190 GRASSES AND FOEAGE PLANTS. 



plant is riper, less juicy, and cures more readily. The method 

 sometimes adopted is to cut and tie into small bundles, after it 

 is somewhat wilted, and stook upon the ground, where it is 

 allowed to stand, subject to all the changes of the weather, with 

 only the protection of the stook itself. The stooks consist of 

 bunches of stalks first bound in small bundles, and are made 

 sufficiently large to prevent the wind from blowing them over. 

 The arms are thrown around the tops to bring them together as 

 closely as possible, when the tops are broken over or twisted 

 together, or otherwise fastened in order to make the stook 

 " shed the rain" as well as possible. In this condition .they stand 

 out till sufficiently dried to put into the barn. 



But Indian corn stooked in this way often becomes musty 

 or covered with dust, while the rains often soak it thoroughly 

 and wash out much of its soluble matter, and its nutritive 

 value is in a great measure lost. Besides, every one knows that 

 to cut up a green plant, as a willow or any other thriftily grow- 

 ing plant or shrub, and set it up with the cut end resting upon 

 the ground where it can still derive moisture from the soil, will 

 prevent its drying. There can be no doubt, also, that the 

 exposure to the sun, wind and rain, greatly injures it by 

 removing much of its sweetness, or changing it to woody fibre, 

 while it takes from it its beautiful fresh green color. 



To avoid the losses necessarily attending these modes of cur- 

 ing, some have suggested kiln drying as far preferable, and, on 

 the whole, as economical. I have known the experiment tried 

 in one or two instances with complete success, the fodder com- 

 ing out with its fresh green color, and apparently better relished 

 by cattle than that dried in the ordinary way. This method 

 appears to me to be worthy of much more extended and careful 

 experiment. The kiln need not be elaborately or expensively 

 contrived. The process of drying would be short and the labor 

 slight. 



Another mode which has been suggested is to hang it up in 

 sheds open to the air, precisely as tobacco is cured in the west- 

 ern part of the State. This process would be longer, but the 

 nutritive qualities of the plant would probably be better pre- 

 served than if cured in the open air with the exposure to the 

 frequent changes of the weather. It is hardly necessary to say 

 that if it is proposed to cure in this way, it should be hung 



