IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 
57 
total dry matter in the crop increased from 3,489 pounds in the 
stover and 2,728 in the corn at date of first cutting to 3,856 in 
the stover in the second cutting and 3,194 in the corn in the 
third cutting. The total dry matter in the crop increased from 
6,217 pounds in the first cutting to 6,782 pounds in the second, 
while the third and fourth fell short of this about 200 pounds, 
owing to a loss in stover not wholly compensated for in increase 
of corn, although the yield of corn and total dry matter' con- 
tained to increase steadily until the fourth cutting, or for two 
weeks after the stover had reached its maturity. The marked 
increase in dry matter of both stover and corn between the first 
and second cutting indicates that the corn plant elaborates 
material rapidly at this stage, and the decrease of dry matter 
in stover and increase of that in corn afterward, furnishes evi- 
dence that there is considerable translocation of plant material 
after the stalk has attained its growth. 
In noting the specific changes in composition it was found 
that the protein of the stover fell off rapidly after the second 
cutting, which continued steadily until the last and that there 
was an increase, although not a corresponding one, in the corn, 
until the third , cutting, after which it also fell off. Carbhydrates 
and fat also fell off steadily in the stover after the second cut- 
ting and increased in the corn from the first to the fourth. 
One sample of stover was left standing uncut in the field 
until December and then taken for analyses the same as the 
others. The total dry matter secured in this sample was 1,940 
pounds against 3,856 from the plot of second cutting September 
26th. A part of this, however, was due to mechanical loss, and 
the remainder to exposure to wind and weather. 
At the Pennsylvania Station it has been found that both the 
total nutrients and the digestibility of a crop of corn increases 
as ripening progresses. Our observation seems in the main to 
agree with this, although there was a slight falling off of total 
dry matter in both corn and stover between the last two cut- 
tings which would indicate that loss from exposure begins 
immediately or very soon after complete maturity has been 
attained. It is probable, also, that digestibility declines quite 
a.s soon if not before loss of nutrients sets in. 
