The Coconino sun., 1921-02-04
SUN FLOWERS GOOD
 ENSILAGE EXPERT SAYS

| pert, hands in the following letter, from A. L. Haecker, one of the best known ensilage authorities in the country. The letter was forwarded to MT. Crump by his brother, Dr. T. w. Crump, of the U. s. bureau of animal husbandry with the request that he have it published in The Sun for the information of those who do not know that many other things besides corn may be profitably used for ensilage. Cron is the king of silage plants on account of its high yield and universal use, in the stock-growing country, but there are many other plants which can be made equally as well into good sil- age.
 The sorghums thrive in many of the western and southern states, and have proven not only drought-resisting but also high yielding crops; of these per haps kaffir corn is the most valuable A feeding test at the Kansas expert ment station found it the equal of h. dian corn. Kaffir corn makes excellent silage for all kinds of livestock and it's drought-resisting qualities make it a dependable crop.
 Milo maize, sorghum, feterita and Sudan grass are also members of the sorghum family, which are very val uable as silage plants, being drought resisting and yielding high tonnage per acre.
 Root crops such as sugar-beets, mangels, rutabages and tuinips, can also be sliced with good success. Beet pulp as produced from the sugar factories, has been used for many years successfully as silages. Beet tops are also easily made into silage, and in many parts of the coun- try have become a staple forage for farm animals. Where beets are free from dirt, the beet plant, both top and root can be successfully cut up and put into the silo and will come out as excellent silage
 In sugar-beet growing sections, the silo should be used to save the large crop of beet tops, which is produced each year. These tops make splen- did food especially for milk-producing cattle, and can be equally we'll fed to fattening and growing stock.
 The much despised Russian thistle of the northwest and west has been proven to make good silage. It will grow when practically nothing else will survive in long drought seasons. When cut while still green and put in to the silo, it undergoes fermentation and comes out as excellent silage, rel ished by all farm animals.
 Sun flowers have also proven to be good silage plants and big yielders. At the Montana experiment station they were successfully tested out during the year 1918. They have the advan- tage of a very high yield; often run ming as high as 20 tons per acre. The siIage is relished by livestock and has corn. In many of the western states, wild sunflowers are a noxious weed and grow in the corn field with such luxuriance, that they sometimes get ! the start of the corn and will make up one-half of the crop. l have seen corn and wild sunfowers harvested where the sunflowers composed two thirds of the tonnage. The silage pro- duced was not only relished by the stock, but also proved high in food nutriments.
 Many of the weeds, such as pig weed, pigeon grass and bind weed, will also make fairly good silage, and | for this reason, a corn crop which has been taken by the weeds can be prof. itably and successfully harvested as silage. As the heat moisture produced in the process of fermentation will de- stroy all weed seeds, there is no dan ger of making the ground foul by putting weeds in the silo.
 Cane tops have been successfully si- loed in the southern states and in the Hawaiian islands. As the tops are not of value in sugar-making, they can be successfully put into the silo and turn ed to great value in feeding livestock. The silo will yet come into its proper use.
 In this reconstruction period when the demand is so great for stock and and stock products, all forage plants should be put to their most valuable use. Many of the hay crops, such as clover, alfalfa, timothy, millet, oats, peas and soy-beans in wet seasons when hay making is difficult, can be profitably sliced and in this way, will not only be saved, but turned to val uable end. Practically all our prass