760 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to us in dollars and cents. The silo again comes in here as the quickest 

 and speediest solution of this difficult}'. The whole plant excepting the 

 roots, when the corn is in the glazed or nearly matured condition, wan- 

 ders into the pit %inch pieces, again to come out tasting all alike, 

 (good), fed under cover in convenient distance to the cattle, no waste 

 by leaching rains or bleaching suns, no moulding in the centre 

 of the shock no refuse in the manger, beets and tassel, pith and corn all 

 devoured with a keen appetite. Ensilage is the cheapest and most satis- 

 factory feed on the farm. At the rate of 12 to 20 tons per acre of corn 

 1 acre would keep a cow from 600 to a 1000 days, feeding 40 lbs. per day. 

 The Silo was long supposed to be only the dairy man's accesory for he 

 more than any other realized the importance of succulant feed to keep 

 his milk cows flush, but in recent years much light has been shed on the 

 subject — by the test at experiment stations, — an dit was found what would 

 produce milk would also produce beef and gradually the silo is working 

 its way into the corn belt region to help the western feeder to produce 

 cheaper beef. From first a winter feed, it has next become a summer 

 feed during grass shortage, and next an all year around feed. Hoard's 

 Dairy-man advocated the feeding of silage every day of the year. In the 

 Dakotas, where the maturing corn is an uncertain proposition the silo 

 can be made a saving factor, like wise in Kansas where a withering 

 wind in August works havoc with a promising crop, there will be ample 

 juice left in the stalks to make good silage for winter feed. The corn 

 crop when frozen makes good silage if worked up immediately. 



A PLEA FOR BOSSIE. 



With dairy products high in price and ever tending higher, with 

 future interurban facilities for quick transportation of dairy products to 

 cities, with increase consumption corresponding to increase population, 

 with the process of making milk flour an established success there can 

 not be otherwise but a flattering future for the man that keeps milk-cows. 

 Bossie who has been the steadfast friend and provider of man for 

 centuries, has lost none of her prestige and is as indespensable on a well 

 regulated farm as she ever has been. All dairy sections whether on 

 poor soil or rich showsigns of thrift and prosperity through the gene- 

 rosity of Bossie when she is cared for and held in high esteem. Give 

 unto her and she will respond bountifully with the most wholesome fluid 

 that was ever fed to man or beast, she will restore fertility to the soil 

 and replenish the farmer's purse. She is an all around useful and in- 

 dispensable creature in fai'm operations and to attempt farming without 

 her and her progney would be a short sighted policy; would be soil rob- 

 bery which leads to agricultural bankruptcy. Where ten cows or even 

 less are the silo becomes a paying investment. A census taken in 

 Fand DuLac Co. Mich., where milk was furnished a creamery, cows not 

 fed on corn silage netted only $4.00 per heard, while those which were 

 fed on corn silage netted $21.02 per cow. 



In Wisconsin and Michigan the silo has come to be regarded as an 

 absolute necessity for the dairy cow. 



