CHAPTER XVI. 



CORN FODDER 



When the entire corn plant is cut, allowed to cure by standing in 

 shocks, and fed without removing the ears, the name "corn fodder" 

 is applied. If the ears are husked from the fodder, "corn stover" 

 remains. "Fodder corn" refers to corn which has been planted in any 

 manner with the intention of securing rather small ears and stalks for 

 fodder purposes only. 



Iowa planted 10,248,000 acres to corn in 1914. The average yield 

 was 38 bushels. If each acre produced three tons of corn fodder, 3,340 

 pounds of stover per acre were left by husking the 38 bushels and leav- 

 ing the stalks, leaves and husks in the field. However some of this is 

 saved by pasturing. 



MANNER OF PLANTING. Thick planting tends to reduce the 

 size of the ears and stalk. The entire plant is less woody. Neverthe- 

 less, in too close planting the plant often becomes stunted in growth, 

 the leaves become yellow and lifeless, and the fodder obtained there- 

 from is tasteless and less nutritious. Numerous nubbins are desir- 

 able. Checking 4 to 5 kernels to the hill on land inclined to be 

 foul, or drilling 6 to 10 inches apart on clean land, will give satis- 

 factory returns in most parts of the central states. 



DRILLING VS. HILL PLANTING 

 Average Yields for Four Years at Ohio Station. 



Another experiment of planting various numbers of kernels per 

 hill gave the following results : 



Kernels Per Hill. Yield, Bushels. 



I 47-6 



i>4 60.6 



