3 



resources of the soil and of the prevailing local features of the 

 weather during the growing season alone, can furnish a safe guide for 

 the attainment of the desired end. 



The determination of the relative feeding value of different samples 

 of the same kind of plants, raised under different circu^nstances, is 

 always carried out with plants of a corresponding stage of growth. 

 Progress in the growth of plants alters not onl}^ their composition in 

 regard to the quantity of the vegetable matter which they contain in 

 a given, weight, it changes also very materially the absolute and 

 relative proportion of their essential food constituents, i. e. their 

 nutritive value. 



The amount of vegetable matter in a given weight of green fodder 

 corn, cut at the beginning of the glazing of the kernels, is known to 

 be not only nearly twice as large as compared with that contained in 

 an equal weight of green corn fodder cut when just showing the tas- 

 sels, it is also known to be pound for pound more nutritious, for it 

 contains more starch, more sugar, more of valuable nitrogenous mat- 

 ter, etc. 



Considering the previously stated views correct, we filled our silos 

 during last autumn with fodder corn which had just reached the point, 

 when the kernels began to glaze over, expecting to secure an ensilage 

 of. superior feeding value. The results of our experiments in that 

 direction have been very satisfactory and may be summed up as 

 follows : 



1 . The course adopted for the production of corn fodder for the silo, 

 secures the largest amount of valuable vegetable matter, which a 

 given area of land, planted with fodder corn can produce under cor- 

 responding circumstances as far as land and season are concerned. 



2. The ensilage of a more matured fodder corn has a higher feed- 

 ing value pound for pound, as compared with that cut at an earlier 

 stage of growth. 



3. The more matured fodder corn on account of a harder texture 

 is less crushed by close packing and consequently better resists the 

 peculiar influences, which tend to deteriorate and ultimately destroy 

 the contents of the silo. 



As a more detailed description of the products of our silos may 

 not be without some interest to our readers at this period of the sea- 

 son, we publish below the essential part of our results, beginning 

 with an abstract from our late annual report, which relates briefly 

 the course pursued in filling the silo. 



The corn Jodder^ when cut for the silo, September 3 and 4, began 

 to acquire a slightly yellowish tint along the outside of the field, yet 

 was still green and succulent in the interior parts ; the kernels were 

 soft, their contents somewhat milky, and their outside just beginning 

 to sclaze. 



