FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK—PART IV. 271 



YIELDS PER ACRE OF GREEN FODDER, DRY MATTER AND NUTRIENTS. 



Date. 





August 10.... 

 August 25. ... 

 September 6 . 

 September 15 . 



1,010.05 

 1,148.67 

 1, 294. 78 

 1,413.17 



The table teaches us that there is a rapid and regular increase in gross 

 weight of crop up to time of glazing. Thereafter the changes are not in in- 

 creased weight but in the displacement of water by dry matter. Between 

 the time when the corn was fully tasseled and the roasting stage there was 

 an increase of forty-four per cent in dry matter. From roasting to glazing 

 there was a gain of thirty-three per cent and, from glazing to full ripeness 

 there was a gain of one-eighth. To secure the greatest yields of dry matter 

 from an acre of corn it is necessary to allow the corn to stand until fully ripe. 

 The greatest yield of protein per acre is obtained when the corn is between 

 glazing and full ripeness, but thereafter there is a gain in both starch and 

 sugar on the one hand and fat on the other. 



In conclusion, I can not refrain from calling your attention to the enor- 

 mous yields of feeding stuffs which the fields of Iowa produce. Multiply 

 the figures given in the table above by the number of acres in corn in the 

 State and imagine the number of dairy cows it would feed if economically 

 managed. I am not unmindful- of the fact that your cow owners are not 

 primarily dairymen, but that in many instances they are r airymen by force 

 of necessity. They are keeping cows to raise beef steers and send the sur- 

 plus milk to the factory. This is a low type of dairy work and does not 

 forebode great dairy success. It means cows selected for beef quality. It 

 means neglect of dairy quality, with little testing of cows and less selection 

 for dairy capacity. It means no rapid advance along dairy lines, except in 

 so far as these men may be induced to drop the beef idea and develop the 

 milking quality of the cows. We have dairymen in Michigan who sell from 

 their farms nothing but butterfat, young stock and pigs. Where that method 

 is being pursued the farms are growing richer and the dairymen better posted 

 and better men. In such conditions the hired help problem is solving itself, 

 troubles are growing less and advantages greater. I long for the time lo 

 come in Iowa when her farmers will turn their attention more and more to 

 feeding the corn crop intelligently to dairy cows, dairy cows— mind you— 

 and will lay less and less emphasis upon beef. Then will come the days of 

 her greatest prosperity. Then her young men will recognize the farm as the 

 situation of greatest opportunities, then her future is assured. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Anderson: I would like to ask what kind of cows Mr. 

 Smith uses. Do you buy or raise them? 



