Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1874 — The Best Way to Stack Corn-Stalks. [ARTICLE]

The Best Way to Stack Corn-Stalks.

When corn-stalks are secured from the influences of the weather by storing them in a solid mow, as sheaves of grain are housed, or when the stalks are put in a large stack, many of them are liable to heat and become moldy, for the reason that the pith is full of sap and water. AVhen the stalks appear quite dry the large and porous butts will often be so full of water that the liquid can be wrung out by twisting a stalk in one’s hand. Our own practice for more than thirty years past has been to stack corn-stalks in such a manner that the large and water-soaked butts may all be on the outside of the stack, where they cannot heat and ferment, tljus spoiling much of the leaves and husks that are bright and ■well cured. One of the best ways to stack corn-stalks is to set a stiff pole in the ground, lay down some rails, poles or brush to keep the stalks up from the ground, and lay a course of sheaves around the pole. Let the tops of the stalks be lapped on each other sufficiently to bind the mass together, and also to keep the middle full. No sheaves should be laid in the middle. Carry the stack straight up as high as a man can pitch conveniently. Let all the sheaves be laid sufficiently slanting to carry otf the rain. The best way to put on a top is to set sheaves on end around the center pole, just as a large shock is made on the ground. Then bind the tops tightly with four or five bands of straw. If one has a large quantity of stalks they may be secured by making a goodly number of such small stacks. Some xarmers preier to put their stalks all in a long and narrow stack, carried up by laying only two courses of sheaves with the tops lapping on each other. Three long and strong poles, or small logs, say thirty, fifty or sixty feet in length, are placed on the ground parallel with each other, about three to four feet apart. If the stalks are long the poles must be placed further apart. Strong rails laid «n blocks or stones to keejj them off the ground will subserve a satisfactory purpose. Three or more poles should be set in the 1 ground, one at each end and one at least near the middle, as guides to aid in carrying the stack up true and to hold it from settling too far in either direction. The stacker moves directly back and forth when laying the courses of shelves, from one end of the long stack to the other. The tops of one course of sheaves should always be lapped on the other, just far enough to give the butts proper inclination to carry off the rain. If the tops are not lapped as suggested, the middle of the stack will settle more than the outside, and the rain will run toward the center and spoil the fodder. One of the advantages of securing corn-stalks in this manner is this: If the stalks are fed out to live stock without being passed through a fodder-cutter the sheaves may be taken out at one end as they may be needed, without exposing “a arge surface of the stack to storms of lain and snow, When stalks are put up in small round stacks, as suggested, one stack can be taken to the barn when it is desirable to cut a supply of fodder, without exposing a large surface of stalks, as would be the case if they were stored in a large round stack. Whenever we have had a desired amount of barn room corn-stalks have been stored by commencing on one side of the mow and carrying up two courses of sheaves by lapping the tops, the same as when the stalks were put in a long stack. Then, within a few inches of this double course, another double course was carried up. By this practice the butts are near an opening through which , the moisture could escape without damaging the fodder. When we have had only a limited quantity of stalks, poles or rails were laid from beam to beam, on which sheaves were set on end all over the poles. Then another course of poles or rails was placed just above these stalks, on which another tier of sheaves was set close together. When stored in this manner every Sheaf dried out beautifully. It requires much labor to store corn stalks in this manner, but when the leaves are not frost-bitten it will pay well to store them thus if one has plenty of barn room. —New York Herald. Attend to the first symptoms of consumption and that disease may be checked in its incipiency. Use immediately Dr. Wishart’s Pine Tree* Tar Cordial, a safe remedy in all diseases of the lungs.