368 



CORN 



3. The loss resulting from stover remaining in the field under 

 ordinary stalk-field conditions two months after ripening, amounts 

 to about one-half of the dry matter and more than one-half of the 

 total feeding value. 



4. After the stover has reached the best condition for cutting, 

 there is a rapid decline in both yield and feeding value. 



5. There is but little change in the composition of the grain of a 

 corn crop in the several stages of ripening; and there is little, if any. 

 decline in either yield or feeding value after the best condition is 

 reached, nor does there seem to be much gain, except a small increase 

 in yield after the denting stage of the ears is reached. 



6. No material change occurs in the composition of the corn cobs 

 during the several stages of ripening. 



The experiments from which these conclusions were arrived at 

 were with five plats of one-fifth of an acre each, of good, well-grown 

 field corn, put in shock at intervals of one week, commencing on Sep- 

 tember 17th and ending October 15th. In addition a plat of equal area 

 was left in the field until December 17th, when the stalks were cut 

 as in shocking and weighed and sampled for analysis. Of stover, 

 plat No. I, in earliest cut, yielded 2 tons per acre; the second plat, 

 2.12 tons per acre; the third and fourth plats each, 2.2 tons per acre; 

 the fifth plat, 1.77 tons per acre, and the last plat, which was left stand- 

 ing until December 17th, 1.2 tons per acre. 



As to the grain, plat No. i yielded 53.6 bushels of ear corn per 

 acre ; plat No. 2, cut a week later, 57.9 bushels ; plat No. 3, 63.6 bush- 

 els ; plat No. 4, 64.3 bushels ; plat No. 5, 60.3 bushels. (The yield from 

 the plat that was left until December 17th is, for some reason, not 

 given.) 



INCREASE IN NUTRIENTS DURING THE STAGES 

 OF MATURITY 



The following table gives the relative amount of water and dry 

 mat^^er in the corn crop at diiiferent stages of maturity and shows the 

 loss accompanying the cutting of fodder when too green. The experi- 

 ment was conducted by Todd, of New York (Geneva) Station. 



