SILO MADE AVAILABLE. 19T 



milk have two quarts of cotton-seed meal. Some of my 

 horses have ensilage only, some of them have a little hay 

 with it, and they are thriving nicely. I had supposed that 

 this food would have a bad effect, making animals scour ; but 

 there is no trouble of that sort. My horses are thrifty and 

 brisk. M}^ cows have been milked all summer. I want 

 summer milk, not winter milk. I took them in from good 

 fall feed — I allow my cows to run over my fields, where 

 there is first-rate feed, until it freezes — I took them from 

 that field, and put them on ensilage, with the addition of 

 two quarts of cotton-seed meal, and they have increased 

 their milk considerably ; so that I feel it is no longer an 

 experiment, but it is a complete success with me. I felt 

 that it was no longer an experiment before I tried it myself, 

 because I had heard the experience of many others, and I 

 was satisfied that I could depend upon that experience. 

 We have in our county a man who fed his stock of milch 

 cows on ensilage all last winter. I went to see them in the 

 spring, and they were looking finely. I saw a small cow, 

 not much bigger than a goat, filling an eight-quart can at a 

 milking, and fed on ensilage alone. 



Now, we are told that a great loss takes place in this 

 fodder by the process of fermentation. Allow that there is : 

 if, with that loss, the result of feeding it is better; if the 

 result shows an increase of product, either in milk or flesh, — 

 what care we, brother-farmers, how much percentage there 

 is lost, according to any calculation that has been made ? It 

 is results that we want. 



The question has been asked. Can farmers afford to borrow 

 money to build a silo ? I tell you, my friends, that last year 

 I paid three hundred and odd dollars for hay ; and I felt that 

 I could not afford to do that. I built a silo, and run the 

 risk ; and my barn is filled with hay, and there it lies. I am 

 feeding my cattle with ensilage, and saving my hay for 

 another purpose, to be used next summer. I shall not have 

 to pay a dollar for hay : I think I shall have some to sell. 



The question settles down to this : Is it better to winter 

 six cows on the product of one acre, or to keep one cow 

 through the winter on the product of two acres? It does 

 not require very much arithmetic to cipher that out, and 

 that settles the whole question. That is the result of my 



