THE STALK CEOP. 187 



among our farmers, the effect would be to render the 

 forty million tons of corn-stalks now raised in this 

 country equivalent in value to more than sixty mil- 

 lion tons ; the hay crop, which is now about twenty 

 million tons, would be virtually increased to over 

 thirty millions, and all other fodder capable of the 

 same treatment would be augmented in the same pro- 

 portion. This consideration is perhaps a sufficient 

 apology for the space here devoted to an examination 

 of the subject. 



JSTuTEiTivE VALUE OF THE COB. The ears of Indian 

 coAi are frequently ground entire, before shelling, and 

 the meal yielded by this process, being the joint prod- 

 uct of the grain and cob, is found variously useful. 

 Many farmers employ it quite extensively in feeding, 

 and are well satisfied with the results, although there 

 is some difference of opinion in regard to the utility 

 of it. 



As corn-meal is considered a concentrated and 

 somewhat stimulating food, and is therefore nearly 

 always blended with some other provender when fed 

 to stock, there seems to be no reason why the cob 

 may not prove to be, when ground with the grain, at 

 least a convenient and useful divisor for reducing the 

 pure meal. 



But if the cob, while entirely free from all hurtful 

 elements, is found to contain, at the same time, a pro- 

 portion of nutritive value, then its adaptation to this 

 object is clear and undoubted, and it becomes not only 

 negatively useful as a divisor, but positively profitable 

 as an addition to the feed. As chemistry has not de- 



