292 . AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
harsh stems of dried grasses. Unless the early growth is left half depas- 
tured, the-feed of August will be inconveniently short; and should it 
be thus left, its quality will deteriorate, and the future pasturage be 
less valuable; thus extra feeding, in the later months of summer, is 
found to be a necessity that no dairyman can ignore with immunity to 
pail or purse. ; 
Then what shall be fed? That which yields most milk and flesh at 
lowest cost. Unfortunately, discriminating and decisive experiments 
have not been made by which the matter may be set permanently at 
rest. Were the most careful experiments made in different climates 
and circumstances, upon different soils, and in several seasons, the 
result would still show the greatest diversity of opinion. A plant that 
grows well upon one soil may fail upon another that is unsuited to it, 
even under the same culture. But we find, as an existing fact, that the 
leaves and tender stalks of Indian corn, (Zea mais,) cut in different 
stages of its growth, are the almost mniversal resource of Gairymen in 
all parts of the country for tiding over the season of drought and 
searcity. : 
If the average practical sense of the masses claims the paternity of a 
practice which becomes almost universal, the value of green corn-fodder 
can only be disproved by positive testimony. The fact that maize is an 
indigenous product, peculiarly suited to our climate, thriving in every 
portion of our country, except in Alaska and on the mountain tops, and 
the most valuable tilled crop that has ever been grown on the continent, 
is strong presumptive proof that its fodder, if worth anything for soil- 
ing, may exceed in value, in view of the certainty of its grewth and 
quantity of its production, that of some if not all other fodder plants. 
Strong as is this presumptive claim, the superiority of corn-fodder can- 
not be thus assumed. If experiment, full and varied, shail establish 
the superior excellence of some exotic or native piant, iet the practice 
of our farmers be reformed, and a better material for soiling milch cows 
be employed. 
There has been considerable discussion of late at farmers’ clubs, in 
the fields, and at firesides, concerning the value of this fodder. More 
than this: it has been denounced as worthless, as costing more than its 
real value, or as the poorest feeding material in use. The charge that 
it is worthless is untenable and reckless, and cannot be considered. 
The question of its comparative value is one that should be examined 
carefully, and, if possible, settled. . 
We have sought from practical agriculturists and working dairymen 
in different parts of the country views based upon their own experience, 
and supported by facts and experiment. The communications received 
have been interesting, though desultory in statement, and many of them 
inconclusive in results; yet they all agree that there is value in this 
material, and a large majority accord to it a high estimate, very few of 
whom venture to name a substitute of equal merit. 
Mr. Sanford Howard, secretary of the Michigan State Board of Agricul- 
ture, (since deceased,) wrote to the Commissioner of Agriculture upon 
the question, in December last, as follows: 
The controversy to which you allude seems to have taken its rise from a public state- 
ment of Dr. George B. Loring, of Salem, Massachusetts, to the effect that green corn- 
fodder was the poorest food for milch cows that heever used. The expression was un- 
mercifully pounced on by correspondents of various agricultural papers. Butit seemed 
to me that the dispute was not unlike that we read of in regard to the red and white 
shield ; that both parties might to some extent be right and to some extent wrong. 
While I lived with my father, and for some years subsequently, I fed considerable 
corn-fodder to milch cows. I noticed that when it was grown very thickly on the ground, 
