FIELD CROPS 425 



the shock as equal, it is evident that the stover has been obtained 

 for the money paid for having the corn cut and shocked. This cost 

 of cutting and shocking is very much less than the value of the 

 stover if it be properly stored and fed. If left in the field until 

 February or March exposed to the winds and rains of winter, it is 

 questionable whether its feeding value is equal to the cost of cut- 

 ting and shocking. 



Time of Cutting. In the sections where corn is grown exten- 

 sively and primarily for the grain, but where it is cut and the stover 

 fed, the time of cutting is governed by the effect which the cutting 

 will have on the ears. When grown for grain it is not advisable to 

 cut until the kernels have become well dented and hard and the 

 husks partly or entirely dried. From the time the corn reaches this 

 condition there is ordinarily a period of about ten days or two weeks 

 in which the stover has a high feeding value and the production of 

 grain per acre is not materially decreased by cutting. After heavy 

 frosts, or after the leaves become brown and the stalks dry, the ex- 

 pense of cutting is greater than the feeding value of the stover ob- 

 tained. When cut during the period above mentioned, corn stover 

 has approximately the same value as timothy hay. If cutting is 

 delayed until the corn is mature enough to husk and crib or if 

 small shocks of stover are left standing in the field till spring, the 

 feeding value of the product is scarcely worth the expense of feeding 

 it and returning the stalks to the land. There are all kinds of corn 

 stover, and the principal factors governing the quality of any par- 

 ticular kind are time of cutting and care in storing. 



The above statements apply to cases in which the corn is grown 

 for grain. The cutting of corn when the ears are in the roasting 

 ear condition or as they are beginning to glaze makes a more pala- 

 table stover but the full feeding value of the crop is not obtained 

 by such early cutting. 



Methods of Cutting. Several methods of cutting are now gen- 

 erally followed : By hand ; with a horse cutter drawn as a sled or on 

 wheels between me rows; with a corn binder; and with a corn 

 shocker. In the Northern States the corn binder is very widely 

 used. The stalks attain a height of from 5 to 9 feet and are cut and 

 bound very satisfactorily by means of corn binders. In the extreme 

 north, where the stalks are but 5 feet or less, a wheat binder is some- 

 times used in cutting and binding the corn crop. The use of the 

 wheat binder for this purpose, however, is not recommended, be- 

 cause the machine is not built for such heavy work. On the river 

 bottoms of the Central and Southern States, where the stalks are 

 large and attain a height of 12 or more feet, with the ears 6 feet or 

 more from the ground, the corn binder does not meet with general 

 favor. Doubtless binders constructed for just such crops as these 

 would meet with greater favor than the binders designed for corn 

 of average height. 



The corn binder with bundle carrier is satisfactorily used in 

 cutting corn of average or small size on land that is not very steep 

 or stumpy. On the comparatively level prairie land of the North 



