524 Report of the Department of Animal Husbandry of the 



This is a finely ground ppoduct, a refuse from the utilization of 

 the pith of the stalk. The leaves are stripped from the stalk, thh 

 pith is removed, and the remaining portion, or the outside of the 

 stalk, is ground into meal. 



The attention of the writer was called to this food so long ago 

 as December, 1896, through an inquiry from a correspondent of 

 the New York Tribune, and in response to a request from the 

 Agricultural Editor of that paper, the following statement wa.4 

 made: 



" Meal which is made by grinding dry corn stalks has entirely 

 the same food properties as the corn stalks themselves, the only 

 possible advantage being that the animals are saved from chewing 

 them; and also because of its fineness the meal may possibly be 

 a little more digestible than the stover. There is no real merit in 

 this meal which gives it any superiority over hay, corn stover 

 or silage in so far as these latter materials are eaten and thor- 

 oughly masticated." 



Since the above statement was made, this new product has re- 

 ceived considerable attention, notably by two bulletins from the 

 Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station* and by an article in 

 the Country Gentlemanj from Hon. Edward Atkinson. 



The important general conclusions which Patterson draws from 

 the Maryland Experiment Station work are that (1) the " New 

 Corn Product " is more digestible than corn stover even if finely 

 ground, and that (2) this product may be successfully substituted 

 for other rough fodders and hay in a fattening ration and in feed 

 ing horses. Patterson's discussion of his data leans to the view 

 that the presence of the pith actually depresses the digestibility of 

 the other parts of the stover, and he offers as a reason for this the 

 wholly hypothetical explanation that the pith so freely absorbs 

 the digestive juices as to leave a quantity insufficient to act effi- 

 ciently upon the other portions of the plant. 



Atkinson discusses this new food from the economic side, but 

 bases much of his reasoning upon what he seems to regard as two 

 established facts, viz.: that the pith of the corn stalk is practi- 



*Nos. 43 and 51. 



tissue December 16, 1897. 



