DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 307 



for general stock raising ; it makes a good and cheap feed for young 

 stock of any sort, and is no costlier than other feed. Putting the cow 

 peas in the silo with corn is easier than curing the peas and I think 

 it makes a better balanced ration in this way than any other. I could 

 not field cure cow peas this year without losing most of them. I bought 

 a new ensilage cutter and it was delayed in transportation and conse- 

 quently when the frost came in September I lost ten acres of cow peas. 

 We always have good results from feeding cow peas mixed with corn 

 and other feeds. The silo is the preferable way of feeding dairy cows 

 and the sooner we get to using it the more profit we can make. 



The way to fill the silo depends upon what machinery you have. 

 Mr. Rogers spoke of using a corn harvester, I had one and it took the 

 best man I had and three of my best horses and cost me more than to 

 cut it by hand, and lay it down in small piles. We found this a much 

 cheaper way than to harvest with the corn harvester, and I sold my 

 harvester. 



Mr. : Do you have trouble in elevating your corn with the 



blower ? 



Mr. Patterson : Not when we have enough power. We elevate 

 it thirty feet. On our old machine we used an eight horse power en- 

 gine. That did not give enough blowing power, however, to keep it 

 going on a large machine, but with a twelve horse power we had no 

 trouble. 



We keep as good a man as we- can get to stay in the silo and he has 

 a six-tine pitch fork and takes what falls in the center and places it all 

 around on the sides, and the more he tramps the better, so we urge him 

 to tramp and keep it higher on the sides than in the center ; and it will 

 keep an energetic man busy to keep the sides even with the middle. 



Mr. Erwin : I feel like there was a statement made by my friend 

 across the way that ought not to go unchallenged and that is in regard 

 to the value of sorghum. It depends entirely on what you want to grow 

 after you have raised a crop of sorghum. If you want the ground firm 

 so that you can raise a crop of grass and your land is a little inclined 

 to wash and be carried away by heavy rains, there is no crop, in my 

 humble judgment, that is superior to sorghum. It firms the ground just 

 right for the grass — not the clovers, but blue grass and timothy and that 

 class of grasses. It shapes the ground so that weeds are driven from 

 it and the ground is left in better condition for putting on a grass crop ; 

 and as to sorghum's taking away the fertilizing elements of the soil, I 

 have very grave doubts. I think if we investigate the matter we will 

 find that crops like corn and sorghum that are largely carbonaceous and 

 must derive a great deal of their value from the sunlight, that they are 



