chine called a shredder, which husks the corn from the fodder and then cuts and tears the stalks and blades into bits or shreds. The fodder thus shredded may be ricked in the open, or it may be placed in bulk in a mow or under a shed. Shredded fodder should be thoroughly dry before it is ricked or bulked, for if shredded and placed in bulk before it is well cured, it may mold and become of little value.

Corn may be cut, and the entire product run through a shredder or cutter, and immediately placed in a silo. In this way it is preserved. green for winter use.

Earth makes a good bottom or floor for the silo. The wall should be strongly built to prevent bulging or springing, and the inside surface. of the wall should be made smooth, so that the contents may settle evenly. The silo should be made from twenty to twenty-five feet high, in order to get necessary pressure in the weight of the silage to exclude the air. The doors or openings in the sides should be one above another, and not too far apart. As the green corn is cut (or shredded) it should be carefully placed or packed in layers, the silo being filled from the bottom upward and

always emptied from the top downward. When the silo is full a few buckets of water may be thrown upon the top layer; this will hasten the formation of an air-tight covering of rotten silage, which will protect the rest from the action of the air. When the silage is desired for winter use, the rotted covering may be thrown off.

The exclusion of air from silage preserves it; hence the use of salt or other preservative is

unnecessary.

Doors above the upper surface of the silage

should be left open for ventilation; but the doors below the surface should be kept closed "air tight." Corn should be cut at about the same stage of ripeness for silage as for shockcured fodder. In feeding cattle, some dry food should be given with the green silage.

3.

6. Vocabulary.

corn, the entire maize plant, including stalk, blades, and ears, also the grain this plant produces. (In England, wheat, oats, barley, etc., are called corn. In Scotland, oats are called corn.)

At the Missouri University Experiment Station. Cost, complete, $174.

corn husk (or shuck), - the entire outer covering of the ear, that is, the part to be removed in husking the corn.

corn tassel, the head or top part of the stalk, composed of spikes, which bear the male flower and the pollen.

corn silk, the delicate threads at the end of

the ear that bear the female flowers of the plant, which receive the pollen as it falls or is blown from the tassel.

corn stalk, — the main stem upon which the ear and blades of corn grow.

corn fodder (or fodder corn), — the entire plant, cured, including the ear.

corn stover, the cured plant, after the ear has been removed.

corn silage, (frequently called ensilage), fodder preserved green.

corn

silo, — a strong, practically air-tight structure, in which corn fodder (or other rough forage) is preserved green.

siloing,

the process or act of putting green forage into the silo state.

mulch, — a loose covering for the soil to retard or arrest the escape of moisture by evaporation. Pulverized earth serves well as a mulch. Straw, hay, sawdust, etc., are also used as mulches.

LESSON XIX.

COTTON.

I.

Cotton is an important vegetable fiber. It is a native of warm climates, but because of its value, it has been acclimated to higher latitudes, and is now extensively cultivated far into the temperate zones.

The plant grows to a height of from three to seven feet. Many branches spring from the main stalk; these branches subdivide, and most of the subdivisions bear numerous white, yellow, or purple flowers. Very soon a pod or "boll" takes the place of the flower. Each pod or boll has from three to five cells, and each cell contains a number of seeds. To each of these seeds is attached a large number of delicate white fibers. These fibers form the cotton of commerce. As the seeds ripen, the bolls spring open, the fibers unfold, and soon the hills and vales of the cotton fields look like a mass of living snow. Branches continue to grow out from the stem of the plant, and blossoms continue to appear as the season advances; hence all the cotton bolls do not open at the same time.

The open boll, the maturing pod, and branches