150 MAINE STATE COLLEGE. 



BULLETIN No. 11. 

 COEX AS A SILAGE CROP. 



The report of the Station for 1891, pp. 41-46, gives a summary 

 of three years' work in testing the relative production of food 

 material by various fodder and root crops. It appeared that the 

 large variety of corn known as Southern White produced the 

 greatest amount of digestible dry substance per acre, excelling 

 root crops, Hungarian Grass and other varieties of corn. Since 

 1891 a comparison between varieties of corn has been continued. 

 This has been done because the corn crop is an important one to 

 Maine dairymen and because the problems connected with its 

 growth in Maine are local in their nature and cannot be solved by 

 experiments in other states, excepting possibly New Hampshire 

 and Vermont. 



The most common question asked in this connection is, Which 

 are the most profitable varieties to grow, the large, which mature 

 only in a latitude south of New England, or the smaller, which 

 complete their growth in this climate ? 



As set forth in the report previously mentioned, the proper test 

 of productiveness is the yield of digestible dry matter, the gross 

 weight of crop or even of total dry matter being deceptive because 

 of differences in the water content and in digestibility. All effort 

 has been directed, then, towards ascertaining the actual growth of 

 digestible material in the several cases. One other point has 

 necessarily been considered, viz. : The relative value of a pound 

 of digestible material in the crops compared. This latter com- 

 parison can most safely be made by feeding experiments, and this 

 has been the method used. 



The study of the corn crop has been conducted in 1892 and 

 1893 in much the same manner as in previous years, only some- 

 what more comprehensively. The results secured are concisely 

 stated in the accompanying table, all intermediate data, such as 

 size of plots and yield per plot, being omitted. The figures for 

 the three years previous are stated for the sake of comparison. 



