500 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



ize a profit over and above tlie small amount of interest upon tlieir land 

 investment. Now. wheat is no longer of sncli profit: it has given place 

 largely to the growing of corn and other grains by which the income of 

 the farm is made larger and more substantial through the growing and 

 feeding of all classes of live stock. It is now the live stock farmer who 

 is making the greatest profit from his acres. He is adapting his small 

 farm to the production of a greater amount of salable products, and to 

 such products that are most in demand at good and reasonable prices. 

 In other words he is beginning to practice a system of intensive rather 

 than extensive farming. And this is exactly what the future farmed 

 must do. He must so manage his land that it will give him a maximum 

 profit Instead of a minimum one. that it will bring forth crops that, by 

 judicious use will net him a higher dividend over and above expenses. 

 This means not only more crops liut more and better use of those crops 

 after their production. It is not simply imi)ortaut that we produce more 

 per acre upon our farms, but eiiually so that we use to better advantage 

 that that we already produce. 



One of the greatest elements of intensive farm management today is 

 economy. The more we intensify our farming the greater must ))e our 

 economy, the more we must economize. In tlie past frugality has played 

 a small part in agriculture, land has been too plenty, prices too high and 

 the farmer too easily satisfied with a small income. Now we must turn 

 to economy as a principal in deriving for ourselves a better and more 

 consistent living. We must learn to practice economy in the use of land, 

 in labor, in the production of crops, in the handling and use of feeds and 

 in the final dispersion of our finished products. In fact, that element of 

 practical economy must enter into every process, every institution and 

 every method now used upon the farm. The advent of new and better 

 farm machinery, better equipped and arranged buildings, more complete 

 and more effective feeding methods, higher developed and more respon- 

 sive breeds of live stock, have all aided materially in effecting tliis needed 

 change. Science has also given much and in citing special examples of 

 the many economical arrangements and appliances now in use upon the 

 farm, pei-haps, the silo may be placed as the most important. Especially 

 is this true in the region of the corn belt. Wherever live stock is to form 

 a part of agricultural industry there will the silo prove an economical 

 benefit. It is the object of this paper to call attention and to discu.ss 

 some of the ways in which the silo contriltutes to farm economy. 



In the first place, let us note briefly the kind and quality of feed that 

 the silo makes it possible for the farmer to use. It gives to his stock a 

 succulent food, and such -a ration is nature's food for all animals. No 

 truly dry ration can take the place of a green one. In the northern re- 

 gions, Avhere stock mtist be housed more or less during a certain portion 

 of the year, farmers have ever been striving to produce some food that 

 would, in a way at least, take the place of pasture grass. In England, 



