Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-06-16
Summer Fodder Crops.


The injury to meadows and pastures
oceasioned by the severe drought of last
season can not be repaired fully by the
most favorable weather this season. The
seeding of grass and clover last year was
nearly q complete failure, and the old
meadows are now found to have been
seriously injured by the destruction of a
large proportion Of the grass roots. The
grass IS now coming up very thinly,
and q few dry days may cut off the hopes
OF an average hay crop. Every years
experience proves more conclusivelv
than ever before that the farmer and
dairyman must depend, to great extent,
for his summer fodder and his winter
feeding upon crops specially grown for
ioddering. As we depart further from
hand to mouth practice, and increase
our demands upon the soil, it is neces-
sary to grow such crops as will yield the
largest proportion of fodder for our
stock. Every dairyman should aim to
carry at least one cow for every three
and, II possible, two-acres, by growing
fodder crops and by using purchased
feeding stuffs. He need not fear any
crowding OF the market for his products,
while more than thirty millions of
pounds of oleomargarine, suine and but
terlne professedly come upon the mar
ket, and perhaps as much more comes
upon it in disguise. Besides, if one can
produce more at the same cost as the
less, he can afford to sell at less price
and still be gamer. 1t is, therefore, q
timely matter for consideration what
fodder crops may be grown for summer
use and what for winter feeding, and
which OF them should be chosen.
Our greatest fodder crop is corn.
Grass is great, but corn is greater. One
acre in corn may be made to produce
easily as much fodder as five in grass
Here is an enormous economy. And
corn well grown is but little inferior to
ordinary grass, if, indeed, it is not equal
in every respect. Corn, then, should
take the first place in the list of fodder
crops. Much has been said of this crop
because it is unquestionably the great
est we can produce in every sense. But
it is a subject which admits of constant
consideration, because it is one of which
we are ever learning something new.
As a fodder crop it has not yet had JUS
tice done to it. Many farmers have
grown it for want of any better, and
have fed it because they have grown it,
and have roundly abused it in private
and public because of disappointments
for which their own mistakes have been
to blame. 1t has been charged that this
crop makes very poor fodder. That
is true when it is grown in such a man.
ner as to entirely prevent it from becom-
ing anything else than poor. 1t has
been sown broadcast very thickly, so
that the ground has been entirely COW
cred when the blades were fd0t high.
All the growth after that has been in
dense shade. 1t should be well known
that the bright sunlight is required for
healthful vegetation; that some whole
some plants when grown in the dark be-
come absolutely poisonous; that at the
best the chemical changes by which
water and woody fiber become starch
and sugar, and by which nitro
genous elements are elaborated
into flesh-forming substances, re-
of air and light and warmth. But
all of these are denied to crop of corn
sown broadcast and thickly, and the
consequence is that the fodder is worth
less, being mere water, acids, and innu-
tritious cellular matter. There is then
no nourishment in it, and cows fed upon
it not only shrink in their milk, but are
troubled with diarrhea and other COM
plants. But this is not the case when
the corn is grown in the usual manner
in rows, although thickly planted in the
rows. Exposed to the blessed influences
of the SUMS heat and light, the stems
are of a vivid, healthful green, and the
sap is rich in sugar and starch. The
stalks grow stout and strong and tall,
and although but one-fourth as much
seed is sown as when planted broadcast,
there is much heavier product of fodder.
Common field corn of average height,
with a leafy habit and inclined to throw
up suckers, is the best to choose, and
variety that is no taller when full grown
than nine or ten feet is preferable to a
larger kind. The writer prefers sweet
corn and the kind known as Stowell's
Evergreen, q common and everywhere
to be procured variety, and to plant this
in drills three feet apart, three seeds to-
gether, four inches apart in the drills, or
If the seed is dropped three in place,
twelve inches apart, very heavy growth
of the best fodder and many half grown
ears will be produced.
This crop may be planted until the
middle of June and mature before frost.
But more rapidly growing kinds may be
chosen. The medium-sized varieties of
sweet corn can be used, or the very
early and small kinds, which reach four
feet only in height of stalk. But these
are leafy, and, being small, can be
planted in rows two feet apart, and
yield nearly as much as the larger varie.
ties. With all kinds frequent cultivation
is indispensable. This forces the growth
and natures it, by which its nutritious
ness is secured. But there are other
summer feeding crops which do not oc-
cupy the soil SO long, and of which two
.sowings can be made and two harvests
reaped. Oats, mixed with tares. is one
of the best feeding crops, and even
grown alone it is an excellent crop. 1t
has the advantage that it will grow
without cultivation, and does not scorn
an ill-plowed sod or piece of moist or
half-swampy land. But it should be
sown thickly and not less than five
bushels of seed per acre when alone,
and if mixed with tares or peas each