CHAPTER XL 



THE GRASSES INCLUDI^^G INDIAN CORN— SORGHUMS— THE 

 SMALLER GRASSES— HAY-MAKING— STRAW. 



I. Indian Corn and the Sorghums. 



Indian corn, maize, is the imperial agricultural plant of America. 

 This giant annual grass reaches a height of from 7 to 15 feet in 4 

 or 5 months' growth, producing under favorable conditions from 

 30,000 to 50,000 lbs. of green forage per acre, containing from 5,000 

 to 9,000 lbs. of dry matter. When grown in a dense mass but little 

 seed forms, and we have a rank grass which cures into a bright, 

 nutritious, coarse hay. If the plants grow some distance apart, a 

 large yield of grain results, wdth excellent forage as a secondary 

 product. 



AVere a seedsman to advertise Indian corn by a new name, re- 

 counting its actual merits while ingeniously concealing its identity, 

 either his words would be discredited or he would have an unlimited 

 demand for the seed of this supposed novelty. The possibilities of 

 American farms in the live stock they may carry and the animal 

 products they may turn off are restricted only by the quantity of 

 corn and of clover or other legumes which the land wdll produce, 

 and this, under good management, seems almost unlimited. 



In Chapter I the classic study of Ladd on the composition of the 

 Indian corn plant is given at length to helpfully illustrate and fix 

 in mind the manner in which plants grow and elaborate food for 

 animals. The student should turn to that most helpful presentation 

 and carefully review what it teaches. This done he is in position 

 to proceed wdth the further study of the maize plant as here set 

 forth. 



209. Definitions. — The term fodder corn or corn fodder is applied 

 to stalks of corn, green or dry, which have been grown primarily 

 for forage, and from which the ears or ' ' nubbins, ' ' if they carry any, 

 have not been removed. Stover or corn stover denotes the dry stalks 

 of corn from which the ears have been removed. Fodder corn or 

 corn fodder, then, is the fresh or cured corn plant which has been 

 growTi for forage, with all the ears, if any, originally produced. 

 Stover is cured shock corn minus the ears. 



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