No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 257 



Corn. — Following oats and peas, which may be usually fed until 

 August, the early planting of corn will be ready. The corn crop is 

 as a whole so well known that it is hardly necessary to discuss its 

 merits in detail, except perhaps to emphasize the fact that if quick 

 maturing crops are grown, two crops may be obtained the one season 

 from the same land. One of the best varieties we have found for 

 soiling purposes is the Thoroughbred White Flint, as it grows very 

 rapidly and branches from the base, thus constantly getting thicker. 

 The stalks are not so large and are succulent, and do not show so 

 large a proportion of waste as is the case in some other of the larger 

 grow'ing varieties. It is advisable to plant it mucli thicker than is 

 recommended for crops intended for silage. We usually plant in 

 drills thi'ce and one-half feet apart, with plants from four to six 

 inches ai^art in the drill. This is the first cultivated crop considered, 

 though the extra cost is in part balanced by the cheapness of the 

 seed. 



For 'silage, no crop is superior to corn, and the larger growing 

 varieties are recommended. At tlie Station, the Southern White has 

 given the best results; it starts off vigorously ahead of the weeds and 

 makes a large, rank growth, which ears well. It will mature for the 

 silo, when planted after crimson clover, the last week in May or the 

 first of June; when planted in drills three and one-half feet apart, 

 and with the grain about ten inches apart in the drill, the yield will 

 range from ten to eighteen tons per acre, containing twenty-five to 

 twenty-eight per cent, of dry matter. Silage corn should not be 

 cut until the ears are beginning to glaze, at which time it will usually 

 contain the higher percentage of dry matter. If put in too green, the 

 silage will not be so good and the losses due to fermentation will be 

 greater. 



The yield of corn, of course, will vary widely, ranging from eight 

 to twenty tons per acre, though on medium soils and in a good season 

 the average will not be far from ten tons per acre. This crop dif- 

 fers materially in its composition from those already discussed. It 

 is carbonaceous in its character, the dry matter of the fodder, when 

 cut at its best stage of soiling, showing a nutritive ratio of 1:11, or 

 less than one-half as much protein in proportion as is contained in 

 the clover crops. 



Sweet Corn. — Many farmers believe that owing to the larger con- 

 tent of sugar contained in the larger growing varieties of sweet corn, 

 that this crop would serve better as green forage than the field va- 

 rieties. Stowell's Evergreen Sweet was tested the past season, and 

 the results were not as satisfactory as those obtained from the 

 White Flint, for while the crop was eaten more completely than the 

 larger varieties, as the Southern White, it was no more fully utilized 

 than in the case of the White Flint, besides the growth is much slow- 

 17-6—1901 



