case of this planting. The same results would not necessarily be obtained on other kinds of soils or under different climatic conditions, but the effect of thick planting on the growth of corn plants would be similar in all cases. The plant is not able to reach its full development by thick planting, and the yields of perfect ears obtained by this method are relatively small; the total yields of feed materials secured from a certain area are, however, likely to be larger, the thicker the corn is planted, up to a certain limit; in the case of the fertile soil investigated, with kernels 3 inches apart in the row. Evidently, therefore, where the corn is grown for green feed, for silage, or to be cured as fodder, the best method is to plant thick, so that but few perfect ears are formed; conversely, if corn is grown for the sake of the grain, the general method of thin planting, say in hills 31/2 by 314 feet, will give the best results, but a smaller proportion of stocks will be secured.

Yields of Corn.--Green fodder will yield from about 8 to 20 tons per acre, containing 112 to 4 tons of dry matter; an average yield on good land would be about 15 tons of green forage, containing about 31/2 tons of dry matter. This is a considerably larger yield of feed materials than can be obtained in case of most other soiling crops without irrigation.

Corn makes an excellent soiling crop in regions adapted to its culture, and furnishes a large quantity of feed that is greatly relished by cattle and other farm animals. If cut early, say before tasselling, it will contain only about 10 per cent of dry matter, while at later stages of development, toward maturity, it will contain 25 to 30 per cent of dry matter. It is largely a carbonaceous feed and is low in protein (average digestible protein, 1.1 per cent; carbohydrates and fat, 12.9 per cent; nutritive ratio, 1:11.7). If fed to dairy cows or young stock which require considerable protein, it should be supplemented with a mixture of suitable protein feeds, like wheat bran, gluten feed, oil meals, dried brewers' or distillers' grains, etc.

Proportions of Nutrients in the Corn Plant.--Even when corn is grown for the sake of the grain, a considerable proportion of feed materials remains in the stalks and becomes available for feeding farm animals. The proportion of ears to stover has been determined by a number of experiment stations. The average results obtained at four different stations (New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), are as follows: 2

Pennsylvania Report, 1887.

About 87 pounds of cured stover were obtained, on the average, for every hundred pounds of ear corn, when the corn was grown for the sake of the grain; or, to put it in another way, nearly one-half of the weight of the corn crop (46 per cent) is found in the stalks. Since 57 per cent of the dry matter of cornstalks has been found digestible, and 88 per cent in the case of ear corn, the total amounts of digestible dry matter furnished in the stalks are considerable, amounting to over one-third of the entire plant under ordinary method of corn culture.

These figures plainly suggest the importance of taking advantage of the large amounts of feed materials found in the cornstalks and utilizing these for stock feeding so far as possible. The relation between different groups of feed materials in the ears and stalks, as given by Armsby, is shown below:

Digestible Feed Materials in the Mature Corn Plant, in Per Cent

Since one-fourth of the digestible protein and 37 per cent of the digestible nutrients of the corn plant are found in the stalks, their utilization for feeding purposes becomes a matter of great economic importance. It should be stated that the figures in the table make a too favorable showing for cornstalks, for the reason that more energy is consumed in the digestion of equal weights of stalks than .ear corn, and less, therefore, remains for nutritive purposes. Making due allowance for this difference, it is nevertheless evident that a great waste of national resources has been allowed to take place in past years, and is still going on,.by leaving cornstalks to decay in the fields; thousands upon thousands of acres of cornstalks are left largely unutilized every year, in the corn belt and outside of it. These would furnish good feed for farm animals, especially young stock, wintering cattle, and horses doing light work, and would produce considerable revenue to the farmer by proper handling and feeding with other materials.

Method of Harvesting. The method of handling the corn crop generally practised in the main corn-growing sections is to harvest the grain in the field without cutting the stalks, and to turn cattle into the field during late fall and early winter to eat off the leaves and tender parts of the stalks, the rest being wasted. On the better-managed stock farms, especially in dairy regions, corn is cut by machinery and placed in shocks in the field, and the ear corn is harvested late in the fall, the shocks of stalks remaining in the field until needed for feeding to stock. Owing to the bulky nature of the stalks and the slowness with which they are cured, they cannot be stored under roof in large quantities. The corn is, however, now often husked and run through a shredder in the same operation in the late fall, and the shredded corn fodder is stacked for feeding during the winter. This makes a valuable feed for farm animals and forms a good partial substitute for more or less expensive hay.3

Field-curing of Indian Corn. Considerable losses of nutrients occur in the corn fodder when this is left in shocks in the field exposed to the severe weather of late fall and winter. These losses have been studied at a number of experiment stations, among others at the Wisconsin station by Professor Henry and the author. The results which were obtained in studies of the relative economy of field-curing and siloing Indian corn show that, as an average of four years' experimental work, a loss of 24 per cent of the dry matter and of crude protein was found in the case of shocks of corn left in the field for an average period of about two months. Results obtained elsewhere indicate that the figures given are rather low for ordinary farm conditions. Exposure to rain and storms, abrasion of dry leaves and thin stalks, and other factors, tend to diminish the nutritive value of the fodder, aside from the losses from fermentations, so that often only one-half of the feed materials originally present in the fodder is left by the time this is fed out. Furthermore, the remaining portion of the fodder has a lower digestibility and a lower feeding value than the fodder corn had when shocked, for the reason that the fermentations occurring during the curing process attack the most valuable and easily digestible components of the nitrogen-free extract, viz., the sugar

Farmers' Bulletin 537, 773.

3

and starch, which are soluble, or readily rendered soluble in the process of digestion.

Grain hay is commonly made and fed to farm animals in western United States, and occasionally in other regions of the country as well, when conditions render it necessary or desirable to use it for this purpose. Barley, oats, wheat, and rye are used for hay-making and for pasturage or soiling. Oats make the best hay, while rye and barley are especially adapted for soiling or pasturage. The grain crops are, in general, cut for hay when the kernels are in the early milk, stage; cut at this stage, they make a very nutritious and palatable hay. Oats may be cut a little later than this for hay, and barley preferably somewhat earlier, while the beards are still soft, so that they will not give trouble in feeding the hay. Wheat and barley hay are the common grain hays used on the Pacific coast, while oat hay is more generally fed in the southern States. Grain hay will yield an average of two to three tons of hay per acre on good land. Cut for either soiling purposes or for hay, the cereal crops yield forage of excellent quality and palatability and furnish large amounts of valuable feed components. At the stage given, early milk, the plants are relatively richer in protein than during the ripening period, and the nutritive ratio is, therefore, then considerably narrower than later on; hence more starchy, and, as a rule, cheaper concentrates may be fed with hay cut at this time than at a later stage of growth.*

Sorghum is a common soiling crop in the southern and central western States, and is also made into hay or silage. It resists drought well, and has the further advantage of retaining its green leaves late in the season. When intended for hay, it is generally sown thickly, using about three bushels of seed to the acre, so as to prevent a coarse growth. It is cut for hay at the late milk stage, and, for soiling, any time after blossoming till approaching maturity. When intended for silage, it should be left to mature before it is cut (p. 157). On good soils sorghum will yield two to four good crops of hay, often aggregating eight to ten tons during the season. Matured sorghum may be cut and left shocked in the field and fed in the same way as cornstalks, or may be run through a shredder. It may be considered to possess a feeding value nearly similar to that of fodder corn, ton for ton, although it contains considerably less protein and somewhat more fiber than green corn (nutritive ratio of Indian corn, 1:11.9; of sorghum, 1: 21.8).

Serious trouble, and even death, has at times resulted from cattle. or horses eating young shoots of the sorghum family, especially second-growth sorghum. This generally occurs after periods of frost or extreme drought, when the plants have been stunted in their growth and afterwards begin to grow. It is due to the formation of a glucoside in the new shoots which sets free prussic acid through the action of a ferment. Accidents usually have happened when pastures are short and cattle get into a field of young sorghum,

eating considerable of it on empty stomachs. They should, therefore, be given some dry feed before being let into fields of such sorghum; since no trouble will occur when second-growth sorghum is made into hay or silage, the safer method in case of doubt is to use it for one or the other of these purposes."

The non-saccharine sorghums, so-called grain sorghums, kafir corn, milo maize, and durra, are largely grown for the sake of the grain in western States; they are also occasionally used as green and dry forage, as well as for silage, for cattle, horses, and sheep.