed to sheep, cattle, horses and hogs. With sheep the 
ration was increased until some received nearly their whole sus¬ 
tenance for months at a time from this plant, keeping in excellent 
condition, and being turned off to the butcher as Tat mutton’ with¬ 
out any other food except a little straw.” 
Other testimony on this point given on the same page, but by 
correspondents, is by no means so favorable, for some say “stock 
won’t eat it.” All shades of opinion between these two extremes 
seem to have been expressed by the correspondents in regard to 
the readiness with which it is eaten. On page 26 of the same bul¬ 
letin, Prof. Jaffa states: “It is not advisable to feed the saltbush 
alone, particularly in the air-dried state, owing to the high per¬ 
centage of the saline ingredients, and the general uninviting ap¬ 
pearance and condition of the saltbush hay. In cases of emergencv, 
liowever, sheep and cattle have existed altogether on this material 
through an entire season.” These quoted statements, at least some 
of them, are general statements which contemplate other saltbushes 
as well as the A. semibaccafa, which is the one had in mind in this 
bulletin. 
