232 



MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL RErORT. 



The chemical analysis of the corn plant or stalk shows a nutrient 

 nearly equal to that of the ear, but when left to dry and bleach on the 

 hill it is worse than wasted in many cases. It becomes a menace to every 

 head of live stock that is allowed or forced to subsist on it. Those dairy- 

 men and stockmen who cut their stalks and shock them will find that 

 they have a feed greatly relished by all kinds of farm stock, but they also 

 find that they sustain a loss of from one-third to one-half of the fodder 

 or the coarser parts. The chemist tells us that the nutritive value of the 

 corn stalk decreases from butt to top, so that in the rejected part of the 

 corn plant the greatest food value lies. The farmer who passes his corn 

 through a shredder finds that he has put his fodder in a condition to be 

 better consumed by his stock, and that he can make a large amount of 

 best manure that is easily handled, but he is not fullv satisfied. 



Two of Mr. Cobb's Jerseys. 



After fifteen year's use of ensilage wnth all kinds of farm stock I 

 am fully convinced that the estimate is not too high, while the chemist 

 finds no more nutriment in the fodder we put in the silo, old Brindle does, 

 from the fact that she gets something she relishes and something that is 

 more digestible than dry fodder or even green fodder. The digestive 

 tests of some of our Experiment Stations have found silage is more 

 digestible than any form of the corn plant either dry cured or cut green 

 and fed. The greatest value of silage is in its succulent condition. It 

 retains its juices and is partially cooked in the silo making it very pal- 

 atable, and palatability of any of our farm fed crops is a great factor in 

 producing results either in feed lots or dairy herd. 



