DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 189 



profound difPerence to Minnesota, for in that State about 

 25 years ago a farmer was considered a gambler who at- 

 tempted to grow Dent Corn north of the southern third of 

 the State (above the so-called St. Cloud Line) ; but now all 

 this is changed, for there is actually more corn raised to- 

 day in Kittson, the north-west corner county of Minnesota, 

 than used to be raised a generation ago at Houston, the 

 south-east corner county of the State.^^ At the present 

 time, when one travels through Minnesota by rail in the 

 summer, one observes scattered everywhere, from north to 

 south and from east to west, rich fields of dark-greon 

 corn ; and silos for the fermentation and storing of corn 

 ensilage for feeding stock have become a characteristic 

 feature of the landscape,^^ Further evidence of the ag- 

 ricultural importance of the early-ripening Yellow Dent 

 varieties is afforded by the fact that Minnesota in 1917 

 produced 90,000,000 bushels of corn and Xorth Dakota 

 in 1916, 13,500,000 bushels.^^ Manitoba is not within 

 the corn-belt, for corn, as a rule, does not ripen in 

 that Province owing to the shortness of the growing sea- 

 son. Nevertheless, when corn is sown in the warmer 

 districts about the middle of May, it grows rapidly during 

 the long bright days, attains a height of from 6 to 8 

 feet, and yields often as much as 10 to 15 tons of gTeen 

 fodder to the acre. This is made into ensilage or stocked 

 in the fields until required for feeding.^^ It proves to 



55 Communicated by Professor Boss. 



56 Ensilage is the most economical method of treating corn for 

 feeding animals. Both stalks and green leaves are run through 

 the cutter. After fermentation the ensilage can be kept with safety 

 all through the winter. 



57 Year Book of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1917, p. 

 608. 



5s Cf. A Handbook to Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba, 

 prepared for the Winnipeg meeting of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, article on Agriculture by R. P. Roblin 

 and W. J. Black, 1909, Winnipeg, pp. 72, 73. 



