Vol. LIX. 
No. 2634. 
NEW YORK, JULY 21, 1900. 
FIVE TONS PER ACR 
t 
CORN HARVESTING. 
TIIE DRY SIDE OF THE CORN-FODDER QUESTION. 
From Field to Barn. 
Part II. 
CURING FODDER.—It is not a difficult problem to 
raise good corn on first-class land, and in a favorable 
season. The man to use as a pattern is the one who 
makes a good crop on unsuitable soil and under un¬ 
favorable circumstances; you may usually look for 
such a man in one who is called lucky by his neigh¬ 
bors. It is very evident that every farmer is not 
a good judge of farm produce, tools or stock, and 
“whackin’ good corn-fodder” in the eyes of one man, 
would be mighty poor stuff as seen by the expert. 
Many fairly good crops of corn are raised to ma¬ 
turity, and the stalks ruined, before they ever reach the 
unfortunate cows for which they are destined. When 
I speak of success with dry fodder, I do not mean the 
kind that is cut 
when entirely 
d e a d, and 
strung all over 
the ground af¬ 
ter husking or 
before, first 
bleached and 
then blackened 
by sun and 
rain until it is 
like a bundle 
of sticks; but 
the soft, pli¬ 
able stalks, 
green in color 
when they 
come from the 
mow in Win¬ 
ter, prepared in 
a p a 1 a t able 
manner for 
cattle and 
horses, and 
looked after 
eagerly by 
young calves. 
We watch our 
corn and try to 
cut it as soon 
as the grain is 
glazed and the 
stalks show a 
lighter color 
below the ear. 
This is one 
particular part 
of the business. If you make a failure here, you can¬ 
not recover from it. Corn can be cut much greener 
than one might think who has not tried it, and if 
the shocks are not made too large, the fodder will be 
away 'in the front rank. 
JUST HOW.—We put from 25 to 35 hills in each 
shock, owing to size of corn. Too small, some will 
say, but wait and see. We first use one hill and an 
armful of stalks with a good band around them for 
a starter; we are very particular to stand the corn 
evenly around this hill until shock is completed, and 
finish with two good, strong double bands, binding 
rather low down. Very few hired men or their em¬ 
ployers know how to put up a shock of corn so that 
it will stand until late in the season and not fall 
down; I have observed many fields where large num¬ 
bers of the shocks were down before being cut one 
week. My father and I have put up eight acres our¬ 
selves, and not six shocks fell down or unbound. 
CURING AND HANDLING.—'Our main crop being 
potatoes, the corn is of necessity left in the field until 
late in the season, and becomes thoroughly cured, 
only the outside of the shocks being touched by the 
weather. If the corn was to be husked earlier in the 
field, part of the bleaching from turning the shocks 
inside out can be obviated by putting the stalks up 
in very large shocks of from 25 to 30 bundles, and 
binding with pumpkin vines, or a band made of two 
or three lengths of stalks. When we are ready to 
begin husking, we put the 16-foot flat rack on the 
low-wheeled, wide-tire wagon. The shocks having 
been set in straight rows one way, we drive between 
two rows, and are ready for business. If the Fall 
has been dry, and the stalks are brittle, we aim to 
draw in the morning, when they are soft and pliable 
from the night air. After cutting the hills under 
shocks enough for a load, rebinding where necessary, 
we are ready to begin our load. We have no man on 
the wagon; two men with forks, standing side by side 
at the same shock, raise it easily and place it on the 
• •! 
K -vr 
m 
■ .■ i • 
V"V ' 
■- 
THE TRIUMPH GOOSEBERRY. Fig. 163. See Ruralisms, Page 498. 
wagon; then one from the opposite side, and so on 
alternately, laying in tiers around the wagon until a 
load is obtained. It is then hauled to the barn, the 
horses driven straight up to the center of the doors, 
the shocks carried from the load, and piled in tiers 
across the barn floor as high as two men can lift, with 
one man on the tier to tread down. The floor is filled 
in this way, leaving only room to begin husking. 
The stalks are put directly into the mow, and remain 
until taken out to be run through the cutter and 
crusher. When the corn is drawn in the manner de¬ 
scribed, the shocks come out to be husked in perfect 
shape and form, the stalks are soft and pleasant to 
handle, and cold or warm, in cloud or sunshine, we 
prefer to husk on the barn floor. No need to turn 
the cows in the cornfield to pick up the litter; there is 
none there. The cold, damp ground doesn’t bother 
the “rheumatics” of the older ones, and business pro¬ 
gresses rain or shine, for it’s a sorry day when we are 
caught with an empty barn floor. Our stalks always 
come from the mow in fine shape, and I have tried to 
describe accurately how we grow and handle them, 
but this method of husking cannot be practiced early 
in the season. ji. s. wright. 
Onondaga Oo„ N, Y, 
MR. CLARK’S HAY CROP. 
Can We All Do It? 
We have had several chapters about the grass crop 
grown by Mr. Geo. M. Clark, of Connecticut. Read- 
era write to us that they are very much in¬ 
terested in these reports. Here, for example, is a 
note from one of our readers in New York State: 
“I read with pleasure, and I hope some profit, all 
your articles on the grass crop. Keep hammering 
away; we need it. I want to try Mr. Clark’s method.” 
We wish, therefore, to finish the story of this year’s 
crop, and perhaps give the proportions for next year ’3 
hay. Mr. Clark says that he finished cutting his first 
crop on July 7. On iy 2 acre which was seeded Sep¬ 
tember 2, 1899, he cut 20,005 pounds of hay. On an¬ 
other field seeded five years, 1% acre, were produced 
8,545 pounds. Another, seeded four years, gave 13,460 
pounds of hay 
on 1% acre. On 
seven - eighths 
of an acre 
which has been 
seeded for 11 
years, 11,890 
pounds of hay 
were cut. Thus 
the grass seed¬ 
ed nine months 
and that seed¬ 
ed for 11 years 
gave the high¬ 
est yield. This 
grass w a 3 
weighed as it 
went into the 
barn from the 
field, where it 
has been thor¬ 
oughly dried. 
The total seven 
acres under ex¬ 
periment gave 
70,750 pounds 
of hay, or over 
35 tons. Dur¬ 
ing the year 
800 pounds per 
acre of a mix- 
ture of fine 
ground bone, 
muriate of pot¬ 
ash and nitrate 
of soda were 
used. Mr. Clark 
figures that at this rate the total amount of fertilizer 
needed to produce a ton of hay cost $3, and thinks 
that with this heavy yield the cost of labor, wear and 
tear of machinery, cost $2 per ton. The total cost of 
a ton of hay in his barn was $5, and hay is now sell¬ 
ing at $15 to $17 per ton. He says that at the time 
of harvesting, after the grass was cut, the entire field 
was covered with half-dried grass 18 inches deep, 
and we can well believe it, as we have visited the 
field at haying time, and have seen the tedder at 
work. Mr. Clark says that this year only about 2% 
‘inches of water fell upon this field during the season. 
Old fields in the neighborhood are hardly worth cut¬ 
ting this year, yet his newly-seeded grass gave 6y 2 
tons of hay to the acre nine months from the seed, 
while the average of seven acres of old and new 
seeding was over five tons. 
We often talk with people about these tremendous 
yields of hay, and are bluntly met with the statement: 
“I don’t believe a word of it!” We have seen the 
grass growing in the field, have seen it cut, and have 
seen it hauled to the barn, and we have every reason 
