52 AGRICULTURE 



One advantage of field husking is that the harvesting 

 can be delayed until the fall rush with other crops is over. 

 The ears should be well cured before being cribbed, or 

 there is danger of molding. This is especially true if 

 the fall and winter should happen to be warm and moist. 



Corn should be stored in well protected cribs. The 

 use of rail or other forms of uncovered cribs is a source 

 of great loss. The grain may seem to keep well during 

 the winter in the open crib, but when shelled and sold to 

 the elevators in the spring it often heats and spoils. This 

 tends to reduce the price of corn, and has caused a preju- 

 dice in European countries against American corn as a 

 food. No rain or snow should reach the corn after it is 

 cribbed, for it is sure to injure the quality of the grain. 



Harvesting by cutting. In average corn the ear sup- 

 plies about sixty-four per cent, of the food value and the 

 plant thirty-six per cent. Thus the stover in a field is worth 

 for feeding purposes more than half as much as the grain. 

 If the corn is cut just as it is becoming well glazed the 

 stover is worth from five to ten dollars a ton. 



The time for cutting corn depends on the use to which 

 it is to be put. If the corn is grown chiefly for the grain, 

 it should not be cut until the kernels are well dented and 

 the husks partially dry. The stover will still make good 

 feed if it is properly cared for. After a heavy frost, or 

 after most of the leaves have become brown, the stover 

 will not pay for the expense of cutting and feeding. Cut- 

 ting while the corn is in the roasting-ear stage makes a 

 more palatable stover, but the feeding value of the crop 

 is considerably less than if cut in the glazing stage. 



The corn binder. The corn binder is widely used in 

 northern states. It works successfully in corn from five to 

 nine feet high. In regions where the stalks grow from ten 



