Show CARE RE OF cornstalks CORN STALKS S advice 1 for who ho have not adopted silo silos there is necessarily much difficulty in saving saying coarse stalks of corn full of sap so as to make good feed in winter by ordinary methods it is this fact which has had much to do with making ensilage popular for the benefit of those who have no silos but are aro in the habit of leaving the cornstalks in the field until dried out by freezing weather the american cultivator gives this advice the common objection to drawing stalks in early is that they will heat in mow or stack it if piled in large heaps won after being cut the mass will vill rot down and be good for nothing except manure but some fermentation is n not at objectionable if not carried too far it in a way cooks the stalks and oven whon hen it results in some loss of nutrition it makes what remains more palatable and probably also more easy to bo be digested wd behave have often seen cattle in winter greedily picking out the stal ks that had become overheated ted in the mow and when fed were still moist from the heating some of these stalks were mil dewed dowed and we feared that they might t if fed to cows bearing young cause abortion but we later abandoned that theory as a mistake there is we believe less danger from excessive and injurious heating beating of fresh stalks dried as much as they can be without exposure to rain and freezing than there is wet stalks that have been exposed il to atmospheric changes several months mont lis the green stalks will heat beat if piled up and in hot weather will soon rot down but we believe it possible to get them in barns or stacks dried as its much as they can bo be without exposure to rain and by mixing dry straw with them keep the whole in better condition than is possible any other way it if the bundles of stalks are made email small a layer of straw between each layer of bundles will absorb all the moisture that tho the stalks give off in fermenting the straw itself thus subjected to heating beating will become more palatable and will be eaten by stock which will refuse dry straw from the stack straw is plentiful at this season on most large largo farms the there fe can be no better way to uso use it than in in helping to save the corn fodder in go good d condition in the heating of cornstalks that have not been exposed to rains or freezing there is much less likelihood of the u more 1 I oro fungous growths that come from fermentation of cornstalks whose nutrition has largely been washed out of them the rich juices of the ripened cornstalks act partially as a preservative serva tive and at ut any rate the richer feed that stock gets from these sweeter stalks maintains vigorous health and enables the animal to resist the fungous poisons that depend on physical exhaustion to make mal e them effective |