I 

 84 



HARVESTING AND UTILIZING CORN 



It has also been shown that the dry matter improves in quality as 

 the corn matures. There is an increasing proportion of starch and 

 sugar. 



Relative Proportion of Parts. In good corn, that will make 50 

 bushels per acre, about one-half the dry weight is represented by the 

 ears and one-half by the stalk and leaves. This does not represent 

 the relative feeding value, as the ear is more valuable pound for 

 pound than the other portions. Feeding experiments show from 

 GO to 70 per cent of the digestible nutrients in the ears. 



With low yields the proportion of ear is much less. For ex- 

 ample, at the^ Indiana Station 4 records were kept in one series of 

 experiments for a number of years, on the yield of ears and stover. 

 Some years were favorable and the yield was good and other years 

 were adverse. Results were as follows : 



Proportion of Grain Loss With Light Yields 



Therefore fodder or silage from a large crop of corn is more 

 valuable ton for ton than from low-yielding corn. 



Husking Ears. Ears are commonly husked by hand from the 

 fodder or standing corn. To aid in this a " husking peg " or hook 

 is used on the hand. When fodder is shredded the husking is com- 

 monly done by the machine. There is also a machine for husking 

 from the standing stalks, but this is not in general use as it is only 

 very little cheaper than hand husking. 



Storing Ears. In the central and northern States the ears are 

 commonly stored in ventilated cribs, until thoroughly dried. The 

 corn may then be shelled out and stored in bins. It is not safe to 

 store shelled corn in bins or even ear corn in cribs, if the corn has 18 



Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 64, 4. 



