MEADOW PLANTS 49 
two general ways. It may be allowed to mature in the 
field, the grain being taken away, allowing the standing 
stalks to remain. This is known as husking the corn from 
the row or from the field. The stalks are then pastured 
during the winter, the animals feeding upon the dead 
leaves and upon any ears that may have been overlooked 
by the husker. Mature cornstalks, however, have little 
nutritive value. The other way is to cut the cornstalks 
and shock them in the field, before the ears are mature 
and while the leaves are yet green. The shocks remain 
until the forage is cured and the ears have matured. The 
ears may be husked in the field and the forage stored in 
stacks or sheds or the shocks may be hauled to the barns 
where the husking is done either by hand or by machinery. 
The forage or corn-fodder produced in this way is much 
more nutritious than that which is matured before husk- 
ing, and the grain suffers little loss by the process. Corn 
and kafir are sometimes cut and bound in bundles by 
machinery, a process which lessens the labor of shocking. 
59. Other grasses producing hay or coarse fodder.— 
Several other grasses are used locally for the production 
of coarse hay. Some of these have undoubted merit but 
usually must compete with the more important species 
mentioned previously. Others are native or weedy species 
that are utilized locally. A more complete account of 
some of these grasses is given in Part II. 
60. Japanese barnyard millet—Several varieties are 
grown in Asia and have been tried in America, but with 
little success. One variety has been advertised under the 
name of billion-dollar grass. They require plenty of water 
to produce crops, and in the humid regions will not com- 
pete with other grasses. They have some value under 
irrigation in the Southwest. 
D 
