The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-03
FARM, GARDEN
AND HOUSEHOLD
By S. A. COOK.

have seemed to change their nature
completely in three or four years.
This is a fact that is both disquieting
and encouraging. 1t makes 1t possible
to take some of the large Southern
varieties and adapt them to North
ern latitude If any of them are found
to have habits that make them an
Improvement on our ordinary Northern
sorts.
We have supposed that the great
silage corn of the South had in it GER
tain habits that would continue for
centuries. AS much of 1t does not
mature in the North sufficiently early
TO produce germinable seed we nave
made little or no attempt to find out
what it would do If cultivated for a
number of years on the same farm and
with soVvings made from seed ma
tured on that farm. We have each
year bought the seed from the South
and so have not noticed the effect OF
variation.
Northern corn taken South has
given a yield of grain the first year
that compared well with the stalk
The seed from that planted the next
wear has given a very much larger
stalk and a little less grain. The third
year the stalk of the Northern corn
has been about as large as that OF
the native Southern corn and the seed
has been correspondingly small IN
amount. This is one of the conditions
that the Southern corn grower has 10
contend with, the relatively small
amount of seed and a large amount
of stalk.
The Southern farmers complain that
much of their corn grows so high that
a horseman riding along can just
touch the ears of corn, while the stalk
that is large enough to bear two or
three ears of good size bears only one
ear. 1t is doubtful if the Southern
farmer will ever be able to compete
with the Northern farmer, at least with
the farmer living in the corn pelt'
unless he can develop from his South
ern varieties a kind of corn that will
give about as much grain as stalk.
The Southern farmer, as well as
the Northern farmer, has been at work
modifying his seed corn, but he has
been for years selecting with a wrong
principle before him. He has I'M
aeined that a stalk with one large
ear would give more corn than a stalk
with two medium sized ears. he mas
therefore, chosen a long, big cob. Not
till recently did he begin to suspect
that he had been modifying his corn
in the wrong direction. The corn
scientist now tells him that he will get
more corn OH two medium sized ears
with small cobs. He must therefore,
reverse the process he has been fol-
lowing for years, and it will take him
some time to work back to the start
ing point This will show the neces-
sity of understanding what one Is 60
ing and starting right.
The corn that is grown in the South
needs Improvement in two directions.
II must be shortened in hight and
the yield of grain must be increased.
The coarseness is against 1t as a tor-
age article, as the cattle do not IKE
If and the stalk is not so well digested
when X is eaten as Is the material
from a smaller stalk. The large stalk
might induce the more extensive Keep
ing of live stock were 1t not for this
reason. This could of course be over
come by the use of the silo, but there
are few silos in the South and are
likely to be few, on account OF the
nildness of the winters. which make 1t
easy to keep stock without going to
the trouble of making an elaborate
provision for their feeding.
AS at present grown, Southern corn
does not compare well even with the
flint corn grown in Maine. An expert
ment made at the Maine station
showed that the average yield per
acre CT Southern green forage corn
was 34,761 pounds. the amount of dry
substance $685. the amount of digesti-
BILE matter 3.251 pounds, and the per-
centage of digestibility was So. The
Maine field corn averaged 22.269
pounds of green fodder, Apps pounds
of dry substance, and 1876 pounds of
digestible matter, with percentage
of digestibility of 7S.
In other words. the Southern corn
yielded over seventeen tons of fodder,
of which only 2.113 pounds was di-
gested, while the flint corn gave only
eleven tons. but of this 2,465 pounds
We're. digested. With the Southern corn
over six tons had to be handled for
nothing. This demonstrated the fact
that we have some large problems to
solve in the matter of corn growing
for STOCK feeding.