HARVESTING AND STORING. 145 



nse in it; and that cattle will never half consume 

 them, even when they are cut ; thus, unconsciously, 

 condemning their own practice. They gather the 

 small ends and tender portions of the stover, and 

 tell us that even these, when cut, are but partially 

 and reluctantly eaten, and yet imagine the same 

 cattle that turn from these with indifference, will 

 go into a field of unharvested butt-ends and devour 

 them. 



Neither of the positions here taken is tenable. 

 They not only contradict each other, but they equally 

 conflict with the facts of general experience, and with 

 the dictates of common sense. No domestic animal 

 will eat the large ends of corn-stover, as they stand 

 in the field, blanched and withered by the elements, 

 while all kinds of cattle will not only readily eat them, 

 but thrive and fatten on them, when they have been 

 seasonably harvested, well cured, and properly pre- 

 pared for feeding by such process as every good farmer 

 understands. 



STORING. The ordinary method of preserving corn 

 is to deposit it before shelling in long and narrow 

 granaries, or cribs, the sides of which, and sometimes 

 the ends, are constructed with laths or other narrow 

 strips, so arranged as to leave spaces of an inch or 

 more between, for the purpose of ventilation. The 

 corn-crib should never be made more than nine or ten 

 feet wide. If this width is exceeded, the grain at the 

 centre is exposed to the risk of damage by heating. 

 In all cases where greater width is necessary or de- 

 sirable, it is a wise precaution, and perhaps a suffi- 

 7 



