The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-10-08
FEEDING VALUE OF CoRNFoDDER

Front i,c BHrkS county Intcifiqenc"T.
In recent issue of the Massachusetts
Nonm0n is an article on the feeding
value of cornfoddcr in comparison with
hay. There is II" nicely of experiment
and comparison, but trial under fair
circumstances i'll an ordinary feeding of
dairy cows. The article in question con-
clutles as follows: "If it be fact. and
there appears to be the best of evidence
to prove that it is, that cornfolder (ordi-
nary dry fodder after it is huskedl is
equal to English hay, ton for ton. then
the corn crop not only becomes an I'M
portant but also very profitable one;
for if fifty bushels of corn and two tons
of fodder. equal to English hay. can bc
grown on single acre of ground, it is
worth more than it will cost. Cornfoi-
der proves tt be not only good, healthy
food for mich COWS, but it produces bet
ter milk than the best hay
While we are willing to believe there
is much truth in this statement. it can
scarcely he accepted as entirely true for
our neighhorhoou. Our farmers have
long known the practical value of good
cornfo,lder. aud have used it to the ex-
clusion of hay as a forage for cows--not
because they considered it of equal value.
or of superior value, to the best hay, but
because the results were entirely salts
factory, and the hay was turned into Il
money crop and sold in Philadelphia
Hay has for at least twenty years ranked
about third among our money crops, but
this would of course have been impossi-
BILE if we could not have substituted corn
fodder for hay as the forage ration of our
COWS. colts. young cattle and sheep. For
horses there is no better forage than good
cornlodder: but We have not, as Il rule
arrived at Il point where it is substituted
for hay i'll feeding working and driving
horses. The horse eat only the blades
and husk, leaving the stalks in the rack
to be removed. They are unhandy to
manipulate, and hence the horses are fed
hay in preference to fodder. more as a
matter of convenience. however than be-
cause hay is better feed. The difficulty
is overcome in the case of cows, when the
fodder is cut up in a machine and fed in
| mess.
The nutritive ratio of coIntudder is |
to H. while that of good hay is to $,
and of the best meadow hay TO }, which
is very near a perfect food. We there
fore demur to the estimate of the Ndsso-
rhUsetts Porman, that cornfodder is equal
to the best hay rs a forage food for mich
cows. But that fodder is Il rood food
and can be substituted for hav in the
ration of the dairy COW nobody in Bucks
county will be likely To question. We
have always held aud taught that the
corn crop with us is king. and the prac-
tee of our best farmers is in the same
direction. From year to year the corn
crop is assuming Il more important place
in our system of farm crops, because it is
feed and forage both. Our best farmers
apply the bulk of the manure to the corn
crop. and with good reason: it is the
| most profitable crop we can raise. Corn
raising here is quite different thing
from what it is in New England. Our
soil and climate are both better adapted
to it, and We can grow corn for about
half what it costs to produce it in MasSa-
chuSettS, or elsewhere in New Eng land
IT, therefore, the case is as put in the
article above quoted, viz.-'' very profit
able " to raise corn in New England
where fifty bushels per acre is large
crop. it is correSpondingly more profit
fifty bushels of corn and two tons of fod-
der can be grown to the acre. Indian
corn is the most important crop produced
iii the United States. Cotton used to be
king Whatever it may have been
before tie war, it is king no longer, corn
having outstripped it in whatever consti-
tuteS intrinsic value. Corn does not fig
ure so conSpcuously in commerce as cot
ton or wheat. but the products based
upon corn. as pork. beef, butter. cheese.
poultry, whitky, glucose, and the other
articles, swells the volume of its value
immensely beyond either wheat or cot
ton, or even both together. Corn is king,
whatever the political economists may
say,