172 Feeds and Feeding. 



are not sufficient to account for all the shortage. Probably fer- 

 mentations are slowly but steadily wasting the substance of the 

 forage. 



In view of these facts, when calculating the value of a crop of 

 corn forage, a deduction should be made from its worth at harvest 

 time for its reduced value at feeding time, if the latter occurs 

 some months after harvest. 



247. Fodder corn for soiling. — Feeding corn in the green stage 

 should become a general practice upon most farms, for the reason 

 that, during the fall, pastures are often scanty, and if forced to 

 subsist entirely upon them animals cannot do their best. It will 

 be found that an acre of corn fed while green, if quite well matured, 

 may so advance the condition of steers, dairy cows or other stock 

 as to yield a double value over what it would if saved until winter 

 and fed out at a time when there is often a plethora of the same 

 material. 



248. Shocking (stooking) corn. — The process of shocking corn 

 is too well understood to need description. The loss from weath- 

 ering can be much reduced by making larger shocks than ai'e 

 commonly found, and exercising care in their construction. In 

 the shock the corn stalks stand almost vertical, and if the shock 

 be not bound too tightly there is room enough when the stalks wilt 

 to admit currents of air which pass from below upward and out. 

 Such currents carry off the moisture and dry the interior portion 

 of the shock, without allowing mould to work injury to the drying 

 material. No simple system of preservation can be more perfect 

 for the end in view than that which we find in the common 

 method of harvesting corn forage by standing the stalks upright 

 in closely-bound bunches. WTien shock corn is pronounced dry 

 by the farmer, it still carries a much larger percentage of water 

 than does hay, as we learn from the table. This fact should not 

 be overlooked when considering the amount of material required 

 for nourishing farm animals. 



249. Feeding shock corn. — In districts where corn is grown for 

 the grain and put into shocks, farmers not infrequently follow the 

 practice of separating the corn from the stover by husking. For 

 steer feeding there seems no valid reason for the extra expense 



