The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-07-06
Fodder Pulling.
EXPERIMENTS SHOWING THE INJURY DONE.

We referred in late issue to the questiona-
BILE policy of fodder-pulling, and Of depending
for supplies of forage on the blades saved from
the corn crop 1t has been frequently stated
that the injury done to the corn by pulling the
blades off ut the usual season, is greater than
the worth of the fodder. The matter has never
been accurately determined by any general sys-
tenn of experiment, which, however, it is we'll
worth while to do, and every planter who
would learn the truth should test the question
for himself
An intelligent planter of Virginia, D. R.
Harrison, of Prince George County, some years
since instituted careful test to ascertain the loss
in weight of clean corn b. stripping the blades
at the usual time of fodder-pulling, and also by
the practice of topping corn above the ear, as
is the usual Virginia custom after the ear is
we'll filed. Rows Of equal length, twelve rows
making an acre, the average weight per row OF
clean corn is given as follows
TBS. per row.
Four rows, blades pulled to top...............121
Four rows, stripped and topped atsame time.l "a
Four rows, topped, blades left below the earl ~
Four rows, blades left on whole stalk......l61
Six rows, blades pulled to the top............ 86
One row, stripped, tops cut ten days later. 80
One row, blades all left..............."......142
One row, blades all left
One row, stripped, tops left ten days........l Il
One row, blades all ...l22
| The rows in this experiment being long, and
the whole covering several acres of land, pro-
ducing over twenty bushels per acre, the test is
| q valuable one It indicates q considerable
loss in every instance of comparison, by the
fodder-pulling. :.
| We have also the report of another expert
ment of the same nature made good many
years ago by Mr.. George Seaborn, of Pendle-
ton, S. O., and published in the Greenville
-1iom.taineer at that time.
MIR. Seaborn tested on twelve short rows OF
corn as uniform in every respect as possible, as
| follows:
Rows /, 4, Z, and 10 were left with all the
blades on, and the corn, when mature and dry,
sheTled out III lbs, measuring pecks, l gal
lon quarts and % pints.
Rows 2, 5, s and II, were stripped of their
blades at the usual period for fodder-pulling,
and shelled out 55 lbs. only, and measured
pecks and J pint. The fodder from these two
rows, when cured, weighed 1S lbs, which ad-
ded to the 55 makes only ] lbs. more than the
clean corn from the rows on which the blades
were left.
The remaining rows, 8, 6, 9, -, Mr.. Scaborn
left until the blades were dry up to the ear,
and on some stalks even to the top, then cut
up at the roots and shocked in the field till the
other corn was gathered. 1t was then hauled
in and shucked, and shelled out 703 lbs. meas
uring pecks, gallon, 2 quarts, and l pint.
This last result corroborates that of the first
four rows, and the whole testimony of the ex-
periments is strongly to the effect that by pull
| ling the blade fodder we lose in weight of the
corn almost as many pounds as we make in
fodder.
There is no work on the farm or plantation
more troublesome than fodder-pulling, and
none in which there are more risks and anxiety
and losses from bad weather than fodder-pull-
ing. If in addition it is losing business,
however successfully done, planters ought to
know it. 1t is to be hoped, some who are care
full and competent win make tests during the
coming summer and give others the benefit Of
| the result.
A few acres in drilled corn, sown as thick as
three bushels per acre on good land, herds
grass on wet bottoms, ample oat crops, with pea
vines, millet, crab grass, and a few acres in
clover, will be found to pay infinitely better in
the end than confning our forage crop to the
one item of corn blades, at the expense of the
corn itself-Banner Of the South.