SHRINKAGE OF CORN IN THE CRIB. 
An Eye-Opener for Corn Growers. 
photograph shows the crib, office, etc., exactly as they 
exist. Mr. Maxon is seen leaning against the scales, 
while your correspondent is right-side-up-with-care 
at the end of the crib. 
Husking began October 22, and ended December 17. 
Every day while it was going on, Mr. Maxon remained 
at the office, and every pound of corn that went into 
the crib was weighed and recorded. The quantity 
put in footed up exactly 10,155 bushels of 70 pounds 
each. From November to March the price offered 
for corn by local dealers was 38 cents per bushel of 
70 pounds. June 1 the price went up to 52 cents, and 
the corn was sold, to be delivered at the elevator 334 
miles distant early in July. When the time for deliv¬ 
ery arrived, Mr. Maxon took charge of the scales, and 
weighed the corn as it came out of the crib, and it 
was again weighed at the elevator, the total weight 
at the two places varying but a few pounds. 
The corn weighed 14,896 bushels 40 pounds when 
taken out, showing a total shrinkage of 1,259 
husking time is what may be termed high, then is the 
time to let go. If, on the other hand, the crop is a 
“ great” one, and the price at husking time is below 
the cost of production, then is the time to hold on. 
The present crop is said to be enormously “ great ” 
(the enormous part will be greatly modified before husk¬ 
ing is completed), and the price offered at the start 
will be less than the cost of growing. Some will be 
obliged to sell in order to raise money to pay old 
debts which are pressing ; but there are thousands 
who are able to hold it for a fair price, and they 
should do so. In this age of wire-and-slat combina 
tions, good cribs can be erected at a moderate cost. 
The main parts are the floor and roof, (let the floor 
well up from the ground, so that vermin cannot 
harbor under it, and block it up so that it will not 
sink ; then put on a rainproof roof and the corn will 
be all right. A steep roof made of common boards 
is better than a nearly flat one made of the best 
shingles. Get your portion of this “ great” crop into 
good cribs, and 
then you can 
afford to smile 
peculiarly at 
the shrinkage 
wail of the 
speculators 
who are fairly 
aching to get 
the bulk of the 
crop into the 
“channels of 
trade” at a 
price that is 
ruinous to the 
FKED GRUNDY 
Many random statements have been made concern¬ 
ing the shrinkage of corn in the crib, and the enor¬ 
mous losses thereby sustained by farmers who are so 
stubborn as to hold the crop for a better market. A 
number of experiments have also been reported, with 
quantities varying from one ear to a bushel, by farm¬ 
ers, speculators, directors of experiment stations and 
others, all of which have curiously tended to show 
that the farmer should dispose of his crop to the 
dealer as soon as he gets it husked. The reports of 
these experiments have been going the rounds for 
years, and have been dwelt upon at great length by 
the editors of various trade and so-called agricul¬ 
tural papers, all of whom have earnestly advised 
the simple-minded husbandman to unload on the 
guileless dealer at the earliest moment possible, if he 
desires to remunerate himself properly for the labor 
expended in 
growing the 
crop. What the 
poor (?) dealer 
is to do with a 
commodity 
that shrinks in 
weight, as 
these friends of 
the farmer de¬ 
clare this does, 
to reimburse 
himself, is not 
revealed; but I 
suppose that he 
has some trick 
in his trade 
that enables 
him to even 
things up ! 
For several 
years I have 
sought near 
and far for 
trustworthy in¬ 
formation o n 
this subject, 
and I must say 
that I know of 
no experiment 
made previous 
to the one here 
recorded, that 
I can consider 
of the least 
value - to/the inquiring corn grower. The principal 
reason why previous experiments are of so little real 
value, is because they were made with insignificant 
quantities, and under conditions which do not exist 
on one farm in a thousand. To be of any real value 
to the corn grower, an experiment of this sort must 
be on a reasonably large scale, and under just such 
conditions as are most likely to exist on a large ma¬ 
jority of corn-producing farms. 
Last summer, Messrs. N. D. Ricks, W. M. Provine 
and Geo. E. Maxon, joint owners of a tract compris¬ 
ing 6,000 acres of land in this county, decided to 
make a careful test of this matter, and determine ex¬ 
actly how much corn actually does shrink in weight 
when husked and cribbed under such conditions as 
are usually found on the ordinary farm. To this end, 
they erected, in the center of the tract mentioned, a 
double crib, 26 feet wide, 250 feet long, and 10 feet high 
at the eaves, with a driveway eight feet wide through 
the center, and a good, tight roof over all, as shown 
at Fig. 224. Near one end of this crib, a small office 
was built, and a set of standard scales put in. The 
Cutting Corn 
F O I) I) e r .— I 
have made sev- 
e r a 1 attempts 
at cutting dry 
fodder, nearly 
all of which re- 
sulted in a 
great saving of 
the fodder 
and a corres¬ 
ponding falling 
oft' in milk. 
The cows would 
not or could not 
eat enough to 
supply their 
need. The sharp ends of the cut stalks made the eat¬ 
ing uncomfortable, even though it did not make the 
mouths sore, as is commonly believed. Of late, with 
the Tornado cutter, the fodder has been cut in strips 
one-half inch wide by two inches long, and has been 
used with entire satisfaction. It is mixed half-and- 
half with cut hay or chaff. The meal is mixed with 
it, and a little salt added. This is wet just enough to 
make the meal stick to the fodder, and left standing 
from one feeding to the next, so as to distribute the 
moisture evenly and somewhat soften the fodder. In 
this way, nearly all is eaten, with no loss in the milk. 
The most delicate Jerseys will leave some of the cut 
stalks, the rugged, common stock scarcely anything. 
Extra meal is put on the mess for the best milkers, 
allowing them about as many quarts of meal as they 
give milk. The Tornado takes nearly twice as much 
power as other cutters, and does the best work when 
it is dull—if the power only holds out. Last year’s 
fodder cut and run into the mow will not heat. The 
new is rarely dry enough to be cut more than two 
weeks ahead. wm. g. embree;, 
A WESTERN CRIB THAT SAVED $1,606.22 ON ONE CROP! Fig. 224 
THE SHRINKAGE OF CORN 
bushels, or a small fraction less than 7% per cent. 
The season was not an extra good one for corn, and 
the crop averaged only medium. When husking 
began, the grain was considered to be in fair cribbing 
condition. Very little rain fell during the winter, 
only a few showers in March and April, while May 
and June were very dry. 
It will be seen that, if these men had sold the corn 
immediately after husking—the time farmers are so 
earnestly urged by trade journals and city news¬ 
papers to sell—it would have netted them $6,138.90. 
By holding until it was sufficiently cured to be han¬ 
dled safely in great bulk, and the lakes and other 
waterways were open to traffic, they realized $7,746.12, 
or $1,606.22 more than if they had allowed themselves 
to be frightened by the great shrinkage bugaboo so 
persistently held up by speculators, whose sole desire 
it is to get the crop into the “ channels of trade ” as 
early and cheaply as possible, so that they can make 
something out of it. 
There is a right as well as a wrong time to sell 
corn. If the crop is a short one, and# the price at 
