The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-08-09
AGRICULTURE.
PRESERVING CORN srovaR.


Some years ago the Virginia Station
issued bulletin giving an account of
the great success Of a corn husker and
fodder cutter used by the station. This
brought SO many inquiries that the
station has found it necessary to Issue
another and more exhaustive bulletin,
No. 7S, fully treating of the whole cub
jsct of harvesting and preserving the
fodder of the corn crop.
Chemical analyses and feeding tests
at several stations have proved that
only about half the nutritive value of
the corn plant is stored in the ear, the
other half residing in the husk, stalk
and blades. The corn crop being by
far the most important of all American
feeding crops, the proper saving of half
its value is problem OF vast import
ance.
Some varieties of corn mature much
earlier than others, hence it is not pos.
sible to name date for beginning the
harvest of the plant; but the best time
is when the ears are sufficiently hard.
ened and the tips of the bottom blades
begin to turn yellow. Then the work
should be done quickly, the horse
power machines, that have become SO
plentiful and cheap, being recon.
mended for this work.
In the warm, damp portions of the
Gulf States fodder cannot be cut and
shocked in the field; it will mould and
decay. In such places the blades are
stripped from the standing stalks,
which let's the sun in to the ground,
which soon becomes covered with q
fine growth Of crab grass hay that is
worth more than the corn fodder would
be. But in all other portions OF the
United States the whole corn plant
should be harvested by cutting near
the ground and preserving in silo or
shocking in the field, thence to be
hauled TO the barn and husked out and
stored away as soon as convenient after
it has sufficiently cured.
The Virginia Station finds it best to
make shocks twelve hills fquare, put
ting 144 hills of Two stalks each, or 2s8
stalks In a shock. To prevent molding
it is best to cut the middle six rows
and place in shocks, and then wait q
few days for this to cure before cutting
and adding the other six rows, three on
each side. In drier climates shocks
may be sixteen hills square.
AS soon as the stalks as well as the
blades have dried out, haul to the barn,
husk out and store away.
1t is a common practice with most
farmers to husk the corn in the field
and reshock the fodder, to be hauled
out and used as required throughout
the fall and winter. The bulletin says:
By this means losses occur in several
ways, the portions last used have been
exposed to the winters SHOWS and
winds, and when placed before the ami
mails much Of it would be trampled
into the soft ground, and yet more
spoiled by the excrement Of the cattle
| being fed, while the stalks would be a
nuisance for months to come. Another
method, and one we have used once, is
to stack the fodder as soon as husked,
being careful to place the butts at all
out the weather. If covered with poor
hay or straw this answers very we'll,
only open to objections of feeding, as
Tn ~ ho
Northern States stover is housed and
fed in the barns, but may be so handled
better there than here, as corn is more
dwarf in it's habits, the cold climate
causing a rapid growth, but smaller
plant. In the South we should fad
much difficulty in handling it in barns
if housed as hauled from the field,
hence the many implements for re
ducing the size of pieces of stalk. The
ordinary silage cutter has been utilized
by some for this purpose, but the short
pieces OF hard stalk are apt to ipjure
the animals mouth to such an extent
as to make its use Improbable. For
some years so-called shredders have
been used with success, they differing
from the cutter in that they first crush
the stalk as it passes through the rolls.
and then tear or shred it into small
pieces by the action of spikes, saws, or
teeth; but not knives that give shear
cut. For some years we have been
using an implement of this sort, only
besides shreddiDg the stover the corn
is husked by the same operation, its
work having. been discussed in bulletin
No. 33, Since this bulletin was pub
lished in 1873 we have been using the
same machine, hueking all our corn