INDIAN CORN OR MAIZE. 3! 



the stage of early maturity, cured in the shock and 

 fed with much advantage to live stock subsequently 

 through the entire fall and winter. The farmer who 

 has a sufficient area of corn grown and properly har- 

 vested on the plan above outlined may sustain his 

 horses, cattle and sheep in excellent form, howsoever 

 dry the autumn may be, or howsoever scarce the 

 pasture. But it is very important that the crop shall 

 be harvested at the stage of early maturity, that is 

 to say, when a little under-ripe, and that it be nicely 

 cured. Vastly increased attention is likely to be 

 given to this feature of corn production in the near 

 future, more particularly in the northwestern states, 

 so much characterized by bright autumn sunshine. 



When only a small quantity of soiling food is 

 to be fed daily, it may be cut with a scythe and carted 

 to the animals, or thrown to them over the fence 

 which may separate the corn crop from an adjoining 

 pasture. It may be well in some instances to so plan 

 for feeding the corn when choosing the land on 

 which it is to be grown, that is to say, it may be well 

 to sow a strip of corn not too wide beside the pasture 

 and along its entire length. The saving in horse 

 labor that would thus be effected when feeding the 

 crop would be material, but to the plan there is the 

 objection that corn or other green crop fed thus 

 leads to the dropping of an undue proportion of the 

 manure in that part of the pasture on which the 

 green food has been fed. When green corn is cut 

 for pigs, the corn hook will probably be the best 

 implement to use. 



When fed on a large scale, the crop must needs 

 be cut with the mower, according to the needs of the 



