70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ensilage from the smaller one first and emptied that, and in 

 the larger one I had about ten or twelve feet, forty or fifty 

 tons or more, left in the bottom. The first of the season, 

 when the food was plentiful, the cows did not care for the 

 ensilage ; but when the feed became short and the dry 

 weather stopped the growth of the grass, I took ofi" four or 

 five inches from the top of the ensilage, and commenced 

 feeding that underneath. The gentleman says you need a 

 separate silo. Mine was all right after removing the top. 

 It was as good as ever it was. I fed from that all through 

 the dry part of the summer, and it was a great help to me. 

 I do not know how my cattle would have lived through with- 

 out that feed that I had in my silo. This year I am in the 

 same condition. I said I would not raise as much; but the 

 grain was luxuriant and tall, and I had to remove the hay 

 that I had put in the smaller silo and till it with ensilage. I 

 believe I shall do it next season. We can grow no food so 

 cheap as we can grow corn. We can raise thirty to forty 

 tons to the acre. It is the only way we can piece out our 

 pastures, in my opinion. 



There has been a great stress laid on raising calves. I do 

 not believe a farmer who lives close to a city can afford to 

 raise calves, unless he has extraordinary stock. Those who 

 have abandoned farms and large pastures, where land is 

 cheap, can raise stock. It is as good a business, perhaps, as 

 they can go into. But the farmers who live close to the city 

 do not practise it much. They want their feed for cows that 

 are producing milk. They cannot afford to fool with calves. 



Prof, F. S. CooLEY (of Amherst). I did not come in 

 here this afternoon expecting to say anything ; but the 

 thoughts of the meeting have suggested to my mind one or 

 two things. The first is in connection with raising calves ; 

 replacing your stock by home-bred and home-grown dairy 

 animals. To my mind, that is the proper way to go at this 

 sort of thing. But to my mind, also, there is a much greater 

 chance for selection than is at present exercised. 



In Germany and Holland, the home of one of the finest 

 breeds of dairy stock that we have, there is a rigid system 

 of triple selection in operation. In the first place, practi- 

 cally or nearly all the male animals are destroyed, — that is, 



