1882.] ENSILAGE. 99 



value, because it will spoil in a comparatively short time after it is 

 taken from the silo. It has no keeping qualities except in the silo. 

 You may take it out and cart it a few miles, and keep it for a day 

 or two, but beyond that you cannot go. 



Question. Did you say sixty pounds of it a day will feed an 

 animal ? 



Mr. HuRD. Yes, sir; that is a good ration for a hearty animal. 



You want to know how lai'ge a silo to build. A cube of ten 

 feet will keep two cows a year; you can all make your estimates 

 from this. If you prefer other proportions, very well; but let me 

 emphasize depth — get all the depth you can. You will thus save 

 labor, and increase the capacity. A cubic foot at the bottom is 

 worth a great deal more than a cubic foot at the top. My top foot 

 weighs twenty-eight pounds; my bottom foot forty-five and a half 

 pounds. If my silo was full, the bottom foot would weigh sixty 

 pounds, and the top foot would weigh what it does now. 



Enough has been said about the cost; now as to the feeding 

 value. 1 wish, gentlemen, I could give this portion of my talk in 

 my barn. It would be a great deal more effective than it can be 

 here. 1 would like to have you examine carefully each animal 

 and note their health and thrift. Not that I am a better farmer 

 than others; it is the food, the ensilage, that makes the difference. 

 Last year my cows, although they had averaged in milk more than 

 six months, and some were drying off and due to calve in less 

 than two months, increased in their milk ration, from five to fif- 

 teen per cent. No guess work about it. Every cow's milk is 

 weighed separately, and when the milk gets to the dairy, it is 

 weighed in bulk. When the milk is skimmed, the cream and the 

 skimmed milk are again weighed — preventing the possibility of 

 mistake in this statement. My butter sales increased last year 

 over twenty per cent., before I had been feeding ensilage one 

 month. Thus you see the entire advantage of this method is not 

 in the first cost of the forage. I have here some samples of butter 

 made from my cows' milk, which you will have an opportunity to 

 taste, and see if you can detect any objectionable trace of ensilage 

 in it. 



Question. Please tell us once more what rations your 

 cows have. 



Mr. HuRD. Two pounds of corn meal, two pounds of 



