ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI 593 



soon as it is tasseled out and for hogs as soon as the ears have reached 

 the roasting stage. Not so many realize that an acre of corn stover — the 

 crop left standing after the ears have been taken — is as valuable for 

 feeding to cattle and horses as an acre of timothy hay. Ton for ton, corn 

 stover has nearly the same feeding value as timothy. With a short hay 

 crop, therefore, every effort should be made to carefully handle the corn 

 crop. The feeding value in the stalk and leaves of the corn plant increases 

 up to maturity, but if the stalks are allowed to stand in the field after 

 ripening, there is considerable loss. This loss at the Iowa Experiment 

 Station two months after ripening amounted to more than one-half of the 

 value of the stalk. 



Investigations show that of the feeding value of corn stover about 27 

 per cent is in the stalk and leaves above the ear, 26 per cent in the husks, 

 and 47 (per cent in the stalk and blades below the ean When 

 left standing in the field many of the lower leaves dry up and are blown 

 away or beaten down by rains into the ground and lost. Farmers are 

 urged to cut corn for grain as soon as the ears are well dented and a few 

 dry blades appear. Thus handled, the maximum feeding value of the 

 crop with reference both to grain and stover will be secured. Put the 

 corn in good-sized shocks and after husking out the ears put a number of 

 shocks together. Large shocks lose less food constituents by weather and 

 fermentation than small shocks. If the stover is put into the barn it 

 must be thoroughly dry to prevent molding. Except for convenience of 

 handling it is not necessary to shred corn stover, as apparently its feeding 

 value is little if any increased thereby. By cutting and shocking the feed 

 value of stover is increased one-third to one-half over what it would be 

 if left standing in the field. With a short hay crop this loss should be 

 obviated by gathering and shocking the corn. 



PASTURES. 



WHY PASTURES FAIL. 



Many pastures fail in midsummer because they are not made right. 

 Too few grasses and clovers are employed in the mixture. In many sec- 

 tions, particularly in the Central West, timothy is the only grass used. 

 This should be supplemented with clovers that mature earlier and again 

 come on later in the season than timothy. Some of the other grasses 

 with different habits of growth and seasons of maturing should also be 

 used in the mixture, thus securing with the clover not only more pasture 

 but a far better quality of pasture. 



PASTURE MIXTURES. 



Instead of seeding timothy alone, the following mixture is suggested, 

 per acre: Timothy, 10 pounds; red clover, 8 pounds; alsike, 2 pounds; or- 

 chard grass, 4 pounds; Italian rye grass, 5 pounds; English rye, 4 pounds; 

 meadow fescue, 4 pounds. Such a mixture will give a heavier hay crop 

 and hay of better quality than timothy alone, and when left as pasture will 

 afford a much greater quantity of forage throughout the growing season, 

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