The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-11-09
NO MORE FoDDOR PULL.
ING.
Machine for Cutting Stalks
and Leaves and Stripping
Ears.
Ycrkv,lle Ecquirer.

1CCdVtlic
"I'll never pull fodder again !;
that is settled - This is what Mr.
McLain said last Monday when sat
is6ed as to the result of his recent ex
pertinent of harvesting bis corn in
accordance with the western method
of cutting down the stalks and shock
ing them in the field.
How Mr. McLaip, instead of pul-
ling fodder. cut his corn down and
shocked it in the field with view
to running it through a shredder
later on, was ted in The Enquirer
early in the fall, and we promised at
the time to tell our readers how the
experiment panned out Mr. McLain
began shredding last Monday, and
the reporter went down to oprJog-
dell to see the result.
A corn shredder is machine
which, in general way, looks some
what like straw cutter, ooly 1t ls
larger and there is considerably
more mechanism about it. There is
frame about six feet high.a feed
cable large enough to hold several
armfulis of corn stalks, some corro-
gated rollers, aud behind these q
Shaft carrying about ten large tooth
ed circular saws. get side by side
and some three inches apart. The
machine runs by steam power and at
a very high speed. the saws revolv
ing at the rate of several thousand
revolutions per minute The corn.
stalks are fed into the machine butt
end feremos. and are chewed up by
The corrugated rollers, lnash and tear
them down to the ear of corr, which
is attacked from the base stripped
from the shuck and thrown out of ahe
machine through a spout Gu the right
side into a hamper basket The
stalks and shucks pass on through the
rollers and are torn into fragments
varying FROM 2 to 4 inches in length
down TO almost dust The product
is called s.stover," which is turned
GU; at the rate Of about a ton per hour
and which is said to be most excel.
lent roughness for stock
But the corn. which instead of
having been allowed to mature on
fodder stripped stalks, has for sev
eral weeks been standing in the field
in the shocks. The condition of
this is the question just now. Most
of it is in perfect condition, a great
deal of it is more or less damaged.
aud some of it total loss At a
rough estimate, the reporter would
say that about 70 per cent. was per
fectly sound, ABOUT 20 per cent. was
more or less damaged, and about 10
per cent was total loss-utterly
worthless This estimate is based
on the appearance of pile contain
ing about so bushels. all that had
been husked at the time of the re
por,er's visit However, this con-
dition should not be too hastily at
tr,buted to the method of harvesting,
for that would be serious mistake.
The totally worthless corn was such
as had been knocked from the shocks
AMI allowed TO lie on the ground.
where it rotted or sprouted In
clu6ing this. however. the per cent
age of damage is no graater than is
being reported from all sections of
the country, even in upland corn
that has been treated according to
the usual methods. Taking these
facts into consideration, Mr.. Nc
Lain is perfectly satisfied with his
experiment. and so is his foreman.
Mr. Hogue. That is why McLain
is so emphatic in his declaration that
be will pull no more fodder.
The Slower" of which there will
be tons and tons. will be baled and
packed away as practicable; but
with such heavy crop as Mr. Nc
Lain has on hand, the wcrk of shred
ding will probably require weeks
So farthe experiment looks like it is
complete success and The Enquirer
believes that it will be well worth the
while of farmers, especially those
who operate on a pretty extensive
scale. to give the whole matter a
careful investigation.