Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-10-27
Harvesting C%orn.Fodder.

let them remain till harvest time, was
one that was much discussed by farm
ers, through the agricultural press and
otherwise. By many the practice was
considered a good one, because the
stalks cut and saved while green and
juicy, if we'll cured, made very excellent
fodder, either for immediate feeding or
for winter use. Others claimed that
cutting off the top stalks deprived the
plant Of material that was required to
fill out the grain and give full, plump
ears OF, corn. So they left the corn
standing entire till ripe enough to har-
vest, husk and crib, although the fodder
was admitted to be of comparatively
little value. Leaving the plant entire
made it rather difficult handling the
fodder. 1t was too long to pitch with
forks, and the stalks were so inter-
locked, when piled in heaps, as to make
it hard work pulling them out when
husking. The convenience of handling
was a strong argument in favor of top
ping the stalks, though in large fields
carrying out the bundles by hand was
no easy matter.
At this time, cutting up the whole
crop at the roots and stocking it in the
field was, to many, a new practice, and
this too made a topic for a great deal of
newspaper discussion. Many feared in
jury to the grain, while others commended
that the corn would be equally heavy
and make better meal than if left uncut
in the field, to ripen, while, by the new
method a large amount of excellent fod-
der for winter use was secured. By re-
peated experiments it was found that
corn might be cut as soon as the kernels
began to glaze, and with no loss from
shrinkage, and that the fodder would
then nearly equal in value ordinary up
land hay. This method has now be-
come almost universal throughout the
whole country, where corn fodder IL
valued for feeding purposes.
Farmers with small fields sometimes
carry the crop off to the borders and
then seed down to grass, either with o.
without grain, early in the fall. Others
let it stand till the ears can be cribbed
and the fodder stacked, and still find
time enough for seeding to gass or grain,
or both.
At the South and in some of the
Western States, the corn is stocked in
straight rows through the field, and the
intermediate spaces seeded to wheat
and grass, leaving the gound under the
stalks to be sown the following spring,
or to come up to grass, by self-seeding,
later.
During the severe drought which has
prevailed through southern New Eng
land the past month, the feed has be-
come so short in the pastures that many
farmers are tempted to feed good deal
of their corr fodder to their cattle while
it is fresh and green-a practice that is
highly commendable, if properly done;
and this again raises the old question as
to the best time for topping the stalks.
One inquirer would like to remove the
top stalks as soon as they are fully
grown, which is as soon as they are in
bloom, believing them worth most at
this stage. But it must be remembered
that the top stalks, that portion which
is above the ears, not only furnish the
pollen, without which there would be no
grain, but also the broad leaves through
whose agency the material in the grain
is formed. The fertilizing materials
which are in our soils, " which we
apply to them to make them rich, are
not carried by the roots and stem of the
plants direct to the seed vessels, but +
first digested in the leaves. The leaves,
then, are as necessary to the plant
while the grain or fruit is forming, as
our own stomachs and lungs to us in
converting our food into bodily vigor
and force. We must not, therefore,
deprive the plant of its leaves until the
seed is fully formed, if we would get the
whole benefit of the crop; but it is not
necessary that the a and stalk remain
together after the grain is fully formed.
AS soon as the kernels begin to glaze,
the ripening process may 90 on indie
pendent of connection with leaf or stalk,
or at least of those leaves not immedi-
ately surrounding the ear, and if the
slower can be fed at this stage, or pre-
served for winter use, without loss in
curing, it will yield the most it possibly
can.
The question of topping the stalks, or
of cutting up the entire plant, becomes,
then, one to be decided by the immedi-
ate or prospective wants of the corn
grower, and his facilities for curing and
keeping the product. If the top stalks
are taken off and fed green, their full
value will be obtained. If not required
for immediate use, the whole plant can
be better preserved by cutting up at the
ground and carefully stocking it. The
slower from topped corn, that is, the
butts left to bleach in the field till No
vember, is very inferior cattle feed, and
and it was the method of harvesting
that brought corn fodder at one time in
to such general disrepute among New
England farmers. But cut as soon as
the grain begins to glaze, well stocked,
and then housed us soon as it is dry
enough to keep withouttoo much mould
ing, corr fodder fed in due proportion
with grain, is found to be one of the most
economical kinds of fodder grown. How
much its value may yet be increased,
for winter use, by preserving in silos, is
a question that a little more time will
be required in the answering. The
sweet varieties, from which the ears
have been picked for canning, while the
fodder is still fresh and green, would
seem to make the perfection of cattle
food for winter use, if the claims of it,
advocates are to be at all relied upon.
As previously stated in these columns,
| the ears of field corn. if broken off with