52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



discussed in the station reports and in lectures and essays 

 by professors ; and doubtless under favorable conditions 

 something can be saved by raising and feeding soja beans, 

 vetch, cow peas, Canada peas and clover. Clover should 

 always be sown with grass seed on a dairy farm, and where 

 it does well may be profitably raised for green fodder or 

 ensilage. 



In this latitude the corn crop is God's best gift to the 

 dairyman. It is a native of the country, and will always 

 give a crop with the minimum amount of labor. As a feed 

 it is suited to our climate, and is relished by the cows as 

 grain, green feed, ensilage or dried fodder. The cows 

 always find more in it than the chemist does. It can be 

 preserved in the silo throughout the year in a succulent con- 

 dition. It will furnish a greater amount of feed per acre 

 under ordinary circumstances than any other crop. It will 

 grow on all kinds of soil. It will respond to high manuring 

 with a profitable yield. It will furnish the carbohydrates or 

 heat-forming elements of cattle food in the very cheapest 

 form. High authority has advocated that the dairyman's 

 farm should produce all needed carbohydrates, and that the 

 market should only be resorted to for the purchase of pro- 

 tein. Professor Hills, in his admirable paper delivered 

 before this Board last year, said that carbohydrates were 

 grown upon the farm with relative ease ; but it was difiicult 

 and usually impossible to grow enough protein upon the 

 farm to provide a large number of dairy cows with a bal- 

 anced ration ; that, since the bj^-products of several indus- 

 tries are notably rich in protein and are sold at fairly 

 reasonable prices, it is sometimes cheaper to buy this mate- 

 rial than to raise it ; that, while the farm-growing of protein 

 was to be encouraged, yet it was usually in the line of econ- 

 omy to grow carbohydrates in as large amounts as possible, 

 and to buy protein in order to supplement this growth, thus 

 properly balancing the ration. 



I cannot leave the subject of providing feed for the dairy 

 without urging the economy of storing more corn ensilage 

 than is needed for winter feed. If properly put up, it can 

 be kept indefinitely ; and in this way provision can be made 

 against next season's drought, short pasture and short hay 



