346 THE PLANT LIFE OF MARYLAND 



attendant, as at ''husking bees." The stalks and what may he left 

 of the husks or blades, are usually left to be turned under in the 

 spring and afford some exercise to stock during the outdoor weather 

 of the winter months. 



In "cutting corn" the procedure is more simple, and the utiliza- 

 tion of the fodder is more complete. The essential difference lies in 

 the cutting of the stalk close to the ground, with the blades, ears, 

 and top in place, and curing the whole plant in shocks, as were the 

 tops in the first method. In this method the field is ordinarily 

 planted promptly to wheat, the corn rows being disc-harrowed or 

 otherwise loosened for the sowing of the grain, and this is in the 

 ground before the corn is husked from the shocked stalks. The 

 fodder is in this case usually fed to the cattle only, the other stock 

 having hay in the more common cases. The fodder is usually thrown 

 into the barnyard, or into a pasture field, and the cattle soon strip 

 the blades and other edible parts tramping and breaking the rest as 

 they move about. In the yard this is helpful in the general prepara- 

 tion of the compost, but when fed in the field there is nearly complete 

 loss in utility of the coarser parts. 



The use of self-binding corn harvesters is not so common in this 

 state as in some of those farther West, but they are often used where 

 the corn is to be stored in a sil<>. The harvester makes bundles of 

 a size convenient to handle at the cutting machine, and works more 

 rapidly than hand labor. It is possible to cut silage direct from the 

 field by the use of the harvester, which cuts about as fast as the 

 bundles are hauled to the barn and fed to the silage cutter. The 

 corn is usually harvested for this purpose when the kernels are past 

 the "milk" condition and becoming mealy when cut by the thumb 

 nail. 



Siloes. — The use of siloes is so much more customary now than 

 a few years ago that it is hardly necessary to describe the construc- 

 tion of them. The common type is the "stave silo," located just out- 

 side the barn, and rising to about the same height as the eaves. The 

 essential point in these, as contrasted to the older pit or stone siloes 

 lies in the entire absence of corners, and the possibility of keeping 

 the structure tight by the long screw rods which, like hoops of a 

 barrel, are placed at intervals about the cylindrical tank which forms 



