1888.] PUBLIC DOCmiENT — No. 33. 91 



that the same variety of corn, raised under fairly corre- 

 sponding circumstances, as far as the general character of the 

 soil and the mode of cultivation are concerned, contained, in 

 one hundred weight parts, at the time of the^rs^ appearance 

 of the tassel, from twelve to ff teen weight parts of dry vege- 

 table matter, and from eighty-Jive to eighty-eight parts of 

 water ; while at the time of the beginning of the glazing of 

 the kernels, the former was noticed to vary from twenty-three 

 to twenty-eight weight parts, and the water from Sf-venty- 

 seven to seventy-two. These results of our investigation left 

 no doubt concerning the fact that our green fodder corn, at 

 the time of the beginning of the glazing of the kernels, 

 contained nearly twice as much vegetable matter per ton 

 weight of corn as at the time of the appearance of the 

 tassels. 



This feature in the change of the composition of the 

 fodder corn during its growth is not an exceptional one ; 

 similar changes are noticed in all our farm plants. Our ob- 

 servations in this direction were reported for the purpose 

 of furnishing some more definite numerical values for the 

 consideration of our practical farmers. As long as the vital 

 energy of an annual plant is still essentially spent in the 

 increase of its size, as a rule, but a comparatively small 

 amount of valuable organic compounds, as starch, sugar, 

 etc., accumulate within its cellular tissue. The comparative 

 feeding A'^alue of the same kind of fodder plants, or any par- 

 ticular part of such plants, is not to be measured by its size, 

 but by the quantity of valuable organic nitrogenous and 

 non-nitrogenous constituents stored up in its cellular system. 

 The larger or smaller amount of dry vegetable matter left 

 behind from a given weight of samples of the same kind, of 

 a fodder plant of a corresponding stage of growth, indicates, 

 in the majority of cases, their respective higher or lower 

 economical value for feeding purposes. Agricultural chem- 

 ists, for this reason, usually begin their examination of a 

 fodder plant with a test for the determination of the amount 

 of dry vegetable matter left behind when carefully brought 

 to a constant weight at a temperature not exceeding 110^ C. 



The amount of vegetable matter in a given weight of green 

 fodder corn, cut at the beginning of the glazing of the kernels. 



