136 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



If the above is correct, the presence of acetic acid, or 

 sourness, so far from being 1 an injury, is a positive bene- 

 fit ; for without the acid the starch, which is hard to di- 

 gest, could not be converted into sugar, which is easy to 

 digest. 



In alluding to the manufacture of glucose, I am 

 brought to consider the relative value of different varie- 

 ties of corn. As it matters but little whether the corn 

 at the time it is cut contains sugar or starch (chemi- 

 cally they are almost identical), as the sugar which 

 exists in the plant is converted into acetic acid, while the 

 starch is converted into sugar, it follows that the variety 

 which will produce the greatest amount of sugar and 

 starch to the acre is the best ; that sweet corn (which 

 has been so highly extolled as a forage crop, and justly, 

 perhaps, if fed fresh from the field) does not produce 

 as much sugar and starch or ultimate sugar, is proven by 

 the fact that the managers of glucose factories do not 

 recommend the planting of sweet corn. Were it other- 

 wise, they would be as particular about the variety of 

 seed-corn planted that it should be sweet corn, as the 

 managers of beet- sugar factories are that the farmers 

 who raise sugar-beets for them procure the seed from 

 them. 



As a general rule, that variety of corn which grows the 

 largest, which produces the greatest number of tons to 

 the acre, is the best. In some of the Southern States 

 pearl millet may prove superior to corn. In Ensilaging 

 it, I think, it would be well to cut it just before it heads. 

 In the whole Southern region the field-pea should not be 

 overlooked. It has an excellent effect upon the soil, and 

 upon good land will yield an enormous crop. It is a 

 plant which draws much of its nourishment from the 

 atmosphere. 



