ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 99 



Prof. Haecker: I do not find the difference between 

 sweet corn and common Dent that some people do, 



Mr. Judd: Which can you get the more of to the acre, 

 on a field of corn, sowing in drills that way, or broadcast? 



Prof. Haecker: I don't know, but the largest amount of 

 food from an acre is obtained, with us, by sowing the corn 

 by hand, in furrows about six inches wide, kernels about two 

 inches apart, and it is planked in; that is, they first make fur- 

 rows by drawing the plow along, leaning a little to one side, 

 and furrow out two acres that way, and then go along with the 

 hand and sow it into the furrows and plank it crosswise. 



The Chairman: Do you mean to say they actually sow 

 corn that way in your country? 



Prof. Haecker: They do, and they raise more feed to 

 the acre than in any other way. They harrow as long as they 

 can, never plow; then the corn comes up so rank that it 

 chokes out all the weeds, and an immense crop of corn is the 

 result. 



Mr. Judd: How do you cut it? 



Prof. Haecker: Sometimes cut it with a reaper having a 

 reel rake, and sometimes they have to mow it by hand, espe- 

 cially if they have a storm just before harvest time, as it goes 

 down badly. 



Mr. Judd: How many tons to the acre do you get that 

 way? 



Prof. Haecker: I have not weighed, but the dairyman 

 next to the Experiment Station had fourteen and a half acres 

 last winter. He had thirty cows, four horses and a bull that 

 he kept on that fourteen and a half acres, and in the spring 

 he drew out one row of stooks that he had no use for and 

 scattered around in his pasture. Of course, he used it for 

 rough feed. His cattle were in good condition in the spring. 

 He fed bran and a little oil meal for grain. 



Mr. Judd: Were the cows giving a good flow of milk 

 during the winter? 



Prof. Haecker: I don't really know. The cows looked 

 well; I don't see any reason why he shouldn't have had a good 

 flow, it was almost a perfect ration; fodder corn, bran and oil 

 meal. In the first place, fodder corn, by being cut pretty 

 early is easily digested; in the second place, it furnishes the 



