FIELD CROPS 435 



' is. as necessary to a growing plant as to a growing animal, and the 

 cutting off of so many of the corn roots as is done by cultivating 

 4 or 5 inches deep gives the plants a check from which they never 

 [fully recover. Cultivate the ground deeply before planting and a* 

 shallow as possible afterwards. 



HARVESTING AND STORING THE CORN. 



The more common method of harvesting the crop is to "pull" 

 the ears, with a good portion of the husks attached, leaving all the 

 fodder in the field. After the crop has been gathered hogs and cattle 

 are turned into the fields and so a portion of the fodder is utilized. 

 This seems like a wasteful method, but in a region where the corn- 

 stalks are usually large and coarse and where hay can be made and 

 saved with so little expense it is often the most economical and 

 profitable plan. Whether to cut the stalks and save them for coarse 

 feed or to give cattle the range of the field and use the labor in 

 making other hay depends on the amounts of feed which can be 

 secured by equal amounts of labor. When the entire stalk is saved 

 the yield of dry forage per acre is from l 1 /^ to 2 tons, and of that 

 amount approximately one-fourth, and that the part which is" the 

 most palatable and has the greatest feeding value, may be saved by 

 turning stock into the field. Taking into account the amount which 

 will be gathered by cattle without expense and the various losses 

 jn handling and feeding the stalks the total additional amount of 

 feed saved by cutting is rarely more than 1 ton per acre. To secure 

 this additional ton the entire crop must be cut, and in order to 

 make more than half the weight of fodder available for food all 

 must be run through a shredder, thoroughly dried, and stored in 

 a dry place. The palatability of the shredded fodder varies greatly. 

 If the cutting is done early, while the upper leaves are still green 

 and the stalk is not yet dry, the yield of fodder will be much 

 heavier and of much better quality than when the cutting is done 

 later, but the early cutting will cause a loss in the grain yield and the 

 fodder will be more difficult to cure. The only object in saving the 

 fodder is to secure a given amount of forage for feeding stock. On 

 many plantations an equal amount of forage of better quality can 

 be secured if the labor necessary for saving the corn fodder is used 

 in making and saving hay, and the farmer who adopts either of the 

 rotations suggested on a previous page will rarely find it profitable 

 to cut, shred, and house his cornstalks. 



When corn is to be used during the winter for feeding fifteen 

 or more milch cows it is economical to use a part of the crop in 

 filling a silo. 



CORN BREEDING. 



The farmer who will produce a productive strain of corn 

 adapted to his section will be able to sell good seed at a price profit- 

 able alike to himself and to those who buy, and will become a public 

 benefactor by increasing the production of corn in his neighborhood. 



A good corn for any section is a corn that matures in time to 

 escape frost or drought and that produces grain or shelled corn of 

 good quality abundantly. An error is very frequently made in 



