CORN. 163 



able for the growth of corn in the earlier part, but was very 

 favorable at earing time. 



Table No. 2 shows some remarkable yields both of corn and 

 fodder ; but as this season dry weather prevailed at earing time, 

 the largest yields of grain are not from the thickest planting, as 

 was the case the previous year. Five of the plots, Nos. 1, 2, 

 3, 8, and 10, yielded of corn and fodder over six tons each per 

 acre. ; No. 1 producing over seven tons. The five plots referred 

 to averaged about eighty bushels of corn per acre, about seventy 

 per cent of which was nubbins, which makes it very suitable 

 for feeding to cattle without husking, I am fully convinced 

 that no crop the farmer can grow will afford so much and so 

 good cattle feed as this closely planted corn, and in looking at 

 the figures given in these tables the question naturally arises: 

 "Why should farmers winter their cattle on an exclusive 

 hay diet, which has been grown at the rate of one ton per 

 acre, when from three to seven tons of better food can be so 

 easily produced " for there is no doubt that the corn and fodder 

 fed together will give better results than feeding hay. Even if 

 one-third of the weight of this crop goes into the waste, it 

 would still leave from two to four times as much food as the 

 same land in hay would produce, and if run through a cutter be- 

 fore feeding, this waste would make excellent bedding and one 

 of the very best absorbents. 



Probably there is no question connected with stock-feeding 

 that will pay so well for careful experiment, as that of growing 

 and feeding of corn and fodder, and I believe that careful ex- 

 periment would show that a single acre of this crop rightly 

 managed would furnish food to winter two cattle of one thou- 

 sand pounds each, while under the hay feeding system it will 

 take about two acres to winter one. I can not give better advice 

 to farmers than that they experiment with thickly planted corn 

 to determine how much food can be produced per acre and the 

 relative value of that food. It should be remembered, however, 

 that the planting should always be thin enough so that the corn 

 will produce ears, as this not only furnishes grain for feed, but 

 also improves the quality of the fodder. 



