148 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



same thing, continual expense to maintain or increase the* produc- 

 tive quality of our farms. We are forced by sheer necessity to direct 

 our attention to economics in a dozen directions that were not 

 dreamed of when I was a boy. Thirty years ago, when I milked 

 my first cows, their product sold for a price we never even hope to 

 receive again. The shrinkage was gradual, but finally reached a 

 point where there was absolutely no margin for profit. Staring the 

 situation square in the face, I found that a cow consumed about 28 

 pounds of dry matter each day, and in order to get it into her I di- 

 vided it into bulky, ruminating food 18 to 20 pounds, and concen- 

 trated food in the shape of grain 8 to 10 pounds per day. But the 

 quality of these foods furnished such varying results, differing in 

 different animals, that I was again compelled to consult the cow 

 not only as to her appetite, but as to her ability to digest and as- 

 similate that food. Dry hay and corn fodder, excellent in them- 

 selves, required too much of the vitality of the animal to convert a 

 sufficient quantity into blood. I experimented with moist, partly 

 digested corn in the form of ensilage, with excellent results. And 

 after six years experience would not know how to keep a dairy 

 without a silo. Having a silo it is possible to do either of two 

 things: Keep more cows on a given number of acres, or keep the 

 same number as under the old system, but keep them better and 

 much cheaper, and release all hay except clover for sale, thus adding 

 another money crop, and a profitable one. 



The wholesale markets have returned us from 12 to 14 dollars per 

 ton for timothy hay this year; an average cow will eat 1.5 pounds of 

 this hay per day and 5 pounds of cut corn fodder in addition. The 

 hay is w^orth 9^ cents. I can substitute 28 pounds of corn ensilage, 

 which furnishes about the same number of pounds of dry matter, in 

 a much more palatable and digestible condition for 2^ cents, in- 

 cluding all proper charges and expenses, thus saving 7^ cents per 

 day per animal. This calculation presumes that an equal quantity 

 of concentrated foods are used with both the hay and ensilage, 

 but as a matter of fact the ensilage contains not less than 2 to 

 3 pounds of corn, and that much of the carbohydrates can be de- 

 ducted from the grain ration with equal results, adding 1^ cents 

 per day more to the profit account. The saving of 8 J cents per day 

 during the 180 feeding days of the year, when there is neither pas- 

 ture or green crop substitutes, in feeding the 937,000 cows in Penn- 

 sylvania, as shown by the census of 1890, means a gain of |81,987 

 per day, or a grand total of |14,757,000, a sum three times greater 

 than that lost by the use of oleomargarine and other butter substi- 

 tutes. What proportion of the almost one million cows in this 

 State are kept in herds of 10 or more, I have no means of knowing, 

 but it can readily be seen from the above figures, the result of my 



