78 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



A careful examination of the proportion usually existing 

 between the cob and the grain, gives the extreme percentages 

 in 28 trials as 12 and 25, with an average of 18|- per cent, of 

 cob in the total weight of corn in the ear, or about 23 per 

 cent, of the weight of shelled corn. The proportion between 

 the o;rain and the fodder varies within laro-e limits. A careful 

 examination of experiments reported in the volumes of 

 "Agriculture of Massachusetts," furnishes the following 

 results, arranged according to a series, but calculated to the 

 bushel of crop : — 



13 trials gave as an average 1 bushel to 83 pounds of stover. 



65 " " " " 1 " to 85 



38 " " " " 1 " to 73 



These 116 " " " " 1 " to 80.8 " 



Selecting from this number what I may call the reliable 

 extremes, we have for the least proportion one bushel of corn 

 to forty-one pounds of stover ; and for the greatest propor- 

 tion, one bushel of corn to one hundred and twenty pounds of 

 stover, both results being for the month of October. 



In one experiment, made under the direction of the trustees 

 of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 

 Mr. B. P. Ware, of Marblehead, reports the proportion on 

 five different lots as below : — 



1 bushel corn in ear (72 pounds), 124 -\- pounds stover. 

 1 " " " (72 pounds), 110 -j- 



1 " " " (72 pounds), 90 -j- " 



1 " " " (72 pounds), 83-}- 



1 " " " (73 pounds), 85 



Average on 40,000 square feet, 1 bushel, 101 " " 



As, however, we do not know the date of harvesting, and 

 therefore the state of dryness, we cannot use this table com- 

 parativel}^ with any other one statement, but it serves a useful 

 purpose, as indicating the extremes which may be expected 

 between different crops. 



The average proportion may be considered, then, as about 

 80 pounds of air-dried fodder to the bushel of grain, for 

 Northern corn, or about one pound of grain to one and a half 

 pounds of fodder. 



