AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 47 



oped, in sweet corn a few, and in ttie southern corn the formation 

 of ears had not begun. 



Again the field corn and sweet corn were attacked when a few 

 inches high, and somewhat thinned by a cut worm. It is a ques- 

 tion whether this thinning actually diminished the yield of fodder, 

 but it disturbed to some extent the uniformity of conditions under 

 which the three varieties grew. It is worthy of note that the cut 

 worm entirely avoided the southern corn, but was found on every 

 plot of the other two varieties. 



To complete the list of calamities, the corn was frost bitten a 

 few nights before it was harvested, though not severely. This 

 latter misfortune could in no way materially afi'ect the accuracy of 

 the data as to the yield and composition of dry matter, but may be 

 supposed to have had an influence on the palatableness of the fodder, 

 and thus interfere with the success of an experiment involving 

 digestion and feeding experiments. But notwithstanding these 

 unfavorable conditions, it was decided to continue the experiment 

 as planned, because a study of unsatisfactory results is often in- 

 structive, and in the case under consideration it is certainly worth 

 while to know just how far short of success this crop of somewhat 

 immature frost bitten fodder came. It is sometimes asserted that 

 failures teach more than successes. Besides the original inquiries 

 involved in the experiment, the adverse conditions mentioned 

 above raise the additional inquiry as to the real quality for ensi- 

 lage and feeding possessed by such material as the experiment 

 furnished. A study was made of the following points : 



(1) Yield of green fodder and dry matter. 



(2) Composition of the fodder. 



(3) Digestibility of the fodder. 



(4) Actual effect of the fodder when fed as ensilage. 



Yield of fodder. The fodder was hauled to the barn directly 

 after cutting and was weighed before being chopped to pack in 

 the silo. The yields of green fodder and dry substance are given 

 in the table below, as also are the total yield, and calculated rate 

 of yield per acre. The yields of dry matter are calculated by 

 means of analytical data to be found later. 



