The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-09-02
FARMER AND PLANTER.
SAVING CORN FODDER.

AANNILN AM Ian 1EN'
SAVING CORN FODDER.
The Southern Method Works Best with
SOuthern-(srown Corn.
have carefully noted recent CORE
spondence in regard to the manner of
saving corn fodder in the south. The
southern method, is generally
known, is to strip the blades off below
the ear, and top the stalk, blades and
all, above the ear-in other words, cut
off the upper story of the stalk and
let the ''basement'' and the ear stand
in the field.
quite as thoroughly as experience.
Somewhere about thirteen years ago 1
violated the traditional uttcrance of
Mr.. Greeley and went south instead
of west. Milk was ten cents per
quart, and 1 bought a dairy farm
and outfit conplete-forty good cows.
plenty of good we'll water, besides con-
nection with the city watcr-wor<s-
and started in to make lots of milk.
AS Il matter of course, cows that gave
ten-cent milk had to have plenty of fill
Ing, and we set to work to supply it.
We put stable manure in drills little
less than four feet apart, and drilled
in corn, which was thinncd to about
one stalk in twelve inches, or about
one foot apart. The corn grew more
than twelve feet tall, every stalk of it.
We fed all we could of it green, and
cut the remainder up, and "stool<ed''
it up in the field, where it remained
thoroughly dried out. Then we hauled
it and Kicked it up. The result was a
large lot of spoiled corn fodder.
There is too much water in the south
ern cornstalk to cure it; and it is so
large and woody, that it is rejected by
anything with less digestion than an
ensilage cutter. and I came to the con-
taking off the top six or eight feet of
the stalk. In other words, I fell in
with the customs of the country as
gracefully as possible. There is moth
ing on the farm that has so much water
in it as the lower end of cornstalk,
unless it is some of the milk we get in
this city. The southern cornstalk can
not be cured SO as to stand storage.
Therefore the farmer has dropped into
the habit of ''topping'' above, and
''blading" below the ear. 1t is true
this gives him extra work. but it also
gives him a most excellent quality of
fodder.
The size to which southern corn at
tains, under favorable circumstances,
is almost past belief. The growth of
corn on the lands bordering on the
great Dismal swamp is something real
ly astonishing. I visited one farm n
year or two since, upon which was one
continuous field of corn, of about 600
acres. The soil was n rich, dark loan,
and in July it had attained it's full
growth. The corn ears were higher
than our heads, and in fact many Of
the ears were too high to hang hat
on, and the stalks were tall that
am umbrella held by the out
stretched arm. All these stalks
from top to bottom were well bladed
with broad, long blades of fod-
der. The lower portion of the stalk,
however, was in perpetual twilight, the
suns rays not being able to penetrate
within four feet of the ground. In
such fields at midday, when the sun
was shining as it knows how to shine
in the sunny South" the lamp of the
''fire-fly'' lightning bug) was plainly
seen, in the perpetual twilight near
the base of the stalk. Such large
stalk, however, is not profitable in pro-
BY judicious selection many farmers
have been able to get as large an ear
from a smaller stalk. The trucker for
example, who puts in a crop of corn
in June, after potatoes have been
dug, uses Il variety that reaches a
height of about eight feet, and cuts it
all up close to the ground, but the regu
lar field corn of the south. which in
this vicinity. reaches such a large
growth of stalk, is not considered of
any value below the ear. We have in
dividual farmers here, who annually
plant from 500 to 1000 acres in corn,
and who never save one per cent. of
either 'blade'' or ''stallx"-it all goes to
waste, except such good Us the same
may do the soil by being plowed under,
in preparing the ground for the next
crop. ! was shown one field of corn
last season, upon which twenty-sevcn
annual crops of corn had been grown in
twenty-eight years.
There are many things about south
ern farming that can and should be
rcmedied: but cutting the corn-stall<
off above the ear, where corn is twelve
feet more in length, is not the worst
mistake farmer can make. If'some
genius will get up corn that will
make six-foot stalk and tvvo-foct
ear, he can find customers for that
same corn down this way. BY the
way, we have find stand of corn
this year. We were nearly four
inches behind in our usual rain
fall. until the last forty-eight hours,
during which time we have been
favored with a liberal supply, that
puts the ground in first-class shape.
Our corn field were never cleaner than
now. AS fast as the present truck
crops are taken off, other crops are put
in, among which will be large areas of
''ninety-day corn''-corn that will ma
ture in ninety days.-Farmers' Home