Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-04-10
LARGE CORN STALKS
NOT PROFITABLE IN
GRAIN OR FORAGE

1t sometimes becomes necessary to
do heavy work. such as hauling water
to put out fire, but what's the use of
hauling water from the cornfields to
the feed lot, and hauling it back again
to the fields in the shape Of uneaten
,cornstalks? Very tall-growing corn
when sappy and immature is almost all
water and SO is wet cornstalk manure.
1t used to be that many growers
prided themselves on the great height
Of their cornstalks., The more success
full farmers however. have ceased to
haul water from the cornf1elds to the
feed lot in the form Of coarse stalks
which remain uneaten and haul it back
to the fields in the shape Of wet corn
stalk manure. They do not grow such
tall stalks and often profitably allow
animals to gather the grain, leaving
the stalks in the fields to enrich the
soil.
"A few8years ago, silage was thought
to have a fixed fool value. One can not
take out of the silo any more food
value than is put in. Hauling and silo-
ing large sappy stalks Is heavy work
almost mature corn crop into the silo
A somewhat larger and later maturing
variety of corn that will thoroughly
mature for grain can be used in the
northern states for ensilage. Even 81
large corn should be planted early and
given sufficient time to make it's best
growth and reach the stage Of matur-
ity at which husks turn brown and the
ears become glazed.
A co-operator in the departments
corn work grows high yielding va
riety Of corn, the stalks of which reach
a height of about six feet, while his
neighbor grows a big, twelve-foot va
riety. In helping each other shred
their crops the neighbours tall-grow-
ing corn was shredded first. The stalks
were bulky and high loads We're hauled
from the fields to the shredder. When
beginning the shredding of the com
petitor's corn, which that year pro
duced over 100 bushels of dry shelled
corn per acre the ncighbor put on the
accustomed high load and his team
could not pull it out of the field. He
got down off the load to make an ex-
animation. thinking the rack must be
pressing against the wheels The com :
petitor told him he would have to take
off n part of the load to which he re-
piled that he did not have on a big
load and was accustomed to hauling
larger loads. After being convinced
that It was the weight Of the load that
stalled his team. they removed por-a
ton and hauled the balance to the
shredder from which they obtained
forty bushels Of corn. or almost a. ton
and a half Of ears
What variety Of corn should you
p,ant2 Since there are thousands of
so-called varieties, it is not possible to
designate by name the variety you
should plant. Furthermore, with corn,
there is very little in a name. Two
lots OF seed Of the Leaning variety
sometimes differ from each other more
than two varieties differ from one an
other. An accurate test Of two diff
ferent lots of the Boone County White
variety resulted in one lot producing
eighteen bushels more per acre than
the other lot. Quality is what counts
and the varietal name does not desig-
nate quality. Plant a variety that has
made good In your neighborhood Plant
seed which was grown In your part
or the state and was properly field Sc
lected and properly cared for during
the winter.