No. 4.] HINTS FOR DAIRYMEN. 281 



most valuable, it comes in lightest supply. Yet this diffi- 

 culty seems about to bo overcome by the provision of silage 

 for summer feeding. Forty pounds of silage per day, from 

 July 15 to November 1, means only about 2 tons per cow. 

 A 25-ton silo would be ample for a 10-cow dairy, or a 50-ton 

 for twice the number of cows. What a saving of labor and 

 expense would result from substituting the silo plan for 

 soiling. What a profit from preventing the 60 per cent 

 shrinkage resulting from no such provision. Even 40 per 

 cent of the product of 10 cows for one-third of a year is 400 

 pounds of butter or 4,000 quarts of milk, reckoned on the 

 basis of 300 pounds of butter per cow per year. Four thou- 

 sand quarts of milk, at 3 cents, to pay for 25 tons of silage, 

 is almost $5 per ton. What better business does the farm 

 aftbrd than silage at $5 per ton ? 



Fermentations go on very much more rapidly in summer 

 than in cold weather, so that a summer silo must be some- 

 what modified from a winter silo. In order to feed fast 

 enough to prevent deterioration of the product, the surface 

 area must be reduced in summer. About 1 vertical foot a 

 week should be fed, or 2 inches per day. It is the experi- 

 ence of those who have tried it that by feeding as fast as 

 that the silage sufiers no damage from fermentation. That 

 means that the surface area of a silo for summer feedino; 

 should be only about 5 to 7 square feet for each cow fed. 

 Dairymen, consider the question seriously. Can you afibrd 

 to sufier a 40 to 60 per cent shrinkage every summer, or 

 struggle with soiling crops, to only partially prevent this 

 loss ? Can you afibrd to be without a summer silo ? 



Cow Stables. 



While perchance this presentation of feeding may com- 

 mend itself at a season when we realize our needs, the time 

 is past for us to remedy present conditions of feed this sum- 

 mer, and it is still early to lay definite plans for next season. 



The need of preparing winter quarters for dairy stock will 

 soon be felt, and in the course of the next few weeks neces- 

 sary improvements and alterations should be made. We 

 see the necessity of good stable sanitation more clearly than 

 formerly. The past few years have taught Massachusetts 



