“ Like all green crops, corn fodder has a high water content. It owes its nutritive value principally to the carbohydrates which it contains. It is also useful as a feeding stuff, because it is succulent, gives necessary bulk to a ration, and is relished by animals. Dried corn fodder and stover are similar in composition to hay, and are very valuable feeding stuffs, but unless cut fine or shredded and otherwise properly handled, a considerable portion may be wasted when fed. ”

“ The plants are cultivated with the horse hoe or corn cultivator after they have attained sufficient height and until they are too large to admit of further cultivation without injury to the plants. In the principal corn-producing States of the United States cultivation usually commences about the first of June, and lasts for about six weeks. Where corn is grown in hills, or checks, the direction of each cultivation is given at right angles to the preceding direction, so that the whole of the surface soil may be stirred. Planted in drills it can be cultivated in one direction only. ”

“ Feeding Value and Uses of Maize as Food. Corn is of the greatest importance and is extensively used in the feeding of farm animals because of the variety and cheapness of feeding stuffs which it furnishes. ”

“ Flint corn in numerous varieties has a large, hard kernel, either white, yellow, orange, red, blue, striped, or blazed. The ears are usually from six to twelve inches long and the plants commonly grow from four to eight feet high. Dent corn is characterized by the indentation at the top of the kernel caused by the drying and shrinking of the starchy matter within. The outer portion of the kernel is corneous as in the pop and flint corns, but the proportion of starch is greater in this group than in either of the other two. ”

“ Sweet corn is adapted to any soil suitable for field corn, though more attention is given to manuring. A warm, rich, sandy loam is considered most desirable. On the northern limits of the corn belt sweet corn is grown as a field crop because of its rapid growing and early maturing habits. ”

“ It is most commonly sown in hills or in drills by means of a corn-planter, but it is sometimes also sown broadcast. The hills are about three and one-half feet apart each way, and three or four stalks are produced per hill; but when planted in drills single plants are grown about one foot apart in the row. From the time of planting until the young plants appear above ground the soil is harrowed for the purpose of keeping the surface in a pulverized condition and preventing the growth of weeds. ”

“ The cobs are often ground up for feed, but they are generally used for fuel and are also employed to a considerable extent in the manufacture of tobacco pipes. The principal and most common product of the grain is the flour, or cornmeal, which is either white or yellow, according to the variety of corn from which it is made. ”

“ Maize differs from most grasses in having solid instead of hollow stems. Adventitious roots are often developed from the nodes near the ground which serve to brace the plant against winds. The plant varies in height from less than two feet in dwarf varieties to more than thirty feet, reported for some forms in the West Indies. Specimens more than twenty feet tall are not infrequent in the rich river valleys in the United States. ”

“ Shredding consists in passing the stalks and leaves through a machine which cuts and tears them into fine pieces. A machine known as the shredder and busker removes the ears and shreds the stalks and leaves. ”

“ Individual specimens of either sort vary more widely than do the averages for the different groups. Corn is used in rations for maintenance, for the production of milk, for fattening, and for feeding draught animals. ”

“ Ears vary in length from an inch in varieties of popcorn to fifteen inches or more in the dent varieties. White, black, yellow, and red, with numerous variants, are the colors of the grain. In some the grain is no lorger than rice grains; in a South American variety, cuzco, the individual grains often weigh thirty-five times as much as the small popcorn grains. ”