The Indian Corn Crop ISI 



still further injures the crop. Many farmers think that 

 this earthing up helps the stalks to withstand the wind 

 better, when in fact it weakens them. Com plants on a 

 level surface throw out strong brace roots, which are 

 nature's means for holding it erect. If these are covered 

 they are made soft and weak, and the effort is made to 

 throw out others above the ground, which do not find a 

 good foothold on the sloping ridge, and the corn blows 

 down worse for the hilling. 



We have dwelt so fully upon the cultiva- 

 Uses of the ^. , . '. .^ 



Corn Crop ^^^^ ^^^ improvement of the com crop be- 

 cause it is the greatest of all forage crops not 

 only in this country, but the greatest crop for the feeding 

 of live stock that can be found in any country. It has 

 placed this country in the van in the production of beef 

 and pork for the markets of the world. Hence the uses 

 that the American farmer can make of the crop and the 

 most economical and profitable uses are important matters 

 for study. While corn is of course used largely as human 

 food, the object of the present work is to point out its 

 most profitable use in the feeding of our domestic animals. 

 In too many sections there is a great waste of valuable 

 food in the corn crop. This is especially the case in what 

 is called the great com belt of the Central West. There 

 it is common to gather only the grain and then turn cattle 

 into the field to glean the fodder that, standing in the frost, 

 has become practically worthless. The cattle strip the 

 stalks of the leaves and leave the remainder. And this is 

 not the only mischief. The cattle ranging over the soft 

 and wet ground puddle and pouch the soil, and do serious 

 injury to it in the future cultivation. 



