166 INDIAN COKN. 



another addition to the aggregate yield of stalks, as 

 well as a further contribution of grain to the general 

 stock ; thus exemplifying the manifold utilities of this 

 cereal, which, through so many and various channels, 

 pours annually into the storehouse of the husband- 

 man its munificent supplies of food for man and 

 animals. 



FEEDING VALUE. The intrinsic worth of the corn- 

 stalk to the farmer for feeding purposes, and its nutri- 

 tious quality as compared with straw, hay, and other 

 forage, may be determined by a comparative view of 

 the constituents of each, and also more reliably by a 

 series of trials or experiments in feeding. As far as 

 these trials have yet been made by practical men, the 

 results are nearly uniform, and clearly prove the su- 

 periority of this provender. The experience of en- 

 lightened cultivators places the corn-stalk far above 

 the straw of the other cereals in nutritive value, and 

 justly ranks it, when properly cured and rightly 

 treated in feeding, as quite equal to most kinds of 

 hay. The testimony of competent judges on this sub- 

 ject is sufficiently clear ; and the reason why any 

 farmers are still doubtful in regard to it, the chief 

 reason in fact why the cornstalk is not more generally 

 prized at its true worth, is because its value is too 

 often judged by the results of injudicious feeding, or 

 by the unsound condition of it, arising from want of 

 care in harvesting. 



"Indian corn-stalks," says Professor Norton, " when 

 cut seasonably and well cured, make a most admira- 

 ble fodder. They are then sweet and nutritious in 



