The Harrison times., 1915-10-02
CLASSES OF FORAGE CROPS,

Any vegetable matter fresh or cured
eatsn by live stock such as hay, grain
fodder, or silags is included In the
class of forage and those crops grown
primarily for that purpose are known
as forage crops, Whenever a cereal
crop Is grown for hay, pasture, or sill
age It too Is called forage crop,
Every farm maintains a few head OF
live stock for which 1t Is necessary
to provide feed The most successful
men are growing the feed at home to
avoid the necessity OF buying.
Onehalf of the total acreage OF
American forage plants consists Of t.
mothy and clovers, but the greatest
amount OF roughage is produced from
corn. Over Ave million acres Of alfal
ia are now being grown In the United
States. Much wheat oats. rye. millet,
sorghum and Sudan grass are grown
for rough forage. Cow peas, soy beans,
the clovers, and many tame grasses
such as Bermuda, orchard grass, red
top, and crab grass are grown to a
considerable extent for hay and pas
ture. In addition to all of the above
there are more than seventeen million
acres left to wild grasses. Forage IN
the United States exceeds In value
that Of all other crops.
Legumes, while not grown so ex
tensively as grasses, are more valua.
BILE, pound for pound, because they al.
most uniformly have higher protein
or flesh forming content than other
crops. or more than one hundred le,
gumes comparatively few are Of agri
cultural value in Arkansas.
The grasses are either annual like
sorghum, millet, or Sudan grass, or
perennial like orchard grass, Bermu
da, or Johnson grass The roots OF
grasses are very small and usually
live for only one season. AS compared
with other crops grass seeds do not
have a high terminating power.
The class of forage crops known as
legumes includes peas, beans, alfalfa
clovers, vetches, and many others
This forms most important agricul
tural class of plants in that most OF
Its members have the ability to use
free nitrogen taken from the atmos
phsre by the aid Of certain bacteria
that forms nodules on the roots. Very
few other plants and none Of agricul
tural value In Arkansas have this
ability. These facts have been known
only for comparatively short time
That the nodules on the roots OF
these plants contained bacteria was
not discovered until 1866, and it was
not until 1887 that Hellriegel demon
strated that leguminous plants could
utilize atmospheric nitrogen by aid OF
these bacteria in the root nodules. II
was hhOWu 0N0u DOlclo Alll loI llldt
the growing OF cetain legumes help
Cd succeeding crops, but the reason
was not known until the recent dis
coveries.
The organism causing the nodues
on leguminous plants occurs in many
different forms because In only few
instances has 1t seemed possible to
inoculate one crop with the organ
isms from another. According to Pi
per the only proven case Of this Is
that Of alfalfa and sweet clover, either
Of which can be inoculated with the
organisms from the other.
The root nodules on various le-
gumes vary widely In size, shape and
abundance. On most clovers they
are small, globular and oftentimea
club shaped. On alfalfa they are
usually some longer and oftentimea
more branched. On vetches they are
very much branched and often fan.
shaped. On cowpeas, peanuts, and
most beans they are irregularly glob.
ular and solid, The soy bean nodules
are also globular, but have raised
ridges on the surface. II Is said that
the velvet bean sometimes has no,
dulles az large AZ a baseball. Some OF
tho lesuminous crops Of Arkansas, al.
falfa for example, are dependent upon
the presence Of the nodule organisms
for their successful growth. While
other legumes will do well on fertile
soils without the presence of the or.
Eanisms, experiments show the pres.
enoe OF the organism is beneficial 20
the crop.
Many people have the mistaken idea
that leguminous plants gather nitro
zen through their leaves, The bac.
terra in the nodules on the roots real,
ly take their nitrogen from the air