WHEN TO CUT CORN FOR ENSILAGE. 



Several inquiries have been addressed to this station relat- 

 ing to the time of cutting corn for ensilage, and as the season 

 for securing this crop is rapidly approaching I have changed 

 my original plan of issuing a bulletin on Chemical Fertilization 

 and have substituted in its stead a partial answer to the above 

 mentioned questions. 



There must be a time somewhere between seeding and 

 full maturity when corn is at its best as a forage crop, and it 

 has been our aim to practically determine this, if possible. 



The data presented in this bulletin is not offered as con- 

 clusive evidence in the case but simply as the first step towards 

 proof, and but for the demand for information on the part of 

 the farmers I should prefer to have another year's results be- 

 fore publishing those of last year. The plan of the work was 

 to select samples from each of the four varieties of corn exper- 

 imented with at various intervals and to note their height, 

 weight and degree of maturity. The per cent, of water was 

 then determined and a complete analysis of the dry substance 

 made. This work was carried out as fully as the Umited means 

 at that time available would permit. The amount of work was 

 too small for the best results but so far as it went it was care- 

 fully conducted. 



Table A shows as follows : Column i the variety of corn, 

 2 date of sampling, 3 per cent, of water at the time samples 

 were taken, 4, per cent, of dry substance ; the next seven col- 

 umns show the per cent, of albuminoids, ether extract, fibre, 

 nitrogen free extract, total ash, phosphoric acid and potash. 

 In other words this table shows complete analysis of four va- 

 rieties of corn at four periods, or in all sixteen analyses. 



In any article of food whether for man or beast the valua- 

 ble part, or that which sustains life and njurishes the body, is 

 included in the dry substance, hence it is not always the total 

 weight that is the best guide, but it is often true that the weight 



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