I 
VoL. LX. No. 2709. 
NEW YOEK, DECEMBER 28, 1901. 
$1 PKR YEAR 
CORN FODDER FOR FATTENING LAMBS. 
WHAT TO FEED WITHCIT. 
Should It Be Cut or Shredded? 
This Is the fourth Winter that I have had lambs in 
my lots fattening for market, and as corn fodder is 
one of the largest products of the farm, I have en¬ 
deavored to learn its value as a part ration for the 
lambs. Research shows but one careful experiment 
in this direction, made at one experiment station, that 
of Michigan, that showing that fodder was undoubted¬ 
ly of great value for this purpose. The papers have 
been full of statements of the value of this product 
for feeding purposes, but these statements are not 
backed by facts derived from careful experiments, 
and are made mainly by manufacturers of machinery 
for handling this crop. Consequently the greatest 
proof the farmer has of its value for feeding purposes 
is the avidity that farm animals show in consuming 
it, i. €., the relish they have for it. If properly fed 
they seem never to tire of it, but the fact that plainly 
shows up is that it is not a complete feed; that young 
cattle or horses fed all Winter all they 
will eat of it come out in the Spring 
without gain of weight. The point that 
concerns me in feeding the lambs is, 
how much of this product I can safely 
use as a part ration for the lambs in 
connection with clover hay, corn, and 
this Winter, barley straw, wheat straw, 
and Finger or Crab-grass hay. In grow¬ 
ing corn here, the aim is always to per¬ 
fect the grain before the corn is cut, 
and if properly cared for, the fodder is 
of fine quality. We never care to sacri¬ 
fice the grain to improve the quality of 
the fodder, nor do we think the value 
is seriously lessened by ripening the 
corn before cutting. I feel sure that if 
I fed ear corn as the grain ration, and 
only fodder for roughness, I should then, 
as the lambs began to fill up, have trou¬ 
ble with constipation in the flock. Last 
Winter for a time I fed fodder twice a 
day, and clover hay once, and came to 
the conclusion that for safety they 
should have more hay and less fodder. 
I feed the fodder whole in racks, and 
lose but little besides the stalks. The 
racks are 12 feet long; the fodder is 
bundled. I carry a bundle to a rack, 
drop the top into the rack, allowing the 
butts to rest up on the end of the rack, 
cut the string, divide the bundle, and turn one-half 
o.^ it towards the other end of the rack with butts 
resting upon the end of the rack. This prevents the 
packing of the fodder in the bottom of the rack. 
Lambs do not feed down through the roughness fed 
them for the finer parts, like horses and cattle, but 
on top, pressing the mass down tighter all the time. 
This tendency I find it necessary to work against. I 
feed the fodder out of doors in racks. Yesterday it 
was raining and disagreeable most of the day, and no 
fodder was fed, but hay in racks under roof. I am 
in doubt whether they would eat any more of the fod¬ 
der shredded than whole, probably noit as much. The 
shredding reduces to dust many of the finer blades, 
and the dried tassel parts the lambs most relish. In 
the fine dust form they will not eat them. I am sup¬ 
ported in this belief by a friend who has had before 
his lambs both whole and shredded fodder; he says 
they do not like the latter. If it was necessary for 
to feed fodder under cover in the barn and sheds 
I would think seriously of cutting it with cutting box, 
to make it more easily handled. As it is fed in racks 
in the lots, its coarseness does not annoy me. 
When the lambs are fattened and out of the lots to 
market, I turn my brood sows or feeding hogs into 
the lots, and feed shelled or ear corn, over the corn¬ 
stalks, and they soon reduce them so they quickly de¬ 
cay and can be easily handled when it comes time to 
remove the manure. I am sure that cut fodder would 
be more acceptable to lambs, or sheep, than the 
shredded. Close observation as to their manner and 
habits of feeding, leads me to this conclusion. I think 
it would be well for the experiment stations to take 
hold of the fodder question and give the farmers more 
light as to its actual value; fed alone and in com¬ 
bination with other foods for lamb and sheep feed, 
as well as other stock of the farm. Experiments may 
have been made that have escaped my notice. If 
such is the case, I shall be glad to know of them. 
Ross Co., Ohio. JOHN M. JAMISON. 
AN EXPERIENCE WITH BEET PULP. 
The article, “Notes on Old and New Feeds,” on 
page 819, strikes me just right, and I give a little ex¬ 
perience we have had with this beet feed. This Fall 
we purchased two tons of this feed at $2.50 per ton. 
After feeding it we failed to see where we gained, 
either in milk or butter, and we now think we could 
have used the $5 to better advantage. We had never 
used any of this feed before, and therefore knew noth¬ 
ing of its value, but as it seemed very cheap as com¬ 
pared with other feeds we thought at first we were 
doing well. When I loaded the stuff into the wagon 
from the car I found it was mighty heavy and had 
on two tons before I knew it. When I reached home 
I got down from the wagon and found water dripping 
from every crack in the wagon box, and now we have 
made up our minds that if we want to feed our cows 
beets we will raise the beets, and let the cows drink 
what water they want from the brook, instead of 
buying it for them at $2.50 per ton and drawing it 4^ 
miles in the bargain. A short time ago I was talking 
with a well-to-do farmer. He said he had also been 
using beet pulp, and had been paying $4.50 per ton 
and told of a dealer who was asking $6 per ton. But 
what set me thinking was that this very man had 
this last year raised sugar beets and delivered them 
at the car for $5 per ton, and then later on bought 
part of them back again at $4.50 with the additional 
weight of water. t. e. r. 
GOOD PUMPKINS IN A BAD SEASON. 
THE RESULTS OF INTENSIVE CULTURE. 
One Success Among Many Failures. 
Fig. 391 shows a picture of Malcom Huntley and a 
corner of a field of pumpkins grown by him during 
the past season on his farm near the shores of Lake 
Ontario, about five miles north of Walcott, Wayne 
Co., N. Y. This represents a yield of nearly 20 tons 
per acre, the large pumpkin in the foreground weigh¬ 
ing 97 pounds, and the one on which Mr. Huntley is 
sitting 73 pounds. Ordinarily, a field like this would 
be of little interest, but this year, when there has been 
almost a pumpkin famine, it has been an object lesson 
in intensive agriculture that people have gone miles 
to see. Last Spring the writer, employed by a Syra¬ 
cuse firm, made contracts with 43 farmers in the 
vicinity of Wolcott to grow and evaporate pumpkins, 
100 acres being contracted for, which ought to have 
produced 50 tons of the evaporated product. Thirty- 
one of the contractors failed entirely to produce a 
crop, or produced so small a crop that it was sold to 
some of the 12 more successful contrac¬ 
tors. Of the 43 contractors Mr. Huntley 
was the only one who was able to pro¬ 
duce the expected amount from the acre 
contracted, and the amount produced by 
him, 1,150 pounds, practically was the 
product of three-fourths of an acre. If 
the whole acre had yielded as heavily 
as a part of it did Mr. Huntley believes 
he could have produced 2,000 pounds. 
The almost complete failure of the 
pumpkin crop which was general 
throughout New York, Michigan, north¬ 
ern Illinois, northern Indiana, northern 
Ohio and northern Pennsylvania, was 
mostly due to unfavorable weather con¬ 
ditions, and to the ravages of the Black 
squash-bug. Mr. Huntley’s success was 
due to two incentives that spurred him 
to action. First was the desire to se¬ 
cure as many dollars as possible from 
the crop, but most of all, Mr. Huntley 
says, was the fact that it is always hu¬ 
miliating to him to undertake a new 
thing and fail, so he selected a fertile 
piece of soil, gave the crop first-class 
tillage, hardly allowing a single weed 
to show its head, and when the bugs 
came he met them more than half way, 
well armed for the defense, and although 
it cannot be said that he won In the 
first round, he so crippled the enemy thait they could 
not eat as fast as the vines grew; hence his success, 
which speaks volumes for thorough tillage and a grim 
determination to win in spite of adverse circum¬ 
stances. J. O. WADSWORTH. 
SHREDDED FODDER FOR STOCK. 
On page 815 a writer tells of cutting com fodder 
for hens. I have used a feed cutter not only in the 
manner mentioned, but to cut straw for the hens to 
scratch their grain from. My cutter can be adjusted 
to cut in five-eighths inch lengths. In this size clover 
can be used to good advantage steeped with bran to 
feed laying hens, or hens that one desires to have lay. 
You would be surprised to see how hogs will eat the 
same feed. Of course fattening hogs could not eat 
much of it to advantage, but for growing hogs it is 
undoubtedly a very cheap source of protein. Unless 
I am fattening sheep with poor teeth or finishing the 
fattening of fowls I simply put the ear corn through 
the cutter, cutting it to two-inch lengths by removing 
one-half the knives. Sheep, cattle and all kinds of 
fowls can readily remove the corn from the cob when 
A PUMPKIN CROP TO BE PROUD OP. Fig. 391. 
