CHAPTER VII. 



SILAGE CROPS. 



Indian Corn. Indian corn is, as has already been 

 stated, the main silage crop in this country, and is likely 

 to always remain so. Before explaining the filling of the 

 silo and the making of silage, it will be well, therefore, 

 to state briefly the main conditions which govern the pro- 

 duction of a large crop of corn for the silo, and to ex- 

 amine which varieties of corn are best adapted for silage 

 making. 



Soils best adapted to corn culture and preparation of 

 land. The soils best adapted to the culture of Indian corn 

 are well-drained medium soils, loams or sandy loams, in a 

 good state of fertility. Corn will give best results coming 

 after clover. The preparation of the land for growing 

 corn is the same whether ear corn or forage is the object. 

 Fall plowing is practiced by many successful corn growers. 

 The seed is planted on carefully prepared ground at such 

 a time as convenient and advisable. Other things being 

 equal, the earlier the planting the better, after the danger 

 of frost is ordinarily over. "The early crop may fail, but 

 the late crop is almost sure to fail." After planting, the 

 soil should be kept pulverized and thoroughly cultivated. 

 Shallow cultivation will ordinarily give better results than 

 deep cultivation, as the former method suffices to destroy 

 the weeds and to preserve the soil moisture, which are the 

 essential points sought in cultivating crops. The culti- 

 vation should be no more frequent than is necessary for 

 the complete eradication of weeds. It has been found that 

 the yield of corn may be decreased by too frequent, as 

 well as by insufficient cultivation. The general rule may 

 be given to cultivate as often, but no oftener, than is nec- 

 essary to kill the weeds, or keep the soil pulverized. 



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