THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART XI. 655 



Among the great farmers of Kane county, 111., who have successfully 

 introduced the system may be mentioned Mark Dunham (now deceased), 

 the proprietor of the largest stock farm in the world. Mr. Dunham is a 

 man that makes few mistakes, and elaborate series of experiments has 

 convinced him that the silo is the greatest invention in the world for a 

 stock raiser. During the winter this article appeared in Hoard's Dairyman. 

 Mark Dunham's barns at Wayne, 111., contained nearly a thousand horses 

 whose feed consisted largely of ensilage. He says: "The food agrees with, 

 and is relished by the horses, and I propose to greatly increase the capac- 

 ity of my silos." 



Mr. Tillson, in Norfolk county, Ontario, spares no time or money to 

 perfect his ensilage, 1,000 tons of which is put in silo every year. 



In a late issue of the Rural New Yorker, John Gould says: "The con- 

 fession of C. E. Chapman, that all roads for the economical feeding or cat;, 

 tie, especially cows, ends at the silo, is valuable reading for those who 

 have been waiting for years to see the outcome of the silo "fad" and have 

 tried everything they could hear of as a substitute for ensilage, to aban 

 don each in turn and in so doing put far more labor into the venture than 

 would build and fill a silo. As compared with the roots the Ohio station 

 found that 100 pounds of good ensilage was worth more than twice its 

 weight in beets or roots, and that while ensilage was a sustaining food, 

 roots were little better than an appetizer. 



I have endeavored to compile a long array of testimony in this paper 

 from reliable men and successful feeders, with the additional testimony 

 of several experiment stations, where experiments have been extended over 

 a term of years, which should be most convincing. In a personal discus- 

 sion of this subject, some have said to me, "I am only waiting to be con- 

 vinced that the silo is an advantage and I shall have one." If there are 

 any other doubting Thomases here today, I ask them to consider the tes- 

 timony of the prominent men of whom I have spoken. "We have fed our 

 herd of 100 Jerseys on ensilage morning and night, with hay at noon, for 

 five years, and each year we find the result more and more encouraging. 

 We find that with one-half the quantity of grain we used to feed with hay. 

 il fed with ensilage gives us two per cent more cream and a better flow or 

 milk." This from John Mayer, Mahwah, N. Y. 



Prof. Alvord, Secretary of the Dairy Division in the Department of 

 Agriculture of Washington, D. C, found in a test made at Houghton farm, 

 that a greater per cent of the fats of the milk were converted into butter 

 when the cows were fed on grain and corn ensilage than when fed hay 

 and grain. Prof. W. A. Woll, Wisconsin, found that 12.6 per cent more ot 

 the fat was churned out from the mixed milk of two cows when fed on 

 ensilage than when they received corn fodder. 



Don't say you cannot afford to build a silo. It is just the opposite. 

 You cannot afford to do without one. Don't waste money on a stone or 

 cement silo; a wooden one is better. Don't subscribe to the doctrine that 

 ensilage is too watery to be good for anything. 



