Gunnison news-champion., 1921-11-25
EOTH SIDES OF THE sun
FLOWER SILAGE QUESTION
Colorado and New Mexico Expert
meai Stations Report on the Crop

Two uEnlg Interesting reports on
auEEUuuT EIage are contained in the
f5a,0alHg f1OL the Colorado and NeE
Mexico Agricultural Experiment sta
-ul-. The un7t article b. By Prof.
Alvin hEETr, Chief AETUHpmsSt OF the
Colorado Agricultural college. Who
reports ou the dlEicEIties experienced
in harvesting EuHiowcTs, and men-
tIuua the sIul0waT rust that cut the
yield u Colorado during the past sum
meg. The second D. 4 review Of a
bulletin just iHued By the New Mex
leo station, which ggeE fully into every
phase Of EuHfl0wcr growing and utili-
ration Both reports are worth care
ful reading. NewB-Champi0n prints
them because the bulk Of agricultural
land Of Guuu.sou county falls ia the
border line, above the corn belt, where
Ee cannot hope 20 grow il as a silage
crop, and g1t apparently within the
limits 0f successful sUnfioweF culture.
For ss-"ral year the mammoth Rus
sian sunf0wcrs have been tried out
here and hav. proven frost resistant
10 a point where they make an almost
certain siiagy crop. II we can raise
sgch a crop with ten or twenty tons
20 tho acre, it will make 4 new era in
the stock business boz our county. The
thIugs 70 zOlv" yet are how 10 feed in
our colder climate and how 70 build
silos that viii stand the winters.
The Colorado Report
We had out 9.59 acres Of sunflowers
this year. These gave Us a yield Of
1887 tons per acre. The yield was
cut down By the sunhow.r rust, which
affected our crop rather seriously. We
were not alone In the damage from
sunhowvr rust because We were get
ting complaints from all over the
statr. In our case. however. the rust
practically dcnudcd the sunfowers Of
leaves and probably reduced the yield
90 per cent, due to the loss IN weight
IN the leaves themselves, and probably
reduced the yield somwhat more in
the loss OF growth.
We tired TO use a binder 20 harvest
the sunf0wers in order TO reduce hand
labor, but We had to give il up. as the
heads on the sunfowers were so
heavy they would twist and bend and
consequently clog up the binder so
severely that we could make better
time cutting the crop by hand using
the regular corn knife for so doing.
In our region the amount Of hand
work and the disagrpcableuess Of hand
work In harvesting Is the biggest OBJ
lection 20 the crop. II is easy 10
plant suuGUwcrs, Il l. easy 70 Culti-
vRte and irrigate them, but the rough
stems and leaves. where they have TO
be- handled By hand, make the job
exceedingly disGETecuble. A denim
jickat will Inst Just about one day for
man handling the sunfoweFs. II is
claimed hy some that the type of
com blinded which Is designed 70 cut
very tall corn. win work with the
GuHfiowcrS, but our binder does not
work succcs fully. In the first place
il clogEcd very freely. In the second
place the suuflowers were so large
that when team OF horses was
driven down them once, il was almost
impossible 20 drive them thru again.
the rOughncsS OF the stems and stalks
This made il necessary to drive them
one way in cutting. as We couldn't
conveniently make lands.
The suntlowers are somewhat heavi
er than corn, and consequently the
silo has to be more strongly construct
ed and tighter in order 70 hold them
properly.
There has been n great deal of
complaint in the past regarding the
feeding value of sunflowere. But in
my opinion n part of this complaint
has arisen because the sunfowers are
cut too green. The sunflower is simi
liar TO corn in that the greatest
amount of feed value can be secured
when the seed is fairly mature. The
feed is not so wet, can be packed
more easily in the silo, the sunfiowers
make a better silage and feeds out
much better to he stock. Our Animal
Hushandry department feels that
sunilowers have between S5 and 30 per
cent as much value as feed when con-
vertcd into silagc as we would expect
from the best corn ensilage We have
three silos filed with the silage this
year. Feeding results will be an
nounced later by the Animal Hus-
bandry departmnt. because the sun
flower silage will be used in feeding
experiments
The great advantage of sunfowers
is their ability to produce tonnage
where corn makes very low tom
mage. or where corn cannot be grown
at all. The great difficulty and in
creased cost of harvesting sunfowers
constitutes an objection to the
general adoption of them as silage
crop where corn does we'll Sunfow-
crs fill a place. They can be grown
in attitudes up to 5000 feet, and in
few localities even higher where
corn for silage cannot be grown with
any profit whatever. Thus it is pos
sible to grow n succulent feed for
winter use where corn for silage is
not possible. On the border line be-
tween the altitude where corn does
quite well but where il is quite un-
certain. sunflowers will probably find
a place. But where corn and other
similar crops do quite well, sunflowers
viii not replace them, even where they
give greater tonnage, because of the
greater expense and much greater diff
ficulty in harvesting the crop. With
methods worked out so that this har-
vest will not be SO expensive. it will
mean greater use of sunfowers be-
cause of their ability to produce a