46 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



THE COMPOSITION AND YIELD OF FODDER FROM THREE VARIETIES 



OF CORN. AND THE DIGESTIBILITY OF THE SAME BOTH 



AS DRIED FODDER AND AS ENSILAGE. 



The corn plant is an important source of cattle food. This is 

 especially true now that this crop is so largely grown to be con- 

 verted into ensilage, and now that we have come to more fully 

 appreciate and more economically use, by means of the silo, what 

 is left after removing the ears either for the sweet corn factory or 

 for the ripe grain. 



The matter of the relative yield of food from several varieties 

 of corn when grown to be packed in the silo, is often discussed, 

 as for instance, southern ensilage corn, common field corn, or 

 sweet corn. How does the actual amount of nutritive material 

 produced by these varieties under like conditions, compare? 



With a view to obtaining an answer to this question, an experi- 

 ment was undertaken in the summer of 1888, after the following 

 plan : 



Two acres of land, a fine loam, which had been in grass for 

 several years was manured with 600 pounds of superphosphate per 

 acre, drilled in with the seed. This, with the decaying sod, fur- 

 nished the crop a fair amount of food. 



This area was divided into twelve plots of equal size. On plots 

 1,4,7 and 10 was planted Southern Ensilage Corn ; on plots 2, 5, 

 8 and 11 Common Field Corn, and on plots 3, 6, 9 and 12, Sweet 

 Corn. The corn was planted in drills by the use of the Eclipse 

 Corn Planter. The least quantity of seed that it was found possi- 

 ble to drill in with this machine, and at the same time secure uni- 

 formity, was more than desired, and the plots were somewhat too 

 heavily seeded, though not greatly so. 



The corn was planted on May 30th aud 31st, and the fodder was 

 cut Sept. 8th to 12th. The crop was well cultivated by both 

 machine and hand work. 



Three reasons exist why the results obtained in this experiment 

 are less satisfactory than the}- otherwise would have been, viz : 



The season of 1888 was unfavorable to the early maturity of the 

 corn plant, being exceptionally wet, and although one hundred 

 days elapsed between the planting and the harvesting, the crop 

 was less mature than was necessary for the largest production. 

 In the case of the field corn, a good many ears were fully develr 



