98 



Corn Stalks for Fodder. — Salting Horses. 



Vol. VL 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Corn Stalks for Fodder. 



It would appear that we throw away about 

 one-half our corn-fodder either in the shape 

 of cob or stalk. A writer in the Cabinet has 

 brought the subject of Corn and Cob Meal 

 fully before us, and many of my friends have 

 very fully tested the truth of his remarks; 

 it is indeed surprising that every mill is not 

 provided with the means of grinding the cob 

 as well as the corn, now that it has so satis- 

 factorily been proved to be a most valuable 

 resource to our winter feeding establishment. 

 But I have long been convinced that the stalk 

 of the corn contains a much greater propor- 

 tion of nutritive matter than even the cob, 

 and am pleased to find my conviction corro- 

 borated by a writer in the Frederick Herald, 

 who, under his own signature, relates his ex- 

 perience in corn-stalk fodder, which is highly 

 interesting at the present season, when no 

 man has the power to divine what may be 

 the straits to which he may be driven the 

 coming winter. 



Mr. Simmons writes, " In consequence of 

 the great drought that prevailed in the sec- 

 tion of country in which I lived the last sum- 

 mer, my crop of corn fell short three-fourths 

 of what I anticipated when 1 planted ; and 

 the pastures being exhausted early in the 

 fall, I became concerned, lest I should not be 

 able, with the produce I had, to support my 

 stock through the winter. Having cut up 

 my corn in the field close to the ground, as 

 had been my practice for many years, I took 

 a notion that I could, after husking the corn 

 and leaving the shuck to the stalk, cut the 

 stalk, blade, shuck and all quite short, and 

 make it go farther as stock-food, doing more 

 good, than when fed in the usual manner by 

 throwing it in the cattle-yard to be picked 

 over and trodden into the dung; and having 

 procured a very strong chafi-cutting box and 

 fitted it to go by horse-power, I found that 

 with the labour of two hands and one horse, 

 I could cut from fifty to sixty bushels of horse- 

 food, from half an inch to three quarters long, 

 in one hour, and from seventy-five to ninety 

 bushels for cows, from an inch to an inch and 

 a quarter long, in the same space of time. 

 The failure of my last crop of rye as well as 

 corn, induced me to try this corn-fodder for 

 horse as well as cow food, and I therefore 

 commenced early in November to feed them 

 twice a day, giving each horse about half a 

 bushel at a time, to which I added two quarts 

 of wheat-bran stirred together and made moist 

 with water, frequently adding a little salt; 

 and to this food my light work-horses were 

 confined during the winter, with only the ad- 

 dition of a very scant portion of hay, doing 

 as much work as usual, appearing to be in 



better health, and carrying as much flesh as 

 heretofore, when fed with grain. As food 

 for cows when in milk, cut corn-fodder is ex- 

 cellent, when mixed with bran and a little 

 water; but without the addition of bran, it 

 will keep three head of dry cattle better than 

 the same fodder in the usual way would keep 

 one — and the advantage is not confined alone 

 to the benefit of the stock fed on it, for the 

 article of manure, proceeding from the cut 

 food over that of the long stalk, more than 

 repays the diflference in the labour incurred. 

 " Corn should always be cut from the hill 

 in the field as soon as the ear has thoroughly 

 matured — or at any rate before it is touched 

 by the frost — and put up in good shocks, and 

 as soon as the ear has become sufficiently dry 

 to be housed, it should be husked, leaving the 

 shuck attached to the stalk : the fodder should 

 then be packed close and properly secured 

 from the weather, for there is no kind of pro- 

 vender that is sooner and more heavily da- 

 maged by rain and exposure to the weather 

 than corn-fodder — and remember to cut your 

 corn close to the ground, for that part of the 

 stalk which grows below the ear is worth fai 

 more than the part above." S. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Salting Horses. 



A CURIOUS fact is mentioned in Parkes's 

 Treatise on Salt — " A person who kept six- 

 teen farming horses, made the following ex- 

 periment with seven of them which had been 

 accustomed to take salt with their food. — 

 Lumps of rock-salt were laid in their man- 

 gers, and these lumps, previously weighed, 

 were examined weekly, to ascertain what 

 quantity had been consumed, and it was re- 

 peatedly found that whenever these horses 

 were fed on old hay and corn, they consumed 

 only from 2^ to 3 oz. per day, but that when 

 they were fed with new hay, they took 6 oz. 

 per day." This should convince us of the ex- 

 pediency of permitting our cattle the free use 

 of salt at all times, and it can not be given in 

 so convenient a form as rock-salt, it being 

 much more palatable than the article in a re- 

 fined state, and by far cheaper. A good lump 

 should always be kept in a box by the side of 

 every animal, without fear that it will ever 

 be taken in excess. E. 



Wage an unceasing warfare with the 

 weeds. It is not too much to say, that in 

 many cases the annual profits of a farm are 

 diminished from one-third to one-half, by this 

 crop alone. Cutting John's- wort and ap- 

 plying plaster to invigorate the grasses will 

 destroy this weed, while others must be 

 pulled by hand before ripening their seeds ; 

 others, again, require to be plucked up by the 

 roots. 



