COST OF STOVER . 81 



advantages of the process are that the work is quickly done 

 and the stover is in better condition to handle, though it is 

 often quite difficult to keep it, as it isveiy likely to heat or 

 mold if it is not thoroughly dry when shredded. 



98. Cost of Saving Com Stover. It sometimes seems very 

 wasteful to see large fields of corn in which the stalks have 

 been left standing, and where little or no use is made of these 

 stalks. There is considerable value in corn stover, yet it is 

 quite expensive to save it. Experiments conducted in Min- 

 nesota show that it costs $11.66 an acre to grow corn where 

 the corn is husked from the standing stalks, and $15.30 an 

 acre where the corn is cut, shocked and shredded. Thus 

 the shredded corn stover costs $3.64 per acre. A fair yield 

 of corn stover is from \\i to XYi tons per acre. If the yield 

 is 13/^ tons, the cost per ton would be $2.43. These figures 

 were compiled several years ago; the cost of production of 

 all crops is now (1918) much higher. As compared with 

 clover hay at $8 a ton, corn stover has been shown to be worth 

 but $3 a ton. To make cornstalks or corn stover pay for 

 the cost of saving them, that cost should not be more than 

 three eighths of the value of good clover hay. In a good 

 man}^ instances it is not economy to save the corn stover, 

 but preferable to raise clover hay for feed. When forage 

 is high in price, however, and clover hay is worth from $8 

 to $12 per ton, it pays to save corn stover. 



99. Pasturing Stalk Fields. The practice is very general 

 throughout the corn belt of allowing stock to run in the corn- 

 fields after the corn has been husked, whenever weather 

 conditions are favorable throughout the fall and winter. 

 There are some reports of injury to stock by this practice, but 

 it has not been definitely shown that the injury comes 

 directly from the cornstalks, and the practice is still con- 

 tinued even by the very best stockmen and corn growers. 



100. Hogging Off Com. Constantly increasing acreages 

 of corn are being harvested by simply turning hogs into the 



