LEGUMINOUS CROPS FOR THE DAIRY FARM

E. R. MINNS, Binghamton, N. Y.

Farm Bureau Agent, Broome County

The dairy farmer generally has several distinct problems to solve. Getting rid of the unprofitable members of the herd through the application of business methods is the one which most readily lends itself to cooperative efforts. The production of roughage in abundance without too great cost, and the economical feeding of the cows that are able to make profitable returns for it, are two very practical problems that must generally be solved for each farm by the operator. The purpose of this article is to point out how a family of cultivated plants, botanically known as the leguminosae or pea family, are ready to aid the dairy farmer in solving the feeding questions mentioned.

The part played by members of the legume family in aiding the dairy farmer to secure better and cheaper cattle feeds may be stated thus:

1. Legumes always furnish roughage and sometimes concentrates richer in digestible protein than are the fodders produced from grasses and many comparable mill feeds. With more nitrogenous hay or silage at his disposal the feeder can make a ration which will meet the requirements of milk producing animals more perfectly, and at the same time reduce the expense for purchased grain feeds. The seeds of field peas and soy beans when ground and used as concentrates might become very efficient grain feeds if they could be produced cheaply enough.

2. The method of rotating legumes with grasses or other nitrogen-hungry crops is sound agricultural practice because the legume crop increases the amount of available nitrogen in the soil for the crop following it, and has been found to benefit the nonleguminous crop grown in close association with it, as when oats and peas are sown together, or soy beans are planted with corn. This is because under suitable conditions in the soil, the nitrogengathering bacteria cause the growth of nodules or tubercles on

the roots of the legumes and free nitrogen from the air is utilized by the crops. The fact that alfalfa and the clovers are deeper rooted than other hay plants leads us to believe that these legumes are able to use the mineral plant foods stored in the subsoil out of reach of many other plants.

3. When fed to live stock, and the manure saved with care, legume fodders have more fertilizing value per ton than most. others. The difference in money value of the fertilizing constituents between two very common crops is as follows:

This represents what each of these crops would be worth as fertilizer if applied directly. About 80 per cent. of these values may be recovered from the hay if the manure is saved and handled with care. The difference in fertilizing value between nitrogenous and less nitrogenous feeds appears to affect the quality produced more than the quantity of the manure. It is good practice both for the production of milk and for maintaining the fertility of the farm, to exchange timothy hay or similar fodders for legume hay, at the prices which usually prevail.

REASONS FOR FAILURE WITII LEGUMES

The benefits from growing and feeding legumes are better known among dairymen than are the soil requirements for their production. The need of adequate drainage for successfully growing red clover is fairly well recognized but not universally heeded. As a consequence, every open winter or spring the frost pulls up the red clover plants by thousands and "winter-killing" is held responsible for the loss. Annual legumes escape this damage but may be subject to early frost damage as in the case of beans and cow peas.

The absence of lime in the soil is one of the greatest hindrances to legume culture. There are thousands of acres of land in New York which once grew clover in abundance but now rarely produces it in a paying quantity. The actual lime requirement for building the tissues of the different legumes varies somewhat from alfalfa, the most lime-hungry of the family, down to small white