620 



IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



With good silage I know we can produce beef at a profit, for it saves 

 a good deal of heavy expense for so much valuable feed. I have not car- 

 ried on any carefully conducted experiments with feeding silage, but judg- 

 ing by the condition of the stock it seems to fill the bill all right. 



Prom tests made, it is safe to conclude that silage is a good feed as well 

 as a cheap one, and is so easily available for immediate use that for stock 

 raising it is of the best. With me a well-filled silo for winter the feed 

 problem is solved and it is always ready and available. During the cold- 

 est of the winter the silage will freeze around the walls of the silo, but 

 as soon as warmer weather prevails the silage will thaw out and drop 

 down, and as far as I have been able to observe there is no difference in its 

 feeding value. Stock seem to relish it either way. 



The question for many to solve is, "Can I afford to build a silo?" Of 

 course this depends on several things. A silo will not furnish the brains to 

 fill it or to feed out the silage. I believe it is a mistake to plant the corn 

 so thick that ears will be scarce. Without ears I regard silage very poor 

 feed. When the corn has few ears or is immature the sugar turns to acid 

 and does not make an ideal feed. One stalk with a good ear on it is 

 worth four stalks without ears. 



OATS. 



V.\RIETIES, SEED, SJIUT, SEED-BED, SEEDING. 



From Bulletin No. 96, Experiment Station, Iowa State College of Agri- 

 culture and Mechanic Arts. 



The past season had a most unfavorable influence upon the oat crop 

 of the state. The scarcity of suitable seed oats is very forcibly brought 

 to the attention when we consider that there is not enough of the 

 1907 crop of standard weight (32 lbs. per bu.) to sow the fields that 

 will go into oats this spring. 



The oats are extremely light, being from 30 to 50 per cent hull, and 

 average from 16 to 25 pounds per bushel. There are comparatively 

 few exceptions where they weigh more than the maximum given. 



Percentage of Hull in Oats Grown in Favorable And Unfavor- 

 able Seasons. 



