192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



after we commenced feeding it. After we had fed it a short 

 time, we took the cows off of the ensilage, and put them on 

 dry feed, and they soon went back. Then we changed back to 

 ensihige again, and the yield of milk increased as before. We 

 fed it through the winter to eight or ten milch cows, until 

 the 12th of May, when it was all gone. We were then get- 

 ting ten cans of milk a day. We put them on hay that was 

 cut on the 17th of June, as good hay as ever grew. In three 

 days they went down to eight cans a day. We could not get 

 them up on any thing we gave them after that. 



This year we have put in about sixty-five tons. We com- 

 menced feeding the ensilage some three weeks ago, and are 

 feeding now about seventeen or eighteen head. We feed 

 about fifty pounds of ensilage to our milch cows, and some 

 three or four pounds of dry feed, six or seven pounds of grain, 

 or three quarts of cotton-seed meal, a day — no hay. 



Question. What was the expense of putting it in? 



Mr. Thompson. About a dollar a ton to cut it, take it 

 from the field, put it in, and cover it up ; and it cost us 

 about a dollar and a half a ton to raise it. What we put in 

 this year was grown on about four acres. Our corn did not 

 come up ver}^ well, and it is well known that corn did not 

 grow well this year : the crop was not more than two-thirds 

 what it was last year on the same ground. 



Mr. Heksey. You say it costs a dollar and a half a ton 

 to raise it. Can you raise an acre of corn-fodder for twenty- 

 two dollars and a half? 



Mr. Thompson. On my land the work is a very small 

 part: all the hand-work is dropping the corn. If I had a 

 machine, I could do it for a little less. 



Mr. Hersey. How much manure does it take to raise 

 fifteen tons of corn-fodder ? 



Mr. Thompson. It will take about three cords of what I 

 should use ; that is, clear manure. 



Question. At what stage of the growth of the corn did 

 you cut it? 



Mr. Thompson. I cut it when some of the ears were very 

 nearly large enough to boil. 



Question. What kind of corn? 



Mr. Thompson. I planted Southern white corn. 



Question. What was the condition of the cows in the 

 spring ? 



