GREEN FORAGE AND HAY CROPS 



Average Yields of Ear Corn and Stover, Per Acre 



107 



About 87 pounds of cured stover were obtained, on the average, 

 for every hundred pounds of ear corn, when the corn was grown for 

 the sake of the grain; or, to put it in another way, nearly one-half 

 of the weight of the corn crop (46 per cent) is found in the stalks. 

 Since 57 per cent of the dry matter of cornstalks has been found 

 digestible, and 88 per cent in the case of ear corn, the total amounts 

 of digestible dry matter furnished in the stalks are considerable, 

 amounting to over one-third of the entire plant under ordinary 

 method of corn culture. 



These figures plainly suggest the importance of taking advantage 

 of the large amounts of feed materials found in the cornstalks and 

 utilizing these for stock feeding so far as possible. The relation 

 between different groups of feed materials in the ears and stalks, 

 as given by Armsby, is shown below : 



Digestible Feed Materials in the Mature Corn Plant, in Per Cent 



Since one-fourth of the digestible protein and 37 per cent 

 of the digestible nutrients of the corn plant are found in the 

 stalks, their utilization for feeding purposes becomes a matter of 

 great economic importance. It should be stated that the figures 

 in the table make a too favorable showing for cornstalks, for the 

 reason that more energy is consumed in the digestion of equal 

 weights of stalks than . ear corn, and less, therefore, remains for 

 nutritive purposes. Making due allowance for this difference, it 

 is nevertheless evident that a great waste of national resources has 

 been allowed to take place in past years, and is still going on, .by 

 leaving cornstalks to decay in the fields ; thousands upon thousands 

 of acres of cornstalks are left largely unutilized every year, in the 



