■>^'2 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



lli(.' plants iu the row. It is a littlu waste between the hills, but 

 the waste is not near as much as the cost of labor. You can get a 

 little hand machine to do this, and jou can apply it that way just 

 as far as a man can walk through the patch. I can apply nitrate 

 of soda or potash practically with this machine. 



MR. BLYHOLDEIi: The next question is: 



"Is it profitable to feed ensilage to beef cattle?" 



DR. H. P. ARMSB Y : Mr. Chairman, I am not able to answer that 

 question from experience, having never tried the experiment. I see 

 no reason, however, why ensilage would not be a good, cheap food 

 for fattening cattle unless, perhaps, in the finishing stage. I be- 

 lieve it has the reputation of making the cattle, as we term it, 

 soft, and they think it desirable to finish them upon dry feed. So 

 far, around here, it is comparatively a new feed, and as an actual 

 fact I do not know. It is a question which I think needs thorough 

 investigation, but I see no reason why ensilage should not be an ex- 

 cellent food in the early stage of fattening. 



PROF. HAMILTON: I happened to see a report made by the Di- 

 rector of the Tennessee Experiment Station on this question. 

 They tried the feeding of cattle upon ensilage, in connection with 

 some dry food to balance the ration. Their ensilage consisted of 

 cow peas and sorghum. The results were to me startling. The 

 several months of feeding averaged between two and two and a half 

 pounds a day gain, I have forgotten the exact figures, but between 

 two and two and a half pounds per day during the period of feeding. 

 And now they are comi)aring that with pasture and have put in 

 another district with blue-grass pasture, with a view to discover 

 whether the pasture will increase the weight more rapidly than en- 

 silage or whether there will be a falling off. When the experiment 

 is completed I think it will be one of the most interesting to cattle 

 feeders in the country, because I think we must come back to this 

 manner of feeding. I give you this statement as the result of a 

 careful experiment. The animals weighed about 800 pounds apiece, 

 and when all the expenses were figured up it was found much cheaper 

 than animals fed on dry feed or in any other way. The ensilage 

 was carried on in connection with the ordinary way of feeding by 

 dry feed, and the ensilage was not only the cheapest, but the in- 

 crease the greatest of anything used. You can get the bulletin on 

 this by writing to 1 >r. Soule, of tlie Tennessee Experimental Sta- 

 tion. 



MR. JASON SEXTON: Mr. Chairman, 1 am much interested in 

 this experiment, f have practical experience on that line, and want 

 to corroborate what Prof. Hamilton lias said in the f(-eding of ensi- 



