•28 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lO I>EG., 1908. 



Details of Capacity, Measurements, and Cost. 



Note. — Cost of Elevator alone is as follows : — For silo, 21 feet hijrh, i;6 ; 30 feet high, £7; so that if 

 Elevator not reijuired, cost of Silo as shown above would be reduced by this amount. 



II.— SILAGE-MAKING AT COLLENDINA. 



G. H. Hdcock, F.L.S., Principal, Viticiiltural College, Riiil/ergloi. 



The practical value of having sto-res of food for stock was amply 

 •flemonstrated on the Viticultural College farm at Rutherglen during the 

 recent severe sea.son. While the mortality among both sheep and cattle 

 in the immediate districts has run into alarming figures we have not lost 

 a single hoof. Apart from the disastrous financial losses incurred by the 

 death of so many valuable animals, no one with a trace of humanity can 

 regard without feelings of deepest regret, the intense sufferings entailed 

 on the dumb animals during their lingering deaths from starvation. This 

 i< a phase too- often, one fears, overlooked. The.se creatures have a right 

 to look to their owners for their dailv food, and humanity demands they 

 shall not look in vain. 



Owing to the variable character of our seasons the full carrying capacity 

 of our pastures cannot be utilized without the conservation of .some of the 

 surplus of one period for the deficiency of another. In prolific years like 

 the present, stock cannot consume fast enough the luxuriant growth so 

 favorable a season has induced. At present it may be safely said that 

 almost every run is understocked. But in a few weeks' time the reverse 

 uill be equally true. On Australian runs the paradox exists that the same 

 number of stock on the same area represents understocking at one season, 

 and considerable overstocking at another period of the year, when the 

 S':orching summer sun and the fierce hot winds have destroyed the natural 

 herbage and left the earth practically bare. The practice of conserving 

 t.h(' surplus of the years of plenty for the inevitable years of scarcity is as 

 old as history itself, and the wonder and the pity of it are, that it is 

 not more universally recognised in Australia. The writer had the privilege 

 oi seeing how successfully this has been carried out with a minimum of 

 handling and consequent 'cost on the Collendina estate (Messrs. H. Hav 

 cV Son), beautifully situated on the Murray. 



