PRESERVATION OF MAIZE 



263 



of silage and maize fodder the digestibility is higher after glaz- 

 ing or denting than before : 



Armsby^ found that the total digestible food of the fully 

 mature crop was from two to three times as great as the same 

 variety in the silking stage and thirty-six per cent greater than 

 at the time the ears were glazing. 



353. Influence of Maturity Upon Feeding Value. — The Penn- 

 sylvania Station^ and the Ohio State University* have determined 

 the feeding value, when fed to milch cows, of equal areas of 

 maize fodder when cut in the roasting-ear, silage stage, and when 

 ripe or nearly so. In both cases the food value from equal 

 areas measured in milk produced and increase or decrease of 

 live weight was greatest in the intermediate stage. Compared 

 with the earlier cutting, the intermediate stage gave much the 

 best results, while compared with the late cutting, the difference 

 was.not so marked. The weight of field cured fodder increased 

 with the stage of ripeness, the increase being greatest during 

 the first interval. The percentage eaten, the fodder having 

 been prepared with a feed cutter, was least in both instances 

 in the early cut, greatest in one case in the medium cut and in 

 the other instance in the late cut. 



1 W. H. Jordan : The Feeding ot Animals, p. 212. 



8 Penn. Rpt. 1892, p. 23. 



3 Penn. Rpt. 1892, p. 34. 



• D. A. Crowner, Thesis, i8q6. 



