FARM DEPARTMENT. 255 



23. I think more feed can be grown on the same amount of land, and can 

 he stored in less space in the shape of ensilage than any other way. I also 

 believe it the most economical feed that can be produced. 



24. I believe every farmer who keeps a dozen or more head of cattle should 

 raise ensilage and have a silo. With well-bred cattle and the silo the farmers 

 of the far west have little, if any, advantage over Michigan farmers. 



Under date of May 18, 1887, Mr. Moore writes as follows, concerning his 

 silo and ensilage : 



" I only decided to put up some ensilage about a week before it was time 

 to begin filling. I had an old barn that I had no special use for. It had a 

 bay 16x32, which I divided into two parts, put up the girts to nail boards to, 

 then took some old lumber that I had taken from another old barn ; these 

 were weather-beaten, of different thicknesses, and a poor lot generally. I 

 put them up and down from the ground to the top. After putting on one 

 thickness of boards I put two thicknesses of tarred paper. I put the two 

 on account of my boards being so poor. Then I put on another thickness 

 of boards, making double boards with paper between. These boards 

 I let into the ground a little to exclude any air which might come in 

 through the bottom. I then put a few loose boards in the bottom for a 

 floor. I began filling by drawing my clover in as we cut it. I used a horse 

 power the first day and found we could not get the clover through the cut- 

 ter fast enough, the clover therefore became quite dry by night. The next 

 day I got a steam engine, but it did not work well the first half day, so 

 much of the clover in about half of one of the parts became considerably 

 cured. The remainder of that part was put in about as we cut it; the 

 second part was also filled rapidly. It all kept well, both the cured and 

 the other ; but we thought that which went in as soon as cut was more 

 as we thought it ought to be, viz : more like green grass. We tramped the 

 whole very thoroughly around the edges, but lost from six inches to a foot 

 all around, also about eight inches on the top. We think the silo ought to 

 have been made of a little better lumber. We also think the next time we 

 fill (which will be this year) we shall put it in as we cut it and not begin 

 cutting till clover is well matured, then will fill rather slowly, tramping well 

 around the edges. We think clover for ensilage ought to be, or rather can 

 be, a little more mature than when cured for hay. There was much less 

 waste in the silo than there was in the cured hay. We think the 36 loads 

 we put in our silo (which we estimated equal to 36 tons of cured hay) went 

 further than twice that quantity of cured hay. I think the silo a success. I 

 think the corn ensilage probably the most profitable, but I think clover ensi- 

 lage much ahead of clover hay. We feed it twice each day, from December 

 15 to April 1, to our cattle, and once each day to our colts and mares. Our 

 stock never came through the winter so nicely or so cheaply, and have never 

 been so fat in the spring as this year. Many of our breeding cows are too fat. 

 This may not be due altogether to the ensilage, but we think largely so." 



EDWIN" PHELPS, PONTIAC, MICHIGAN. 



1. Built silo in spring of 1883 — 11x14x25 feet. 



2. It is made by putting up 2x6 studding 18 inches apart, all around, 

 except in one corner, one is omitted for opening from bottom to top, 25 feet. 

 Inch lumber is nailed on inside, then tarred building paper is tacked on, 



