452 



fiftlj of the silago; that is, if a fanner puts into his silo 100 tous of fodder corn, lie 

 can not, as a rule, get more than 80 tons out of it ; aa the silage taken out of the silo 

 contains » similar percentage of watex" as the fodder put into the silo, it is evident 

 that the loss is not due to mere evaporation of water. This loss may be found to bo 

 somewhat smaller where large quantities of fodder are ensiled ; in our work we have 

 ensiled only from 8 to 12 tons, which are about the largest quantities ensiled for experi- 

 mental purposes, the results of which have been made public, as far as my knowledge 

 goes. At the Pennsylvania and Missouri Stations, in experiments where 17 and 14 

 tons of fodder corn, respectively, were ensiled, the losses of dry matter were 13.44 and 

 16.85 per cent (See Agricultural Science, 1890, p. 145). 



Field-cured corn. — Two experiments were made. (1) Seventy-eight 

 shocks of the same varieties (Pride of the North, Burrill & Whitman, 

 and Sibley's White Flint) as those used in the silos, were cut at the 

 same time as for the silo and left in the field about a month, after which 

 they were stored in the loft of the station barn until fed to cattle. A 

 table gives the weights of fodder shocked in each case, and the weight 

 as fed out to cattle. 



Samples taken from time to time as the fodder was fed to the cattle were united 

 after the content of dry matter had been ascertained, and the protein content deter- 

 mined in the mixed samples for each variety. A table gives the result of the analysis, 

 and the losses of dry matter and protein in the cured fodder. * * » xhe losses 

 of dry matter varied from 7.9 to 30.7 per ceut, with the three varieties, and of pro- 

 tein from 2.2 to 41.0 per cent. The result with Burrill & Whitman fodder corn is far 

 lower than any other found in this work, and it is believed that an error of sampling 

 must have crept in, most likely in the sampling of the green fodder. * * » 



Six varieties of fodder corn, grown at the University farm on small plats, were cut and 

 shocked September 4 to 17, and samples representing the fodder grown on each whole 

 plat were taken for analysis. » » * The varieties sampled were Pride of 

 the North (dent). King Philip (flint). Sweet Fodder, Stowell's Evergreen, Southern 

 Sheep's Tooth, and Southern Horse-Tooth fodder corn. The shocks were left on the 

 plat on which the fodder had grown, except in the case of sweet fodder corn, where 

 half the number of shocks were transferred at once after cutting to an empty corn 

 crib, where the shocks were put up in a similar way as the rest of the fodder was 

 shocked on the plat. The object in view was to ascertain the losses in food materials 

 occurring on account of the air drying under a shelter from rain and storms. » * • 

 At intervals of a month the shocks on the plats were removed, one or two at a time. 

 The shocks were then weighed and run through a feed cutter and the whole shock 

 sampled. The weight of each shock being known, and also its composition at the 

 time it was put up, all data are at hand from which to determine the decrease of dry 

 matter and its constituents during the average time each variety was left exposed. 

 In our work only the crude protein could be determined besides the dry matter on 

 account of the pressure of other work. » ** * xhe varieties shocked, the stage of 

 growth they were in, dates of cutting, etc., are stated, and the total quantities of 

 dry matter and of crude protein found by analysis to have been on each plat at the 

 time of shocking and when the shocks were sampled, are given [in a table, together 

 with] the losses which took place in the shocks during the time of exposure. * » » 

 [The losses of dry matter and protein found in samples of Sibley's White flint and 

 Smedley's Yellow dent corn stalks left standing in the field uncut for 4 months are 

 also given in a table.] * * » The amount of losses given in the tables will doubt- 

 less surprise mauy, as it did the writer. It is believed that nearly all points bearing 

 on the field curing of Indian corn are covered by the data given — differences in the 

 size of shocks, shelter from rain and storms, or exposure to the same for a shorter or 

 longer period, husked or unhusked fodder corn, etc. 



