July, 1933] 



Roughage Production in New Hampshire 



23 



It seems advisable to use a variety for silage that has the ability to 

 produce a minimum of about 10 tons of corn per acre. 



The five varieties listed above seem to meet the conditions to be 

 found in New Hampshire, and emphasis sliould be placed on lliose that 

 will just about mature in the locality. Some years if left such varieties 

 would produce grain, and occasionally would have to be harvested too 

 immature because of early frost. The attempt should be made to ob- 

 tain a corn that will produce the maximum in yield of a variety that 

 ordinarily will produce corn beginning to dent. 



Cultivation: 



Weeding at the proper time either with the regular weeder or with 

 the spike-tooth or smoothing harrow will eliminate the need for one or 

 two later cultivations and all of the hand hoeing now done. Cultivat- 

 ing took 4.4 hours per acre for the season, or a total for all cultivating 

 of 6.25 hours per acre for about 5 cultivations. Harvesting operations 

 will be hastened and made easier if level cultivation is practiced. Ridg- 

 ing does not seem to prevent corn from blowing down, and does inter- 

 fere seriously with harvesting and hauling. 



Harvesting : 



Cutting and putting into the silo constitute about two-thirds of 

 the total labor on silage corn. More attention should be given to meth- 

 ods and practices that will reduce this labor cost, and the first should 

 be to eliminate hand cutting. (Table 18) 



Table 18. Labor in harvesting operations when cutting is done by hand ayul 



with machine. 



This is not only a laborious task in itself but lengthens all the op- 

 erations that follow. Loading hand-cut corn requires a man on the 

 load, and the work is slower picking up. Loads are usually smaller, 

 and more hauling is necessary. Unloading at the cutter also takes 

 more time and usually more men. Effort should be made, wherever 

 possible, to exchange labor with a neighbor for the use of his harvester. 

 It is not often desirable to cooperate with more than two men on har- 

 vesting and silo-filling machinery ; but with divided ownership of the 

 three important items no one individual is overloaded with machinery 

 overhead and the work can be done quickly enough to avoid disagree- 

 able and sometimes costly waiting for a chance to use the machine. 



