MAIZE FOB SOILING 141 



first crop, and the seeding and tilling should also 

 be the same. 



Time of harvesting ^ and yields 



The time of harvesting maize for soiling pur- 

 poses may begin as soon as the plant has fully 

 tasseled, or even before, depending on the need 

 for succulent forage. The largest amount of actual 

 food or digestible nutrients will be secured if the 

 harvesting is delayed until the ears have formed, 

 and then continued until the glazing stage is 

 reached. Therefore, the yields will vary widely, 

 inasmuch as the proportion of dry matter in the 

 early-cut forage is relatively very much less, and 

 the water very much more than when the crop is 

 nearly mature. Records obtained at some of the 

 stations show that under normal conditions of sea- 

 son more digestible matter, and that which is quite 

 as palatable, may be secured from twelve tons of 

 corn cut at the glazing stage, than would be 

 secured in fifteen tons or more harvested before or 

 about the time the plant is coming in tassel. So 

 the yields may vary by the common, though not 

 proper, standards of reckoning; and the fact that 

 a crop will yield fifteen or even twenty tons of 

 forage, as is frequently stated, is no indication 

 that such crop is superior in content and value of 

 total nutrients to one that yields twelve tons. 



It is not desirable to prolong the feeding of the 



