FARMERS'' INSTITUTES. 503 



ton and a half, or 3,000 pounds. Analysis shows that hay contains about 

 8G per cent, dry matter, which makes, with above average yield, a total 

 of a ton and a quarter, or 2,580' pounds per acre. Now, as stated before, 

 an average crop of green fodder will weigh twelve tons per acre, or 

 24,000 pounds, which contains 25 per cent, dry matter, maliing a yield 

 of three tons, or 5,800 pounds of dry matter. This gives the silage more 

 than twice the amount of dry matter per acre, which increase surely 

 offsets the difference in cost of growing. 



The greater amount of laud that must be devoted to the production 

 of hay is also a disadvantage. It is generally considered for feeding that 

 silage is worth about one-half as much as hay, weight for weight. Then 

 100 tons of silage will equal tifty tons of hay. Nine acres of ground will 

 produce 100 tons of green fodder, but, at the least calculation, it will 

 require twenty-five acres of land to grow fifty tons of cured grass. On 

 land that is worth ^50 per acre we can not afford to use so much for hay 

 when Ave can produce the same amount of feed, of a better quality, in 

 the sliape of corn silage on less than one-half the number of acres. 



The matter of storing of the two crops might also be noticed and 

 found to be greatly in favor of the silage. It takes not far from three 

 times the amount of space to store the same amount of feed as hay than 

 it does as silage. 



In comparison with corn fodder the cost of production is not so widely 

 dift'erent. The expense up until the time of harvest is the same, whether 

 the corn is to be placed in the silo or to be husked and fed in the usual 

 manner. The two methods of harvesting also can not be said to be so 

 very different. The cost of siloing is offset by the expense of shocking, 

 liusking, cribbing, grinding the corn and cutting the stalks. In fact even 

 hero in point of handling a slight difference on the side of siloing is 

 noted. A comparison of silage with straw is hardly necessary, as their 

 uses do not exactly overlap. It is seldom, if ever, that straw Is used 

 other than in a maintenance ration, or simply to give a variety in rough- 

 age feed. 



We have seen how the silo may be a source of economy in comparison 

 with other feeds, we will now note its benefits in regard to the corn crop 

 alone. Indian corn has long been the greatest and most valuable crop 

 of this section, and its production and use have contributed largely to the 

 income of the farm. This sort of thing will continue and increase as 

 land value advances, but in doing so the value of that crop and its pro- 

 duction must also increase that it may keep pace with the higher price 

 of land. Fifty dollar land must either produce more corn than did the 

 twenty-five dollar land, or else the value of the corn raised, upon the 

 Ingher priced acre, must become greater. Both conditions have, to a cer- 

 tain extent, been realized. We are now, by the use of new varieties, 

 careful selection and better approved methods of growing, producing a 

 larger amount of corn per acre, and by the use of the silo we are enabled 

 to make better use of the increased crop, thereby greatly enhancing its 



