Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1890-09-06
Eav#t x#tfrfsts,
Something About Corn Fodder.

July "A, the account OF experiments
with corn at the Pennsylvania Ex>
pertinent Station. The one thing
that 1 deem of the most importance
in that statement, is that the corn
butts which are thrown away on so
many farms, possess so great feeding
value. 1t will also be a matter of
surprise to many farmers that the
stalk, including blade and husk, has
about as much food value as the ear,
and that the cob is so valuable. If
our experiment stations succeed in
convincing farmers generally Of the
truth of these statements, it will more
than pay the entire cost of maintain
ing the stations for a generation. 1
have been an enthusiastic advocate of
corn fodder for wintering horses, cat-
tie and sheep, for many years, and
feed it exclusively from November
till blowing time, when L substitute
hay for the work teams. For some
years have known the value of cob,
when ground with the corn, and there
has been a growing conviction in my
mind for many years that the majori-
ty of our farmers absolutely waste
nearly half the food value of their
corn crop. There are farmers by the
score in my country who grow from
thirty to sixty acres OF corn each year,
and do not save a shock of fodder,
even though they must buy hay at a
high price to feed their teams. Some
OF them were converted by the drouth
of 1887, which made the hay crop so
short that they for the first
time cut up part of their corn, and
fed fodder, and a little experience in
its use is likely to teach any farmer
its value.
The present dry, cold summer has
cut short the corn crop over a large
breadth of our best farm lands, and
the price of corn is likely to be 50
high the coming winter as to call for
the most careful economy in feeding
stock, and if I can say anything that
will lead to care in securing this valu-
able by-product of the farm, shall
feel that 1 am doing kindness to
your readers. One fact l have often
noticed is that invariably when you
hear a farmer denounce corn fodder
as "poor feed," he is a man that
makes little use of it, and those who
have fed the most of it are nearly al
ways strong advocates of its use. AT
an Indiana Farmers Institute last
winter, / met Mrs. Henry Meredith,
one of the most successful lady farm
ers to be found anywhere, and after
hearing my recommendation to farm
ers to save and utilize all their corn
fodder, she came to me and thanked
me for what had said, and added
that she was afraid to tell her estimate
of the value of corn fodder in public
for there were few farmers that would
believe her. She made to me the
following statement: 81 have win
tered 80 head of Short Horn cattle
(my breeding herd) eight horses, anC
40 sheep, without feeding pound o
hay, and all the roughness l have fee
is the fodder from fifteen acres 0
corn. My land is rich bottom, anC
we plant very large, tall growing
variety of corn, and cut it up near tn
ground so as to save as much of tn
stalk as we can. This fodder is Gu
to half inch lengths and fed as chop
with our grain ground and mixet
with it. Each COW and horse was fet
a tobacco bucket full three times
day, and the fifteen acres lasted iron
November, when our stock cam
from pasture, until they were turn
ed to grass in the spring an
there was II little left over" Mrs
Meredith also said that she &c
as much food value out of tn
stalks as she did from the grain, an
the reader will notice that this is jus
what the director of the Pennsylva
MIA Experiment Station says.
There are many farmers who Gu
up their corn and yet fail to get muc
benefit from it, because they manag
it so unwisely. They leave it out i
the field until midwinter and the
feed it in the fence corners, and ofte
by this time the rain and wind hav
taken about all the value out of it.
have found by many years exper
ence that corn cut up and shocked
will cure out and be ready for tn
crib two weeks or more sooner tina
If left on the hill, and we usual
husk out our corn in October and a