The beans produce more seed to the acre than cowpeas do. Forty bushels is a high yield. The average yield is between twenty and thirty bushels.
Descriptive Table
| Crop | Adaptation as Food for Animals | Life | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alfalfa | Hay | Perennial | All animals like it; hogs eat it even when it is dry. |
| Red clover | Hay and pasture | Perennial | Best of the clovers for hay. |
| Alsike clover | Hay and pasture | Perennial | Seeds itself for twenty years. This clover is a great favorite with bees. |
| Mammoth clover | Hay and pasture | Perennial | Best for green manure. |
| White clover | Pasture | Perennial | Excellent for lawns and bees. |
| Japan clover | Pasture | Perennial | Excellent for forest and old soils. |
| Cowpea | Hay and grain | Annual | Used for hay, green manure, and pastures. |
| Soy bean | Hay and grain | Annual | Often put in silo with corn. |
| Vetches | Hay and soiling | Annual | Pasture for sheep and swine. With cereals it makes excellent hay and soiling-food. |
CHAPTER X
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
The progress that a nation is making can with reasonable accuracy be measured by the kind of live stock it raises. The general rule is, poor stock, poor people. All the prosperous nations of the globe, especially the grain-growing nations, get a large share of their wealth from raising improved stock. The stock bred by these nations is now, however, very different from the stock raised by the same nations years ago. As soon as man began to progress in the art of agriculture he became dissatisfied with inferior stock. He therefore bent his energies to raise the standard of excellence in domestic animals.
By slow stages of animal improvement the ugly, thin-flanked wild boar of early times has been transformed into the sleek Berkshire or the well-rounded Poland-China. In the same manner the wild sheep of the Old World have been developed into wool and mutton breeds of the finest excellence. By constant care, attention, and selection the thin, long-legged wild ox has been bred into the bounteous milk-producing Jerseys and Holsteins or into the Shorthorn mountains of flesh. From the small, bony, coarse, and shaggy horse of ancient times have descended the heavy Norman, or Percheron, draft horse and the fleet Arab courser.
The matter of meat-production is one of vital importance to the human race, for animal food must always supply a large part of man's ration.