The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-03-06
TWOH RTESTEBS WORK
"A WT ~ CORN HARVESTER AND
- ~ SHREDDER HAVE DONE.

Eight Acres Are Gus IN single Day.
The Immense waste Of provender in
the shape Of corn stalks which has
gone on for many years in the corn
states of this country has been a
source Of wonder and comment. Sta
tlstlcians are fond OF computing the
total loss from this source. and we
are startled by the large sums which
we allow to slip through our fingers
each year. To grow a crop of corn,
and then allow more than one-third
Of It to go TO waste is bad enough,
but that is not all The dead corn
Astplks left In the field are constant
ouree of danger Cattle turned into
Nch a field are liable to sicken and
die within a few hours. They are said
to die with "cornsJalk disease" but
the nature of this disease is unknown,
and the cure has not yet been found.
The ergot which infests corn smut
sometimes causes ergotism The
! parasite causes the arteries to con-
Fact shutting off the supply of blood
Il pm the eXtremeties. As a result,
&c hoofs and sometimes the lower
1end of the tail drops off. The only
sure method known of preventing
these diseases is to have no stalk
fields in which to pasture cattle. Any
man who pastures cattle on cornstalks
is likely to be a heavy loser.
Cornstalks left in the field occasion
great loss by interfering with cultiva-
tion. This is an indirect loss, and
one which is only beginning to be I'M
! derstood. Chinch bugs, army worms
snd the like find harboring place in
-Sthe eornstalks, and thus live from one
year to another Here, then, are
three ways in which the cornstalk
left in the field is nuisance. Burn
ing has been resorted to, but the soil
Is robbed of a large amount Of humus
which it would gain if the stalks were
allowed to rot in the field. Nothing
is left but the ash, which is of small
4 value.
Fasteners cannot understand why
western farmers do not make fodder
out of their cornstallls and thus save
the entire crop, instead of allowing
two-6fths to go to waste. That's be-
cause they don't understand the con-
ditions which prevail out here.
Converting the entire corn crop into
fodder has been an impossibility, sim
ply because there weren't men
enough to do the work. The corn
/, cutting season lasts only about 10
Adays, and there are not half enough
-%men On the farms in Iowa to cut T.
100000 acres of corn in season. 1t is
fact that we haven't cut up all the
corn we could. Why haven't we?
First, because corn-cutting is hard,
disagreeable work Husking corn fod-
der is another tedious, back-brealing
job, hauling fodder is an unpleasant
Ntfsl1, There has been no satisfactory
I&leSAod of feeding fodder. Scattered
Ion the ground, the stock tramp is I'M
derfoot, and when put in hangers they
jerk it out, step on it, smell it, and
then jerk out another stalk.
But this is not all. Fodder left
standing in the shock until fed loses
a large part of it's feeding value,
I through exposure to the weather To
stack it has been found impracticable
and to build barns is too expensive
Considering all the hard, disagreeable
work Of cutting and handling fodder
and its small feeding value, it is not
strange that western farmers have
chosen to harvest very little OF their
corn crop in this way. In the eastern
Agtates conditions are very different
The advent of the modern corn har
Vester has changed the situation ma
terially. More than twice as much
corn can be cut and shocked than in
the old way. A machine will cut eight
acres in a day, and three men viii
shock and tie it in the same time.
The cost is about what it is to dc
the work in the old way, but the fod
der is left in convenient bundles fol-
lhandling The chief advantage is The
speed with which the corn can be pur
: in shock, enabling large portion o.
the crop to be saved. If the bundles
are bound by hand there is a grea'
difference in time between the two
methods. More than this, a very large
gaereage can be cut with a machine
when the crop is at just the proper
stage of ripeness, and shocked after
ward, thus extending the corn harvest
ing period several days.
1t remained for the shredder to pu