284 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



The fall weathor was exceptionally dry and the fodder in the field became very well 

 cured with a water content of 27 per cent> while the stover on Mr. NYcbb's farm in 

 1877 contained 3G per cent. 



The fodder was stored loosely in the barn to favor further drying and curing. The 

 winter was warm and damp and they absorbed moisture from the air to such an 

 extent that the average five tons of fodder as stored November 11, became eight tons 

 as it lay in the barn February 8. 



In ISOO and 1897 experiments with ensiloing corn at the ^lichigan Station gave 

 some data as to the shrinkage of corn when preserved in the silo. In the first place, 

 corn cut at different dates had the following per cents of moisture: 



August 10 82.09 per cent. 



August 2.5 79.1.3 " " 



September (i 72.51 " 



September 15 G5.14 ' 



(( 



These successive Axeights show the gradual drying out of the corn plant during ripen- 

 ing. In the same experiment the corn was weighed into the silos and the silage weighed 

 out, thus giving data to determine the loss in weight. These losses averaged for 

 four silos 8.32 per cent of the weight of the corn as it Avas put in the silo. 



This loss in the silo is. of course, not althogether a disappearance of the water. The 

 Wisconsin Experiment Station has carried on a series of valuable experiments to 

 determine the nature and extent of the changes that take place in the silo. Incident- 

 ally, indications are given of the per cent of loss in gross weight that takes place 

 between putting the corn in the silo in the fall and taking it out in the winter. In 

 seven casts the losses were respectively, 12.09 per cent, 20.52 per cent. 15.54 per cent, 

 10.90 per cent, 12.05 per cent, 14.18 per cent, and 15.48 pei" cent, making an average 

 of 14.48 per cent. 



Reference to page 402 of Bulletin 154 of this Station will show that the loss of dry 

 matter of the whole corn plant as put in the silo varies from 14.07 per cent to 

 20.30 per cent. The amount of loss is contingent upon the condition of the corn at 

 the time it is put in the silo and upon the construction of the silo itself. As farmers 

 are becoming better acquainted with the right principles ■ of construction of farm 

 buildings, the per cent of loss in silos gradually diminishes. 



The Ears. — In ^Michigan, corn is usually cut and placed in shocks as soon as the 

 kernels have become hard, and before the stalks and leaves have been injured by frost 

 or have lost their greenness by reason of maturity. It is allowed to stand in the 

 shock until fully cured, before husking. After husking, the corn in the ear is usually 

 allowed to lie u]ion the ground for a few days to dry still further before being cribbed. 

 It is obvious that the amount of shrinkage or loss in moisture of the corn in the crib 

 will depend on the weather and on the condition of the corn at the time it is hauled 

 from the field. In the fall of 1890, October 3 and 5, six loads of corn, amounting 

 to 16,707 ])ounds, Avere placed in a crib to determine shrinkage. ^Most of the corn 

 was hauled as soon as husked, as the weather was damp and rainy. The corn, 

 therefore, was damp and heaw when hauled, and in some cases actually wet with dew 

 or rain. On February 13 following, the corn was again weighed and found to have lost 

 5,725 pounds, or a little over 30 per cent. This is an extreme case, as the corn was 

 unusually damp when placed in the crib. 



October 21, 1895, 3,310 pounds of ears were hauled from the field in a fairly 

 dry condition on a damp day. The corn was left in the sack until January 23, when 

 it had lost 359 pounds, or nearly II per cent. 



In the same season, on the farm of Wm. S. Charles, Van Buren county, 20,975 

 pounds of well cured corn whicli had been put in cribs in the fall was weighed out 

 January and 7 and found to have lost only 770 pounds, or a little less than 3 per 

 cent. 



In Breeders' Gazette for 1895, pp. 504, Henry T. Meigs, of Tippecanoe county, Ohio, 

 reported that on December 15, 1894, he weighed into a rail pen 25,445 pounds of yellow 

 corn and 19,170 pounds of Avhite corn. At the end of ninety days the yellow corn 

 weighed 23.600 pounds, a loss of 1,785 pounds, a little over 7 per cent. The white corn 

 was sold August 10 following, when it had lost in weight nearly lo^^ per cent. 



An extensive experiment was performed in 1894-95 in central Illinois and reported 

 substantially as below in the Rural New Yorker for 1895, p. 725. 



Last summer ^lessrs. X. D. Ricks, W. X. Provine and George E. Maxson, joint owners 

 of a tract comprising 0,000 acres in Christian county, Illinois, decided to determine 



