Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-01-05
About Corn Fodder.

The curious circumstance that some of
the best farmers in the country consider
corn fodder, or fodder corn, as of little value,
while the great majority use it and think
highly Of it, shows how difficult il is, under
present conditions, TO settle any question in
agriculture that involves even slight diff
culties in the way of correct judgment,
This and hundred like problems, will re-
main such, UNTIL by the aid of experimental
farms, the actual, careful and repeated test
ing by weights and measures is applied, 10y
competent hands, for their solution. If
mechanics want the strength of materials
used by them, and the relative value of dii-
ferent kinds, tested, they apply for and get
a government commission of experts TO make
the necessary experiments aud their report
is circulated, accepted, and acted upon, TO
the great benefit Of all concerned. II the
manufacturers of woven goods, or paper,
Want to know the value and proper use of
any dyes or other chemical substances Of
use in their business, they employ able chem
lists to test the whole matter extensively,
and afterwards direct their work accord
ingly. But farmers fiddle aud putter along,
leaving even the most simple problems of
their dailywork unsolyed-too unintelligent,
too stingy, or too lazy to take any steps to
learn what is Of the utmost Importance for
them to know
Where can We look for anything better
than our next neighbor's "gucss So" as n
means Of reliable information upon the feed.
ing value of dried corn stalks The ques-
tion ought to be settled so completely by
accurate trial and comparison, that we
should know just what the truth is and no
Harris Lewis or Dr. Loring on the one side,
no Jack Jones or Bill Smith on the other,
be able to disturb us more in regard to it,
As for ourself, we are so uneasy about
many of these unsoved questions, that we
cannot forbear continual attempts at their
practical solution, although we cannot com
mend the means for really exhaustive
course of experiment, that would satisfy
others, or give MS that conclusive certainty
which springs from the exclusion Of every
possible source of error,
No farmer can doubt that stock can be fed
and do well upon properly grown and cured
fodder corn. That iii good food for horses,
or horned stock, does not admit doubt.
The dispute is as to its comparative value
and profit, relatively to other forage crops.
We will now give the conclusion TO which
we have come upon this point, with some of
the reasons therefor
First, we will premise what most of our
readers perhaps know-that our farm is a
small one mostly DEVOTED 10 the growth Of
fruit, and fruit trees. We keep one horse
and one COW We do not keep enough land
in grass to feed them through the year, and
have either to buy hay, or to replace it with
some other forage crop. For this purpose,
the past season. we sowed three-fourths of an
acre of oats, and one-third of an acre of
corn fodder. The latter was drilled in. the
rows three and quarter feet apart The
seed was Stowell's evergreen sweet corn
scattered at the rate Of about twenty kernels
to the foot, requiring twenty-five quarts for
the piece The land was clover lay, turned
under in the fall after taking OFF the rowen,
and MANFRED in the spring with twenty
bushels OF unleached hardwood ashes, scat
tered broadcast and two hundred pounds of
Cumberland superphosphate in the drills.
The crop was cultivated three times and
those who examined it at different stages of
its growth, said they had never seen better
piece OF fodder corn. It was sown May %.
aud cut up September "a and 3D., at which
time the tassels were dry aud the silk black.
Mullltudes Of the stalks had ears, but none
Of any size 1t was bound in small bundles.
Just right for the cuttingbox, aud four bun
dies bound together in stock. II stood n
little over month in the field, and was 40
dry when got in that only an occasional stalk
shows any mould though the bundles wore
corded up in the barn, and have settled
closely together
Now for its feeding value. The man who
cut It declared that there was enough Of it
TO feed our horse and COW a year, without
anything else. Experiment shows that, with
some other feed, there was enough 10 feed
them just one hundred and two days. There
was one hundred and fifty-three stocks, or
six hundred and twelve bundles, aud we feed
three bundles a day to each. In addition,
the COW has peck Of potatoes in the morn.
ing, three quarts Of shorts mixed with her
own skim milk at noon, and half bushel of