The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-20
THE MORNING NEWS: MONDAY DECEMBER 90 1897


products; yet, once started, the thought
of observers may run in more directions
than one. 1 have developed my crude
ideas in multiple copy, and after submit
ting them TO several experts, l now give
the conclusions to which | have myself
been led; and l shall give some facts which
have been developed by my scientific
friends, without citing their names, lest
l should commit them TO some of my own
vagaries.
First, what is the quantity of slower left
over from the gathering of an average
crop of Indian corn? l use the word ''sto-
YER as a name for the stalk, leaf and 9TH
er parts of the plant which remain after
the ears of corn have been gathered Per-
haps the husk and the cob ought also to
be included In the generic name of 'sto-
ver" What is the weight of this nearly
waste product? The average corn crop
weighs 100000 tons; the estimates of the
quantity of stover range from 100,O00OOO
TO $50, COO 600 tons. 1t is alleged that under
the ordinary treatment of the slower by
the Marsden Company as it is gathered
from the field the celul0se forms one
half the bulk and one-eighth the weight;
the residue, one-half the bulk and seven
eighths the weight. This residuum lett af-
ter the removal of the cellulose is equal
in quantity at least to the present entire
hay crop of the United States, probably
more. If it can be saved and converted
to cattle food, it might be
claimed that by this single In
vention a quantity of cattle food
previously wasted would now be added to
the resources of the country equal to the
entire hay crop now grown.
l am warranted in saying that 1t has
been proved by many careful experiments
that the corn plant, after being made into
ensilage, is no more digestble than II II
should be stocked and dried; that is to
&c
the results are, If anything, slightly in ia
Vor of the enSilage.
After the cornstalks have been put into
the soil there is an average waste OF 10 to
% per cent. of their nutritive value. on
the other hand, under the ordinary curing
process of the stalks the loss by decay and
fermentation is approximately the same
1t had been my impression from form
er investigation of the process of ensilage
that the corn plant contained the maxi
mum of nutrition at the period of its
growth when the grain is in the milk
or when the ear is in the silk. In that
impression it appears that 1 am mistaken;
the maximum is attained a litter later.
The authorities agree that the corn plant
contains it's maximum of nutrition at the
maturity of its growth, when the lower
leaves are just beginning to turn or die,
and when the silk has dried or died, but
before the grain has hardened or the cell
stalk, leaf and grain are alike in the most
nutritious condition.
We now come to certain suggestions.
The new corn food developed by the Mars
den process is made by grinding and win
moving or separating, and that method is
doubtless necessary in order to secure the
pure cellulose suitable for use in naval
construction or for other purposes. May
not the separation be made by farmers in
very simple manner without in the
slightest degree infringing upon the rights
of the Marsden Company, and without
any attempt to make a product of cellu-
lose for sale? Machines for separating the
grain and shredding the slower are already
in use and shredded cornstalk is being
fed to cattle.
Now, giving regard to the slight adher
ence of the pith to the more solid sub
stance of the cornstalk. may it not hap
pen that in the process of shredding a
| large portion of the pith is removed, go
ing into the waste? Even if that is not
the case, might 1t not be judicious to put
shredded cornstalks through a threshins
machine, and then to winnow out the pitn
to large extent? That process would
leave the shredded stalks more free of Gel
lulose, while it would give large pile of
impure cellulose which would be of the
greatest value for absorbing liquid ma
nure. 1t would also be of great value in
boards and the sheathing, making cattle
barns warm. Bearing in mind it's great
absorbing power, it would not only alb
! sorb liquid manure, but when applied to
land it would also tend to absorb the mois-
| ture derived from the atmosphere keeping
| light lands in very moist condition.
Now let it be assumed that at the stage
which 1 have described, namely, when the
growth of the plant is complete and when
| the functions of the plant consist in diff
Terminating the juices into hard corn, in
| digestible cellulose and dry stalk, the
amount Of nutrition In the plant is great
| er and more digestible than il ever is after
| the final separation has been made. Why
! not cut the corn at that stage. stack il
| up and dry it off, and then shred it or
| grind 1t as a whole? Can this be done?
viii nature dry it without artificial help?
Is not that the stage in which we cutSr-
binary grass for hay? Why not make
| corn hay, to be shredded or ground?
Since l took up this subject a very in
| teresting statement has been made to me
| by a gentleman long resident in California,
not a farmer. He kept many horses. He
| observed that the feed of what appeared to
! be hay looked like straw, and not liking
TO feed his horses straw, he bought in the
! first year fifty bushels of oats. But pres
| emily he learned that what he believed to
be common straw consisted of wheat, oats
and barley, which had been sown either
| separately or together, and which had been
cut and harvested when the grain was in
the milk The product was allowed 10 stand
| two or three days in cocks then put into
| a large stack where it slightly sweated
! for one month, the outside becoming a
straw color, the inside remaining green;
and il was then baled and sold for hay
] All the nourishment was in it; it was a
| complete food. After the first year my in
| formant bought no oats, but fed this hay
! to his carriage and driving horses.
There are several other plants-the sun
| flower, for instance, which might be cut
and saved in the same way. If peas, beans
and other climbing leguminoUs plants were
| planted with the corn without any regard
to making ears, then cut at the maturity
| of growth, very nutritious food might re-
sult-a complete food Might we not raise
| corn-hay, choosing varieties which pro-
| duce few ears, or sown in such a way as