HARVESTING THE CORN CROP 



235 



Shocking corn 



162. The ordinary custom in curing fodder is to leave it 

 in shocks for one to three months. It is then sufficiently 



Fig. 79. — Corn fodder harvester in section. 



cured to husk or store in barns or stack yard. It is 

 often left in the field to be hauled as needed during 

 the winter. 



Size of shocks 



163. The exposure and loss is greater in small shocks 

 than in large. Where fodder is green, the shocks must 

 be small if the corn is set directly into shock, ordinarily 

 one hundred to one hundred fifty hills being enough. 

 When cured it is often practicable to set two or three 

 shocks together or to stack. When the fodder can be 

 allowed to partly cure before shocking, as in harvesting 

 with a binder, the shocks should be made as large as is 

 practicable. 



