GREEN FORAGE AND HAY CROPS 107 
Average Yields of Ear Corn and Stover, Per Acre 
Ears, Stover, 
pounds pounds 
Average yields..) 4415 3838 
Ratio.......... 100 . 87 
About 87 pounds of cured stover were obtained, on the average, 
for every hundred pounds of ear corn, when the corn was grown for 
the sake of the grain; or, to put it in another way, nearly one-half 
of the weight of the corn crop (46 per cent) is found in the stalks. 
Since 57 per cent of the dry matter of cornstalks has been found 
digestible, and 88 per cent in the case of ear corn, the total amounts 
of digestible dry matter furnished in the stalks are considerable, 
amounting to over one-third of the entire plant under ordinary 
method of corn culture. , 
These figures plainly suggest the importance of taking advantage 
of the large amounts of feed materials found in the cornstalks and 
utilizing these for stock feeding so far as possible. The relation 
between different groups of feed materials in the ears and stalks, 
as given by Armsby, is shown below: 
Digestible Feed Materials in the Mature Corn Plant, in Per Cent 
Total 
Crude Carbo- Fat digesti- 
protein | hydrates ble 
matter 
Ears..........) 75 61 85 63 
Cornstalks....| 25 39 15 37 
Since one-fourth of the entire digestible protein and 37 per 
cent of the entire digestible nutrients of the corn are found in the 
stalks, their utilization for feeding purposes becomes a matter of 
great economic importance. It should be stated that the figures 
in the table make a too favorable showing for cornstalks, for the 
reason that more energy is consumed in the digestion of equal 
weights of stalks than ear corn, and less, therefore, remains for 
nutritive purposes. Making due allowance for this difference, it 
is nevertheless evident that a great waste of national resources has 
been allowed to take place in past years, and is still going on, by 
leaving cornstalks to decay in the fields; thousands upon thousands 
of acres of cornstalks are left largely unutilized every year, in the 
