28 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



The variety, or varieties, of corn to sow or plant 

 will depend on conditions such as relate to climate 

 and soil. In northerly latitudes it may be wise to 

 plant only the quick growing flint varieties. In 

 more southerly latitudes, it may be necessary to grow 

 only the slow growing dent varieties. When the 

 corn is to be allowed to pass the earing stage, before 

 being fed, it may be proper to choose some of the 

 varieties of sweet corn for planting. But since soil- 

 ing corn is usually fed before the corn on the ear is 

 of any considerable food value, it is well to select 

 varieties with a leafy tendency of growth, since these 

 varieties will be more relished by the animals to 

 which the crop is fed. 



The quantity of seed required will vary with 

 the size of the seed kernels, or, in other words, with 

 the variety of the corn, and with the method adopted 

 in sowing the seed. Probably no method of sowing 

 calls for the use of more than three bushels of seed 

 per acre, or less than one bushel per acre. There 

 would seem to be no advantage derived from grow- 

 ing corn for soiling purposes with the plants less dis- 

 tant than from three to four inches in the line of the 

 row, whatsoever the kind of cultivation adopted, and 

 there may often be good reasons for growing the 

 plants much further apart. 



The time for planting corn for soiling will 

 largely depend upon such conditions as climate, soil, 

 and the prospective needs of the animals to which 

 the crop is to be fed. Although in southern lati- 

 tudes, this crop may be sown for soiling uses far on 

 into midsummer, it should never be planted in the 

 spring before the soil has become sufficiently warmed 



