34 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 
crop. The type and variety best suited to the production of ensilage 
in any locality depend on the length of the growing season and the 
natural warmth of the soil. The maximum food value per ton is 
obtained from corn that has reached the glazed stage of maturity, 
or that stage of ripening when the kernels commence to form a hard 
crust over their surface. The protein or flesh-forming constituents 
are then of the greatest amount and highest quality, having developed 
from nitrogenous substances of a much lower feeding value, which 
were present in liquid form in the earlier stages of ripening. Ensilage 
made from corn that has reached only the early milk stage is commonly 
sour, and although valuable for its succulence, it is markedly de- 
ficient as a food for stock when compared with corn that has nearly 
reached maturity. 
It is of first importance to have ensilage corn capable of reaching 
the glazed stage, even under slightly unfavourable weather con- 
ditions, in plenty of time for harvesting before danger of frost; it is 
of secondary importance to otain a large yield of both stalk 
and grain. As a rule, the most profitable variety to grow for 
ensilage on average soil—the variety that will give the largest food 
value per acre—is one that may be depended upon to reach full 
maturity when grown on a warmer soil in the same locality or on a 
similar soil not more than forty or fifty miles south of it. Experience 
in ensilage-making invariably demonstrates the wisdom of increasing 
the acreage of early varieties rather than of depending on large 
yielding late sorts for the desired tonnage. 
For fodder, corn is commonly planted in drills at the rate of 
from twelve to twenty quarts of good seed to the acre. The drills 
should be not less than thirty-six inches apart for the short-growing 
early sorts, and forty-two inches for the tall, late varieties. 
When two or more varieties of corn for ensilage are to be planted 
it is advisable to plant them separate, especially if one of the sorts 
is taller and later in flowering than the other. When the smaller and 
earlier varieties are planted in mixture with the larger and later sorts, 
the smaller, early corns are usually imperfectly fertilized and the 
yield of grain from them is reduced. 
Seed: Cross-fertilization between varieties should be prevented 
if possible. The pollen is carried long distances by wind, and seeds 
of varieties grown within four hundred yards of each other are apt 
to be more or less impure. 
Both shelled corn and corn in the ear are very retentive of 
moisture; unless the seed is thoroughly dried before being stored 
the vitality is apt to be injured or destroyed by heating or severe 
