ways be saved by the use of the husker and shredder. Corn after being
matured and cut can be put in shocks and left thus until dry enough to
run through the husker and shredder. This machine separates the corn
from the stalk and husks it. At the same time it shreds tops, leaves,
and butts into a food that is both nutritious and palatable to stock.
For the amount that animals will eat, almost as much feeding value is
obtained from corn stover treated in this way as from timothy hay. The
practice of not using the stalks is wasteful and is fast being
abandoned. The only reason that so much good food is being left to decay
in the field is because so many people have not fully learned the
feeding value of the stover.
=EXERCISE=
To show the effect of cultivation on the yield of corn, let the
pupils lay off five plats in some convenient field. Each plat need
consist of only two rows about twenty feet long. Treat each plat as
follows:
Plat 1. No cultivation: let weeds grow.
Plat 2. Mulch with straw.
Plat 3. Shallow cultivation: not deeper than two inches and at
least five times during the growing season.
Plat 4. Deep cultivation: at least four inches deep, so as to
injure and tear out some of the roots (this is a common method).
Plat 5. Root-pruning: ten inches from the stalk and six inches
deep, prune the roots with a long knife. Cultivate five times
during the season.
Observe plats during the summer, and at husking-time note results.
SECTION XXXIX. PEANUTS
This plant is rich in names, being known locally as "ground pea,"
"goober," "earthnut," and "pindar," as well as generally by the name of
"peanut." The peanut is a true legume, and, like other legumes, bears
nitrogen-gathering tubercles upon its roots. The fruit is not a real nut
but rather a kind of pea or bean, and develops from the blossom. After
the fall of the blossom the "spike," or flower-stalk, pushes its way
into the ground, where the nut develops. If unable to penetrate the soil
the nut dies.
In the United States, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee
have the most favorable climates for peanut culture. Suitable climate
and soil, however, may be found from New Jersey to the Mississippi
valley. A high, porous, sandy loam is the most suitable. Stiffer soils,
which may in some cases yield larger crops than the loams, are yet not
so profitable, for stiff
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