Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1873 — Cutting Stalks. [ARTICLE]

Cutting Stalks.

“The old-fashioned way” of harvesting coni was to cut the stalks as soon as the corn was glazed, leaving the butts to stand until the corn was ripe and ready to harvest. Some farmers still adhere to this practice, but the majority have abandoned it for what seems to us the far preferable way of cutting up the entire growth of corn as soon as the kernels are well glazed. The saving by this method is both in labor and fodder. It-4s ranch easier to cut up the -stalks when t hew tire green and soft than after they are dry anil hard, aud a man can probably cut and shock the whole growth as easily as he can cut the tops one by one and carry them together and- out of the field to be cured. If the entire stalks are cut upas soon as the corn is glazed, nearly all of the leaves will remain unhurt by the frost, and .the stalks, instead of ripening into woody fibres which no beast will eat,-will-cure and remain sweet and edible. When corn’’is once shocked the farmer may gather and husk it at his leisure; the stalks are all cured when he takes them to his barn and will neither mould nor rot. Standing corn wastes badly after the husks begin to loosen about the ears, is broken down and eaten by squirrels and birds. When the tops are cut, the butts which remain standing till late in the fall are nearly, worthless for fodder. For these reasons we advise our farmer friends to cut and shock their corn. We know it is claimed by some that the corn ripens better when exposed to the sun and is heavier than when ripened in shocks, but this is very doubtful, and even if it be admitted that we get one or two per cent. less.corn than we should to set the ears stand, this is hardly worthy of consideration in view of the far greater loss we sustain on the foddfer. As to the shiftiest? policy of letting the corn stand tops and all until husking un&e, it-is one which no farmer who isn’t ambitious to end his days in the poorhouse can afford. In tins State the fodder-to lie obtained from the corn field is nearly as important as the “ shelled corn,” and any courite which does not save both is foolish and disastrous, —New Hampshire Farmer. - "