INDIAN CORN OR MAIZE. 25 



be taken not to turn the animals in to graze when 

 they are hungry, at least at the beginning of the pas- 

 turing, on the principle that sudden changes of diet 

 are not good. But corn is not so much liable to pro- 

 duce bloating as some other kinds of green forage, 

 nor should the animals be pastured upon it when it 

 is wet, as then they foul the feed and impact the land 

 too much with their treading, and in the case of 

 sheep the fleeces would become more or less satu- 

 rated with water. 



As already intimated, there will be much waste 

 from treading by cattle, so much that it would not 

 seem profitable to graze them on corn, unless when 

 the residuum of waste forage to be plowed under just 

 after the pasturing, is looked upon as an important 

 factor. But when sheep are pastured upon corn, the 

 waste is not nearly so great. They do not break 

 down nearly so much of the corn as cattle, and much 

 of what is broken down they will consume in the 

 cured form. 



Observations. The chief strength of corn as a 

 forage plant lies, first, in the quickness with which it 

 will grow; second, in the large amount of forage 

 which it produces; third, in the succession of the 

 crops that can be grown the same season ; fourth, in 

 the combinations in which it may be grown; and, 

 fifth, in its power to grow under dry conditions. Its 

 weakness as a forage plant lies, first, in the cost of 

 the seed; second, in the fact that it will not grow 

 again w r hen grazed off ; and, third, in the considera- 

 ble proportion of the waste when grazed off by cattle. 



2. The work of grazing corn as a pasture must 

 be regarded as being only in the experimental stage. 

 And it would seem to be important that the combina- 



