78 SILOS, EKSILAGE A]STD SILAGE. 



and conditions of growth, as factors that may determine 

 its value as cattle food. It has been asserted by some 

 farmers that a diminished flow of milk followed the full 

 feeding of fodder corn, while others consistently claim 

 that it is one of the best feeds for dairy stock. The 

 obvious explanation of these conflicting statements should 

 be of interest to every farmer. 



THICK SEEDIXG. 



From its peculiar habits of growth Indian corn, as a 

 fodder crop, must vary in feeding quality with the con- 

 ditions that prevail in its cultivation. When too thickly 

 planted the stalks are bleached and slender, and the 

 leaves are pale and lacking in vigor, and although a con- 

 siderable yield in gross weight may be obtained under 

 such conditions, water forms too large a proportion of 

 the constituents of the crop, and there is consequently a 

 corresponding deficiency in nutritive materials. The 

 general sickly habit of growth is an indication of defec- 

 tive nutrition and a suppression of the processes of 

 assimilation. 



Some of the leading facts in vegetable physiology have 

 a practical significance in this connection, which should 

 not be disregarded. The green coloring matter of plants 

 (chlorophyll) is the active and essential agent in the 

 assimilation of carbon, and the formation of starch, and 

 the reserve materials that are stored up in the body of 

 the plant. Carbon, which usually constitutes about 

 one-half of the weight of the dry substance of most 

 plants, is derived from the carbonic acid of the atmos- 

 phere, and can only be assimilated by the chloryphyll in 

 the presence of light. "When the amount of light is 

 small, even these assimilating organs which contain 

 chlorophyll lose the power of producing organic sub- 

 stances out of water and carbon dioxide with the assist- 

 ance of other food materials." 



