MADE BY THE FARM DEPARTMENT. 119 



15 per cent. I estimate the loss in weight of the fodder corn by drying out in 

 tlie barn al)Out the same as ordinary hay, from 15 to 25 per cent. 



The analysis of the fodder corn shows a large per cent of water, although the 

 fall had been quite favorable for curing thoroughly. I have always found dif- 

 ficulty in drying corn fodder so that it could be stored without injury in large 

 quantities. Here is one advantage in storing in a silo: If the work has been 

 properly, attended to, cover and weights on, you may be quite certain that the 

 ensilage will come out in good shape. You will be saved the vexation of watch- 

 ing and turning your fodder, unbinding and binding, and seeking out new devices 

 to prevent the fodder corn from moulding, which it is so likely to do. I am in- 

 clined to believe that the green corn can be cut and placed in the silo at as lit- 

 tle cost as the fodder can be cut, dried and passed through the cutting box be- 

 fore feeding ; and this, too, at a season of the year when the work can be' more 

 economically performed than in the winter. 



SILOS. 



I need only to add to my former report on this point that experience confirms 

 the statement then made that any material may be used in the construc- 

 tion of silos that will exclude the air ; that it is better to have several silos, or 

 divisions, rather than a very large one ; that Aveighting with stone, barrels of 

 earth, or sacks of grain is likely to be more satisfactory than a screw, which 

 may not receive attention at the right time ; and that the silo is one of the 

 most economical methods of providing shelter for fodder. In no way, perhaps- 

 can the same equivalent in dried fodder be secured with so little expense. Sev- 

 eral silos were built in the State last year of wood, and I have yet to learn that. 

 any one of them has proven a failure. 



The results of the experiment, so far as comparing ensilage with dried fod- 

 der corn, show that when ensilage was substituted for the fodder corn in the- 

 second period, there was an increase in the weight of the cows and in the milk 

 jneld from Nos. 6, 7 and 8, while No. 9 shows an increase in weight, but a 

 shrinkage in milk yield. I should here say that the corn fodder was of good 

 quality, and the cows Avere fed what they would eat clean. It will be noticed 

 that the daily ration of corn fodder equals in weight nearly one-third of the 

 daily ensilage ration. I am confirmed in the belief that three tons of tlie 

 ensilage is equal in feeding value to one ton of hay. The yield of ensilage corn 

 was eighteen tons per acre, equivalent in feeding value in a combined ration to 

 six tons of hay. Ensilage means the growing of an equivalent to six or ten 

 tons of hay per acre. Admit, only, that three pounds of ensilage will take the 

 jAsLce of one pound of hay in a mixed cattle ration, even then, if animals fed 

 with it thrive, tu'e healthy, and present a general appearance much like that 

 resulting from grass feeding, coming out, after four or five months' confine- 

 ment, with sleek coats, with not much, if any, loss of weight, and with no more 

 shrinkage of milk yield than we ought reasonably to expect as the time from 

 calving increases, we must conclude that there is some virtue in fodder prepar- 

 ed in this manner Claim only this, and is it not a profitable and a practical 

 method of securing large yields of corn, sorghum, and other forage crops, and 

 preparing them for convenient and economical feeding ? 



It is to be regretted that so many extravagant statements have been made in 

 relation to the value of ensilage — the number of cattle that could be kept from 

 the product of a single acre, etc. Practical, thmking men have been deterred 

 from investigating this subject and giving it such attention as it really deserves, 

 because of the wild statements of impractical enthusiasts. 



