298 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
- two-thirds of the seed and admits of cultivation. In this way, he believes 
he obtains more nutriment from each acre than in any two acres of his 
best timothy. ; 
ACTION OF THE AMERICAN DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
Mr. Harris Lewis, of Herkimer, New York, in an address before the last 
meeting of the American Dairymen’s Association, opposed the practice 
of feeding corn-fodder, preferring for soiling, first, lucern, if a piece ot 
Jand suitable to its growth can be obtained; second, orchard grass; and 
third, common meadow grass. He expressed an opinion that corn costs 
more, in most cases, than its actual value. 
Dr. Wright, of Oneida, said his experience had been just the reverse 
of Mr. Lewis’s. With the ground well prepared and the corn properly 
sown—broadcast or in drills—and cut when succulent, he had found 
that all the cattle would relish it, and that it will keep them up to their 
full flow of milk. He had found small clover good for soiling, in con- 
nection with pasturage. The only objection that he found to corn was 
that its use imparted an undesirable flavor to the milk. 
The President, Hon. Horatio Seymour, continued the discussion, 
favoring the use of corn-fodder, and presenting views similar to those 
in his communication to this Department. 
Mr. Harrington, of Canada, and Mr. Nicholas, of New Jersey, spoke 
in favor of the economy and profit of feeding sowed corn to dairy cows. 
Mr. L. Schermerhorn, of Oneida, had found soiling with corn profit- 
able. He had fed the corn to the cows in a small lot, and this so enriched 
the soil of that lot that he plowed it and sowed it to corn the next year 
without more manure, and raised a large crop. He knew of nothing 
with which we could succeed better than with sowed corn. 
Mr. Chapman, of Madison, said that thirty years ago he sowed his 
first crop of corn for soiling. He was much pleased with it, and had 
continued its cultivation until the present time. He had raised four or 
five consecutive crops on the same piece of ground without manuring. 
If it is not allowed to ear, it does not exhaust the soil much, and corn 
sowed for soiling should never be allowed to ear. He had made practi- 
cal and definite experiments in feeding this crop, and had found ‘that 
when he quit feeding it his cows not only shrunk in their mess, but 
that a given quantity of the milk made less cheese. 
Mr. Dick, of Erie, had found that he could produce more milk from’ 
his cows from sowed oats than from corn; but the milk produced by 
feeding corn was richer, and yielded more cheese, than a like quantity 
of milk produced by feeding oats or clover. 
Mr. Pratt, of Clinton, had practiced sowing corn for soiling, and was 
Satisfied it was profitable. He had never sowed his corn on the same 
ground two years in succession. He manured the ground specially for 
the crop. When it was taken off, it left the ground clear of weeds, and 
he was in the habit of sowing on it the next year wheat or barley, and 
Seeding it down. He knewof two dairymen in his vicinity, having the 
same uumber of cows, whose bills of delivery on August 1, showed a 
difference of 3,500 pounds. One of them fed his cows -on sowed corn 
after that period, and the other did not. The former, whose bill was the 
smaller, on August 1, gained the 3,500 pounds, and 500 more before Sep- 
tember 19. He considers the experiment a practical and definite one. 
On motion of Mr. L. B. Arnold, of Tompkins, the following resolution 
was adopted almost unanimously : 
Resolved, That this convention is of the opinion that corn is a valuable product for 
the dairy farm, and that we commend it as a forage crop. mae : 
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