EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 439 



1. As to the dry matter, the first lesson is that you cannot measure 

 the value of an acre of forage crops grown under different conditions by 

 the gross weight alone. Unless you know how much water they each 

 contain, you cannot compare the relative values of the crops from two 

 adjacent plots. Thus while in 1896 the sorghum yielded 38,676 pounds 

 of green fodder as against 29,684 for the silage corn, the latter gave 

 8,655.85 pounds of dry matter or over 955 lbs. more to the acre than did 

 the sorghum. 



2. The protein content of a substance is found by first determining the 

 nitrogen and multiplying that result by 6.25. It is the total nitrogen, no 

 matter whether that nitrogen is in the albuminoid or amide form that is 

 used as the multiplicand in this calculation. The tables show that where 

 the corn was thickly planted as in Plots 1 and 2 of 1896 and Plot 1 of 

 1897 a very large proportion of the nitrogen is in the amide form. The 

 proportion of amide nitrogen grows less the farther apart the corn plants 

 grow and the more sunlight admitted to them. Experiments have gone 

 far to show that amide nitrogen is not as valuable as albuminoid nitrogen. 

 The protein therefore which contains the larger per cent of amide nitrogen 

 is less valuable than that which contains a less amount of it. The protein 

 from the thickly-]) 1 anted plots contains a much greater proportion of 

 amide nitrogen than that derived from the plots where less seed was used. 

 While over one-quarter of the protein in Plot 1 of 1896 is calculated from 

 amide nitrogen, in Plots 4 and 5 on the average about ten per cent comes 

 from the amide nitrogen. The statement of the protein content of the 

 different yields of these plots is not sufficient alone to indicate the actual 

 difference in the feeding value of the nitrogenous constituents. 



It is interesting to note that not only does the protein grow better in 

 quality as the rows are farther apart in the plot but it increases in quan- 

 tity as well. Beginning with 3.19 per cent of protein in the dry matter 

 of Plot 1 of 1896, the proportion in the dry matter increases rapidly as the 

 quantity of seed lessens. Where the rows were twice as far apart, in 

 Plot 2, the per cent in the dry matter has increased to 3.43. In Plot 4 

 where the rows were 42 inches apart the proportion in the dry matter 

 was more than double that in the dry matter of Plot 1. Where the hills 

 were placed three feet and one-half apart in the row the distance between 

 the rows remaining the same the per cent increased from 6.69 to 6.93. 

 The results in 1897 show the same increase in the per cent of protein in 

 the dry matter as we proceed from the thickly to the thinly-planted 

 plots. Where the corn was drilled in, the dry matter contained but 4 # 

 of protein, where the rows were 42 inches apart it contained 7.56 ^, 

 almost double. 



3. It will be of interest to the practical dairyman as well to note that 

 while the proportion of such soluble matters as are included under the 

 term of nitrogen free extract remains about constant in the different plots, 

 the crude fiber decreases in per cent as we go from the thickly-sown to 

 the thinly-planted plots. This fact is so far contrary to the accepted be- 

 lief that it is worthy of notice. The results of 1897 confirm those of 1896 

 in this respect. 



One of the early experiments performed to test the relative value of 

 thickly-sowm and more thinly-planted corn was made at the Cornell Uni- 

 versity in 1888. The results are summarized in the following table, in 

 which the yields per acre are given: 



