MAIZE FOR SOILING 141 
first crop, and the seeding and tilling should also 
be the same. 
Time of harvesting, and yields 
The time of harvesting maize for soiling pur- 
poses may begin as soon as the plant has fully 
tasseled, or even before, depending on the need 
for succulent forage. The largest amount of actual 
food or digestible nutrients will be secured if the 
harvesting is delayed until the ears have formed, 
and then continued until the glazing stage is 
reached. Therefore, the yields will vary widely, 
inasmuch as the proportion of dry matter in the 
early-cut forage is relatively very much less, and 
the water very much more than when the crop is 
nearly mature. Records obtained at some of the 
stations show that under normal conditions of sea- 
son more digestible matter, and that which is quite 
as palatable, may be secured from twelve tons of 
corn cut at the glazing stage, than would be 
secured in fifteen tons or more harvested before or 
about the time the plant is coming in tassel. So 
the yields may vary by the common, though not 
proper, standards of reckoning; and the fact that 
a crop will yield fifteen or even twenty tons of 
forage, as is frequently stated, is no indication 
that such crop is superior in content and value of 
total nutrients to one that yields twelve tons. 
It is not desirable to prolong the feeding of the 
