FIELD CROPS. 



347 



Composition of corn stover and teosinte from inside and outside of shock. 



Corn stover: 



Outside of shock 

 Inside of shock.. 



Teosinte: 



Outside of shock 

 Inside of shock . . 



Water in 

 fresh sub- 

 stance 



In dry substance. 



Protein. 



Per cent. ! Per cent. 

 9. 70 ! 4. 87 



10. 36 7. 87 



13.23 

 12.41 



9.01 

 13.25 



Nitrogen 



free 

 extract. 



Per cent. 

 46.59 

 44.46 



43.71 

 42.81 



Fat. 



Crude 

 fiber. 



Per cent. '■ Per cent. 

 0. 95 40. 34 



1. 13 38. 51 



1.34 

 2.42 



33.30 

 29.96 



Ash. 



Per cent. 

 7.25 

 8.04 



12.64 

 11.56 



In the authors' opinion, fully one-fourth of the feeding value of corn 

 stover and one-third of the feeding value of teosinte is lost by exposure. 



"This loss can be largely prevented by stacking the fodders, either by 

 placing in stacks with only the butts of the stalks exposed or by placing 

 in long, narrow shocks and feeding from one end. By this method the 

 amount of fodder exposed to the action of the weather and the conse- 

 quent loss is reduced to a minimum." 



Report of the agriculturist, W. C. Latta {Indiana Sta. Rpt. 1896, 

 X>p. 18-27). — This is a brief statement of the work of the year, with 

 summarized results based partly on previous data. 



Out of 8 varieties of wheat under trial for 1 to 13 years, Michigan 

 Amber, Willett, and Velvet Chaff are the more promising, and out of 

 27 varieties of oats under trial 1 to 8 years, the more promising sorts 

 are Black, American Banner, White Russian, and Black Prolific. Sow- 

 ing 7 pecks of wheat per acre produced a higher average yield for 12 

 years than sowing quantities ranging from 2 to 8 pecks. Early and late 

 sowing of wheat under trial 8 years shows that September 18 to 20 is 

 the preferable date. The growth of a number of grasses and legumes 

 is described. Lathyrus sylvestris is " an exceedingly slow grower at this 

 station," and is not considered valuable as a crop in rotation. In 

 1883-'84 fresh horse manure was applied to alternate plats, amounting 

 for the 2 years to about 50 tons per acre. Corn has been continuously 

 grown on these plats since 1880. The average increased yield per acre 

 over the unmauured plats was more than 10 bu. per acre, and the 

 increase for 1890 was 3 bu. per acre, showing that the manure was still 

 effective. 



Rotative cropping and continuous grain growing for 15 years has 

 led to the conclusion that larger crops can be secured and the fertility 

 of the soil better conserved by judicious rotations. Light applications 

 of manure have proved more profitable than heavy applications. Tables 

 give the yields per acre of corn and Kafir corn and the results of 

 cooperative variety tests. Home-grown varieties of corn are consid- 

 ered more satisfactory than those from other localities. 



Preventing barley from sprouting when in the sheaf ( Deut.landw. Presse,24 

 (1897), No. 67, p. 60S, fig. 1).—A. description of a method of placing the sheafs to insure 

 rapid drying and to keep the heads from the ground. 



