The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-09-06
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
save the Corn-Fodder.

see to it that all his coru-fodder is saved
IN good condition. What mean By good
| condition is that the corn be cut up at
the proper stage of ripeness, which is when
the ears are we'll glazed; that it be set up
in large shocks so it viii stand, the tops of
| the shocks securely tied go it will shed rain,
| and as soon as the corn is dry enough for crib
| bing, that it be husked, bound in bundles,
ana either put in barn or stack. The farmer
| who does this will have slower of the very
best quality, palatable to the stock, much
freer from dust than hay, and each acre of
corn that will make 40 bushels o: grain will
save at least one ton Of hay.
There is no product of the farm of equal
value with corn-fOdder, so much of which is
allowed to go to waste 1 can save an acre
OF cOrn-fodder for a trifle over 81, and this
will often save SO worth of hav. We
usually put 120 hills of corn into a shock.
making the shock 10 by II hills, if wheat is
not to be sown, but 3 by 40 if we expect to
seed the field to wheat. When we put no
the shocks In this way in costs one cent more
per shock than If put mp 10 by II; but the
advantage OF being able TO drill in the wheat
without the shocks being at all in the way
more than cOmpensates for this. Another
advantage of this plan is that we can draw
of both corn and fodder without passing
over the wheat, for both can be laid over on
the wheat at one side, leaving the shock row
clear for the wagon TO pass through in
gathering up the corn and fodder.
These strips can be utilized by seeding
them to oats the next Spring; or if the field is
not to be pastured after harvest, they may be
planted in navy beans the latter part of June;
or If sorghum is drilled on them after a
mellow seedbed has been prepared, they will
produce large amount of valuable food for
stock late in the Fall. I would seed the
sorghum with the wheat drill, using all the
hoes, and put on at the rate of a bushel of
seed to the acre of some variety of sorghum
that Is least liable TO fall down. Corn-fodder
should never be fed on the ground, as the
stock tramp it into the mud if the land is soft,
and lose much of it under the most favora-
bic conditions. The barn is the best place
to both store and feed corn-fodder but it
can easily be stacked if the barn will not
hold 1t. / never feed from a stack, as there
IS always danger of its being soaked with
rain and frozen together in Winter feeding.
After enough has been fed out from the barn
to make room for stack il is better 10
move it in on pleasant day when the condi-
lions are favorable. There is no doubt that
on farm where much stock is kept and a
large amount of fodder is used, it will pay
either to chaf the fodder or shred it by
running through thrashing machine; for
a larger per centage of it will be eaten, and
all that is rejected makes excellent bedding.
prefer in stacking to make moderate
sized stacks. Build them On a foundation
of rails or poles 10 feet square and sufficient
oav hon Of 81
center and lay the bundles with the tops on
each other and the butts on the stack bot
tom, 80 that the center will always be three
Or four feet higher than the outer edge.
Carry the outside of the stack up perpen-
dicular for 10 feet and then gradually draw
1t In and top out No other crop on the
Farm can be stacked so easily or will save
better than this; but it must be bound in
bundles of moderate size, and uniformity
IAN be secured by cutting the bands all of
)ne length. We bind with the same kind
If Irvine that is used for binding wheat.
The farmer who has neglected to save corn
fodder, and by short hay crop is Led to
give it a trial, usually becomes convert to
ts value and permanent user of it.-NeD
York Weekly Tribune.
Weight of Fleeces.
With July returns on crop acreage and
conditions, the crop correspondents of the
Agricultural Department were instructed to
end in an estimate of the average weight
Der fleece of wool as shown during the pres
mt year. The returns of the 11th census,
published on March 10, 1894, made the
lumber of fleeces shorn in the Spring of
$50 and the Fall of 1889, 80, 126, 668, and
he number of pounds of wool obtained
65, AS, 239, thus averaging 5.15 pounds of
81
lave been carefully consolidated, and the
verage weight per fleece of this years wool
lip is shown to be 5.33 pounds, as against
80 pounds last year and SIS pounds for the
ensus year. The variation by States is con-
iderable, the range being from 2. 5 pounds
er fleece in Alabama to rs pounds in South
Dakota. The chief causes of this difference
re varying climatic conditions and differing
egrees of care bestowed upon the stock, as
fell as the keeping of widely-varying grades
animals.
There is no other department on the farm
hat gives so much return for the money and
lbOr expended rs patch of small fruit, vet
ne number of farmers having such are very
wv indeed. Why not give this matter more
ttentiOn in the future?
1t is said that the original or of the Con-
DTd grape is still living at Concord, Mass,
lie is Ephraim W. Bull, now 81 years old.
n his garden he still shows the old mother
inc of the Concord grape, which he devel-
ped from the seeds of native wild grape
lanted about 90 years ago.
As attested by the wines produced in Vir-
inia, as we'll as by those of California, this
ldustry has q promising future in this
ountry. France has claim to neither bet
IT soil nor climate, but her years of expert
nee, her exceeding care and the skill en-
loyed, alone account for the superiority of
er product.
A few years ago the papers had a great
cal to say about growing supfOwer, and
emarkable claims were made as to the viF-
les of the seed and oil, and even of the
alks. Some of the poultry growers went
lid over the new idea, and planted large
eds, which we're harvested chiefly by the
rds of the air. The loudly praised merits
the sunflower have simmered down to the
ct that little of the seed makes a good
oultry tonic in Winter, but also that it is
ractically not any better for the purpose
ian linseed meal, and that it is nowhere
ear equal to cut bone as an egg stimulator.
s a food for other stock, the sunhOwer
ants have altogether dropped out of sight.
he seed is, however, very rich food, worth
,ont % per cent. more than wheat
An Unnatural Dream.