S8 



GENESEE PARMER. 



Mar. 1845 



CORN FODDER. 

 Mr. Editor, — One evidence of improvement 

 in ao[ricultiire is the almost universal use of corn- 

 stalks for fodder ; it being as rare now to see a field 

 of stalks left to be run over and trampled under foot 

 by cattle, as it was, before the establishment of ag- 

 ricultural societies and agricultural newspapers, to 

 see a field of corn cut up by the roots, and housed in 

 good order for winter feeding. Many farmers are 

 now beginning to find, that corn can be cultivated 

 exclusively for fodder, cheaper than they can raise 

 other feed. But there is an error very prevalent in 

 regard to the best method of cultivation — I allude 

 to sowing it broadcast. Farmers are so much in 

 the habit of sowing all crops broadcast, that the 

 subject of drilling-in crops has received but little at- 

 tention. We reason, that because labor is high and 

 land cheap, therefore we cannot afford the time and 

 expense of drilling, but must use more land and get 

 lighter crops. As I have had some experience in 

 cultivating corn fodder, I think I can make it appear 

 that the drill system of culture is the cheapest. 



Lands to produce corn for any purpose should be 

 highly manured — and of course they will be very 

 subject to weeds. Corn cultivated in hills is usually 

 very much injured by weeds ; but very much more 

 so when sown broadcast. Other spring grains are 

 put in the ground so early, that they get the start of 

 weeds ; but by the time corn is planted, vegetation 

 is rapid, and if it has to run an even race with weeds, 

 they are sure to come off victorious. In getting the 

 seed into the ground, sowing broadcast is the most 

 expeditious ; but this advantage is greatly overba- 

 lanced in harvesting and curing the Crops. Corn 

 fodder is the most difficult to cure of any crop within 

 my knowledge. When we recollect, that from 800 

 to 1000 lbs. of syrup, boiled sufTiciently to grain 

 into sugar, has been obtained from one acre of stalks, 

 we shall realize that stalks contain an abundance of 

 sap. 



The following method of cultivation I have prac- 

 ticed with good success : Prepare the land as usual 

 for corn ; mark off the drills, 3 feet apart, north and 

 south, so as to admit the noon-day sun between the 

 rows. Let the corn be dropped in the drills so as to 

 have at least one kernel in every two inches. Two 

 bushels of seed should be used to the acre, and there 

 is not much danger of getting the corn too thickly 

 in the drills. They should be covered by drawing 

 the earth from each side of the drill with a hoe. As 

 soon as the rows ca» be distinguished, they should 

 be plastered, cultivated, and hoed. A skillful hand 

 with a cultivator will perform the aftei'-culture, as 

 the corn will grow so rapidly as to soon cover the 

 ground, and prevent the growth of v/eeds. It should 

 be cut as soon as it gets iis growth, and before 

 frosts. The best method is to use a common corn- 

 cutter, laying the stalks upon the ground in small 

 bunches, and when wilted, binding them in small 

 bundles, and stacking them in the usual manner of 

 stacking corn. From seven to nine bundles placed 

 in a stack, and bound around the top, will cure well. 

 The stacks will need to stand a long time in good 

 weather to be thoroughly cured : and after all, they 

 will almost assuredly heat in the mow, and become 

 mouldy, unless well salted. 



Of their value as food for stock I need not speak, 

 as horses, cattle, or sheep will discuss that matter 

 to your entire satisfaction, provided you place them 

 within reach. 



The great difficulty with corn sown broadcast is 



in the harvesting and curing. I knew a crop on rich 

 land, which grew about seven feet high, and the 

 stalks were so limber as to scarcely bear their own 

 weight. It had to be cut with a sickle, which was a 

 slow, tedious process. If they can be mowed ot 

 cradled, there is still much danger of their^becorning 

 spoiled before they can be cured ; and there is no 

 safe manner of curing them ejicept by stackingi 

 Farmers will at once perceive that ihcv are much 

 more readily bound and stacked when in drills, and cut 

 with a sickle or corn cutter, than when scattered ove? 

 the whole surface. 



There is another use for corn sown for fodder, 

 which is practiced by some farmers near Boston — ■- 

 viz,, for soiling — and it is represented as a crop equal 

 to any of the articles used in England for that pur- 

 pose. If, instead of trying to introduce foreign ar- 

 ticles, of which we are entirely unacquainted, we 

 should try experiments in using corn, we should 

 probably find our account in it. We know it is con- 

 genial to our climate, and will afford wholesome food 

 for man and beast. Yours, 



MYRON ADAMS. 



East Hloomfield, Jan., 1845. 



CORN-COB MEAL— INQUIRY. 

 Mr. Editor, — Allow me to express the grateful 

 feeling of a tiller of the soil, that we ha^-e so easy 

 and direct a channel through which useful knov/- 

 ledge may flow to our understandings, as is presented 

 in the "Farmer." This I take to be the legitimate 

 channel to which we of Western New York are to 

 look for the opinions and experience of those who, 

 in their agricultural practice and researches, have 

 gone before us, or stand above us ; and when we 

 fail to find in this channel that which is calculated 

 to aid us in coming to right conclusions, and set- 

 tling upon right grounds^ any interesting and impor- 

 tant question which may be agitating our own minds, 

 and which is material in its effects upon the profits 

 of cultivation or the economy of feeding, I consid- 

 er it perfectly apropos to invite those who maybe in 

 possession of the knowledge which we desire, to 

 throw it into the channel, and let it come down to 

 us. And it is with a view to elicit facts, both scien- 

 tific and experimental, on a subject which I consider 

 of great importance to the farmer, especially of 

 Western New York, that I beg to be allowed to 

 propound a single question ; hoping that they who 

 have understanding in the matter will not vrithhold 

 it : viz.. What is the influence, or relative value, of 

 corn cobs as food for domestic animals ; and to what 

 kind of stock can it be most profitably applied, if to 

 any ? I add " if to any," because the term " most 

 profitable" implies that the cob may be fed to some 

 kinds of stock with profit — a proposition which I 

 suppose some will not acknowledge as true. 



I am aware that this question has its advocates 

 pro and con ; and while one says that the cob, ground 

 up wiih the corn, is worth as much as the same bulk 

 in oats— another says, it is worth no more than so 

 much saw-dust, and all the good it does the animal 

 is in simply distending the stomach ; and again, a 

 third puts in his plea that neither are correct, and 

 says, that if you take the cob in its juicy state,(that is, 

 before the corn gets thoroughly seasoned,) you will 

 find that it contains much nutrition, but after the corn 

 in the ear becomes fully dry and hard, the cob be- 

 comes hard of digestion, and is no longer fit to enter 

 the stomach of any animal. 



Not being competent to analyze the cob, I cannot 



