14 Farmers9 Bulletin 1126.

cocks to the barn or stacks after it has thoroughly cured. Because of the large amount of juice in the stems of Sudan grass, the leaves cure first and the hay often appears ready to stack when it is not ; therefore, the only sure way to avoid injury by heating is to allow Sudan grass to remain in cocks long enough for the stems to become dry. The leaves are retained well, and if cut at the right stage of maturity and handled properly it will make a bright, leafy, sweet hay of the very best quality.

Where the crop is desired for seed, it is harvested like the small grains with an ordinary grain binder and allowed to cure in shocks. This method can also be used in making hay in the semiarid regions where such good drying weather prevails that the grass will cure in the shock. Where the planting is made in cultivated rows, a corn or

row binder can be used, but in most cases a grain binder is preferable. Sometimes, where the growth is rank, trouble is experienced in get- ting the reel over the tops of the plants and at the same time cutting a short stubble.

The time for cutting is governed to some extent by the fact that several cuttings are expected in most cases, and this often makes it seem more profitable to cut the first time as early as possible, so that the grass will have more time for the second growth. (Fig. 8.) Ex- periments have shown, however, that early cutting is not justifiable either from the standpoint of total yield or from that of food value. At the Fort Hays experiment station, Hays, Kans., the average sea- sonal yield of air-dry hay for the years 1915 to 1918, inclusive, was as follows:

Tons per acre. 1. Cut just before heading^ 1. 83 2. Cut as the first heads appeared 2. 24 3. Cut when in full head — 2.14 4. Cut when the seed was in milk 2. 31 In the first stage two cuttings were obtained each year; in the second stage in three out of four years ; and in the third stage in only two of the years. In the fourth stage only one cutting a year was obtained, but the average yield was the largest of the four methods.

The above experiment clearly shows that it is not profitable to cut Sudan grass before it has begun to head. The preferable staere of maturity for cutting is from the time it begins heading until it is

fully headed. There is little loss, however, when the grass is allowed to grow until the seed has reached the soft-dough stage, and only one cutting is then required to harvest the crop and obtain a maxi- mum yield of forage.

There are very few hay grasses which are injured so little by stand- ing beyond the proper stage of maturity as Sudan grass. This is due largely to the numerous tillers, which, arising from the base,