242 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAR 30 
“CORN IS KING.” 
SURFACE MANURING. 
DRILL PLANTING. 
SHALLOW AND 1 
LEVEL CULTIVATION. 
THE COUNTRY’S CORN CROP. 
VARIETIES, MANURES, TOOLS. 
SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 
CORN AS A STOCK FOOD. 
HENRY STEWART. 
It is the misuse rather than the use of corn 
which is objectionable in feeding stock. Wben 
fed in reasonable quantities it is a healthful 
and nutritious food. Its composition is such 
that it is of itself a healthful food when fed in 
moderation, and a food well adapted for a 
working animal or one that is fed for tat. It 
contains of 
Digestible albuminoids. 8.4 per cent. 
Carb ohy drates.60.6 
Fats. 4 8 
giving a nutritive ratio of 1 to 8.6 and afford¬ 
ing an excess of about 50 per cent, of carbon¬ 
aceous matters above the normal maintenance 
ratio. Thus for fattening animals it is just 
about what is required, ana for working ani¬ 
mals it affords a large supply of sustenance 
for respiration and the production of heat. 
These figures are taken from the German 
tables, which somehow reduce the actual ni¬ 
trogenous matter (albuminoids) about one- 
fifth, or from 10 to 8.4 of digestible matters. 
In practice I don’t think this is consistent 
with facts, for a large number of animals are 
fed wholly upon corn tor the grain food, with 
very poor hay or blade fodder, which is as 
poor as the poor hay of the South, and yet the 
horses, mules and cattle are extremely healthy 
and do an enormous quantity of hard work. 
Falling into the custom of the people since I 
have been in the South, I have fed a large 
quantity of corn to working oxen, horses and 
beeves, and have found it in every way a de¬ 
sirable grain food. I think the past season 
my colts have made more growth upon wheat 
bran than they had previously done upon 
corn; but corn is very much cheaper and 
more easily procured in many places than 
bran. 
It has been claimed, and I think with jus¬ 
tice that excessive feeding of corn to hogs is 
productive of disease. But then excessive 
fatness is a disease, and I have been sometimes 
obliged to kill pigs to prevent them from dy¬ 
ing of excessive fatness, especially those be¬ 
longing to the small white breed which be¬ 
come fat at a very early age, so that it is the 
case that corn is really too effective a food for 
fattening, and this has been very clearly 
shown by the experiments made by Professors 
Henry and Sanborn. The animals fed upon 
corn were largely defective in the develop¬ 
ment of the most important vital organs, and 
consequently were fated to die early from 
disease if not quickly slaughtered. Poorly 
developed heart, liver, Kidneys, and spleen, 
are incompatible with robust health, and can¬ 
not fail to provoke fatal disease or encourage 
its development on the first attack by con¬ 
tagion, which might be resisted by a better 
developed vital system. Thus 1 think it is a 
well established fact that too long-continued 
corn-feeding must result in disease, and this 
applies to all animals except those that are 
hard worked or exposed to cold, by which a 
large consumption of carbon in the system is 
made necessary. 
No doubt there is a great temptation to use 
corn when four pounds of it will make a 
pound of live weight of pork, and no barm 
will happen if the feeding is practiced with 
young animals and only up to a safe point, 
but this very character of this grain makes it 
necessary to exercise caution and keep with¬ 
in bounds,or to feed with it more nitrogenous 
foods. The best of these theoretically are 
skimmed milk and cotton-seed meal (decorti¬ 
cated). These have the following composi¬ 
tion: 
Digestible. Skimmed milk. 
Albuminoids.3 5 
Carbohydrates.5.0 
Fat. 0.5 
Ratio.-.9 
Cotton meal. 
33 20 
17.6 
16.2 
1 to 1.8 
The nutritive ratios of these foods are prac¬ 
tically the same; but their effect upon the di¬ 
gestive organs may be very different, and 
hence in practice some allowance must be 
made. As regards cotton-seed meal this ob¬ 
jection prevails to so large an extent as to 
wholly prohibit its use for feeding any stock 
except cows and fattening cattle; but for 
these a mixture of this meal with corn-meal 
is a most excellent food, and to make a de¬ 
sirable ration four pounds of corn-meal and 
one pound of cotton-seed meal might be 
mixed; the ration would have the following 
nutritive ratio: 
4 Equlva- Albuminoids, 
lents. 
Carbohy¬ 
drates. 
Fat. 
of corn-meal. 33.6 
242.4 
19.2 
1 of cotton-seed meal, 33.2 
17 6 
16.2 
66.8 
260. 
35.4 
average 13 3 
Giving a ratio of 1 to 5. 
52 
. 7.1 
But ihe large quantity of digestible fat and 
the quiet in which fattening animals are kept, 
assuming that some of the albuminoids are 
disposed of m the production of fat, would 
make this mixture an excellent one both for 
dairy cows and fattening cattle. 
Another popular mixture both in the dairy 
and for fattening beeves is corn-meal and 
bran. These substances are not far apart in 
nutritive character; as bran contains of di¬ 
gestible 
Albuminoids... 
Carbohydrates, 
Fat. 
with a nutritive ratio of 
.10 per cent. 
48.5 “ “ 
31 « « 
1 to 5.6 
Then equal parts of bran and corn-meal 
would have a ratio of one of albuminoids to 
seven of carbohydrates, but while the latter 
are in excess, not so large a proportion of 
them is in the form of actual fat, and the 
favorable action of bran on the digestive 
organs renders this mixture rather better 
than that with cotton-seed meal (which has 
a costive effect upon the bowels) and alto¬ 
gether better for horses. 
Lastly, for feeding swine or calves the mix¬ 
ture of corn-meal and skimmed milk in the 
proportion of 10 of milk to two of corn, will 
be found very appropriate and' useful. The 
nutritive ratio of this food is one to five, an 
excellent one for young growing animals, and 
one that makes the very best pork for domes¬ 
tic use. I have fed pigs for many years on 
this kind of mixed food and had them fit for 
market at any day from an age of four 
montus up to ill or 12, and without carrying 
them over the winter, excepting those that 
are farrowed late in the fall or early in the 
winter and which are kept over the first win¬ 
ter at very little cost. 
On the whole, corn is the most valuable 
feeding grain we have. If used with intelli¬ 
gent discretion, it is a safe food alone; but 
when mixed with other foods it may be made 
more profitable under a wide range of possi¬ 
bilities. 
“PATENT SILAGE” AGAIN. 
Our readers know that we have several 
times referred to the “patent silage” pre¬ 
pared by means of the silo governor—an in¬ 
vention of Mr. S. M. Colcord, of Massachu¬ 
setts. We h ave long believed that this process 
of preparing silage will, some day, revolu¬ 
tionize the ensilage business, enable siloists to 
prepare a more generally uniform article, and 
make baled silage almost as important a 
product as baled hay. 
The early frosts of last fall cut many a 
corn-field that would have been almost a total 
loss but for the silo. On page 832 of last 
year’s volume of the Rural, Prof. Storer gave 
an excellent account of the action of frost 
upon corn fodder. He suggested that frosted 
corn fodder might be saved from barm by 
putting it into the silo while still frozen. 
There were many who objected to this, and 
some have reported partial failures with silage 
from the frozen stalks. The following letter 
from Mr. Colcord wi.'l be read with interest 
by those who mean to farm with such skill 
and judgment that they may not be beaten by 
the frost 
“The best preserved samples of corn forage 
that I have yet seen were made from the 
poorest corn fodder I ever raised, which was 
very badly frost-bitten early in September. 
I send you herewith a sample of silage to¬ 
gether with a bottle of juice drawn from the 
bottom of the silo at the center, alter I bad 
drained off two gallons to wash out the pipes. 
This juice is free from acid, and has been so 
all the time it has been in the silo, and I pre¬ 
sume it will remain so when you get it. The 
real odor and taste of it you may get by leav¬ 
ing the cork out of the bottle 24 hours or long¬ 
er. There is not a particle of waste in the 
silo or at the feeding trough. The cattle are 
each eating 60 pounds daily and would eat 75 if 
they could get it, and are gaining very fast 
upon it, and yet the corn looked so bad in the 
field that a neighbor told mo that if I would 
give it to him he would not harvest it, though 
it was a great deal better than his, and better 
than an average of all raised around here. 
Now the point is, if the silo will save a crop 
like this, corn is the surest crop to raise for 
cattle, as well as the best and most economi¬ 
cal. My silo is now arranged so that I get 
any pressure I want at any time, the juice can 
be made to run from the bottom like cider 
from a cider-mill. This gives me uniform 
pressure, consistence and moisture through¬ 
out, and I am able to get the conditions for 
capillary attraction to work perfectly, so that 
I can wring out the juice from the silage with 
one hand from any part of the silo. There is 
no heat or fermentation in the silo and no 
silage odor in the barn, the silo, or on the 
bands or clothing. I take the temperature, 
measure the juice, and wei^h every ration 
given to the cattle daily, and I weigh all the 
cattle every 30 days. All things are arranged 
to do it with less loss of time and less trouble 
and labor than by any other method, with 
better results, greater economy ana greater 
assurance of success.” 
The R. N.-Y. can only say that the sample 
of silage was in perfect condition—sweet and 
fragrant. The Experiment Stations should 
test this patent system of silage-making side 
by side with the ordinary silo. The R. N.-Y. 
is of the opinion that the difference in the 
quality of the product will surprise the ex¬ 
perimenters. 
IMPROVING SEED CORN. 
A. C. GLIDDEN. 
This has always been a favorite project 
with farmers and seedsmen. The facility 
with which changes in its character can be 
made, has fostered the plausible theory that 
an ideal corn could be produced, that would 
become universally popular, and suited to the 
wants of all sections Some have honestly, 
no doubt, thought this ideal corn had been 
found and have disseminated what they be¬ 
lieved to be it through advertising agencies, 
in the expectation that it would sustain its 
local popularity wherever planted; but the 
history of every such enterprise is that, ex¬ 
cept in similar climate and latitude,the varie¬ 
ty has proved a failure, and been condemned 
as a fraud. The Learning corn ip a case in 
point. That came to the front with a brass- 
band accompaniment. Michigan farmers in¬ 
vested largely in it, but it was never planted a 
second time. The long ear and kernel of the 
original samples, became here a short ear 
with a big butt, something of the form of a 
pine-apple, having much shorter kernels than 
the seed planted. It is quite possible to im¬ 
prove the local varieties into the ideal corn 
for each locality, but length of season, de¬ 
grees of humidity and of temperature, work 
greater changes than is possible by manipula¬ 
tion by the hand of man. Corn brought from 
the south and carried only a degree of lati¬ 
tude toward the north, is about 10 days later, 
grows taller, and has a greater spread of leaf; 
but grow this corn continuously, planting 
every year from the last year’s crop, and it 
will in a few years approximate to the native 
kinds. It is quite as likely to be less valuable 
on account of some peculiarity of ear or 
stalk than the old tried sorts that have be¬ 
come native, or suited, by long cultivation, 
to the environment. 
The Hathaway dent, for instance, seems 
best suited for the four counties of Michigan 
bordering on the Indiana line; but as we go 
east to the three bordering on Ohio it loses its 
popularity, and regains it further south in 
Ohio, following isothermal lines. This variety 
was sent by Mr. Hathaway to the Michigan 
Agricultural College, several years ago, for 
trial there. Lansing is 70 miles north, and 
the same distance east from the home of Mr. 
Hathaway in Cass county. The corn was 
planted continuously for several years, and 
became at last quite desirable for that locality. 
The seed was lost a year ago, and they 
sent to Mr. Hathaway for a fresh supply, and 
this proved another failure at the college last 
year, when compared with the home-grown 
kinds, it was several days later, and not like 
the corn bred by them from the first sample 
seed. This had become indigenous, as it were, 
or adapted to the soil and climate. 
I attended the Grayling institute this win¬ 
ter, 80 miles north from Lansing. To illus¬ 
trate his subject, one local essayist had 
samples of corn which had proved best 
adapted to that locality. It was an eight- 
row'ed flint variety, with short ears, but was 
early enough to ripen before frost. He had 
tried the Dutton, but while that was his ideal 
corn, the season was not quite long enough 
for its perfect maturity. The tendency there, 
he said, was toward a shorter ear and kernel, 
and he conceived the idea that if the native 
variety- and the Dutton were taken to the 
college farm, and mixed together and planted 
about three years, there would come a result¬ 
ant variety especially adapted to the Gray¬ 
ling climate. He thought the Dutton would 
gain in earliness by the hybridization, and 
the native corn becomes patterned after the 
Dutton in length of ear and kernel, and that 
these traits would become fixed in its growth 
and that they could be transferred to another 
locality where they would become permanent. 
Here is just where the breeding of plants and 
animals differs. When the former are trans¬ 
ferred from native to alien soil and climate, 
a constant evolution is going on suiting them 
to the changed conditions. Seeds of Lucerne 
coming direct from Germany and planted 
here furnish plants that will not stand our 
winters, but the evolution going on in the 
plant from Germany to Chili, and thence up 
the Pacific coast, and across the mountains to 
the table-lands of Colorado, has transformed 
the tender Lucerne to the hardy Alfalfa. 
I believe corn has no characteristic of value, 
that will bear transportation across one de¬ 
gree of latitude and remain. I think it more 
vacillating and changeable than any other 
of our grain crops. There is a vast deal in 
selection from each individual crop for seed 
for the next crop on the same farm. I have 
the same variety I have planted for 20 years 
ou the same tarm. It was originally what 
was then called the large yellow dent and came 
from further south. At first the stalks grew 
14 feet tall and the ears were breast-high on 
the stalks. It gradually moderated its extreme 
height and set ears nearer the ground. By 
selection I have secured ears of more uniform 
diameter from end to end, and the corn is 
more plentiful and less indented. It form¬ 
erly had red and white cobs mixed; now, the 
cobs are all red. I have tried new sorts oc¬ 
casionally alongside of it; but have never 
seen any quality in the new that induced me 
to change. A well grown ear—one that has 
had a chance to grow to its normal size—will 
assume the type of the ideal seed ear, while a 
starved plant coming from a kernel off the 
same ear as the first, will generate a nubbin, 
“ no good” for seed. 
The efforts of seedsmen to breed a type of 
field corn that shall prove valuable when 
widely distributed is futile. There is a more 
universal opportunity for effective enterprise. 
Every farm should be an experiment station 
to improve the native sort. This duty cannot 
be delegated to some person over the line in 
another county even,but must be an individual 
enterprise for individual use. To grow good 
seed corn,plant fewer kernels to the hill, and do 
O', erything on your part which nature seems 
to demand, and leave the breeding to the 
forces of nature, that always act consistently 
with the surroundings. 
Van Buren Co., Michigan. 
PROF. G. E. MORROW. 
There are many excellent varieties of corn. 
I have not thought the production of new va¬ 
rieties especially important—especially for 
farmers generally. Neiiher have I thought 
change of seed necessarily desirable. I have 
steadily advised farmers to keep tested and 
well-liked varieties as pure as possible, trying 
new claimants to favor on a small scale. The 
plan of having a small plot especially for seed 
corn is a good one. If not convenient to have 
it separate from the regular fields, specially 
selected seed may be planted at one side or in 
one corner. Cutting the tassels from, or en¬ 
tirely removing undesirable stalks would 
tend to improvement—reduciug the percen¬ 
tage of barren stalks, for instance. 
Unless replanting is necessary, I w T ould not 
favor planting at different times or planting 
different varieties in order to keep up the 
supply of pollen. Sometimes good results 
would doubtless be secured, but, I doubt if 
much gain will usually result. This opinion 
is not based on personal experience. 
Purposed or accidental cross-fertilization of 
varieties sometimes gives very satisfactory 
results; but I have some prejudice in favor 
of keeping varieties pure in all ordinary cases. 
Selecting a good variety—good in its adapta- 
