108 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



of butter, requiring fifteen and three-fourths pounds of 

 milk for a pound of butter. The cost of the butter was 

 eighteen and six-tenths cents per pound. 



The ration he is feeding his cows is sixteen pounds of 

 hay, two pounds of corn meal, two pounds of cotton-seed 

 meal, and two pounds of shorts. He estimates the hay at 

 ten dollars a ton, and his corn meal, cotton-seed meal and 

 shorts at one and a half cents a pound. He is away down 

 in the extreme eastern portion of the State of Maine, and 

 to-day his rations cost him seventeen cents a head, and here 

 are the results of his testing of his cows to see what they can 

 do. He says that he proposes to work upon that problem 

 this winter, and see whether there is anything in it, or not. 

 I believe he will find that there is enough in it to encourage 

 him to go on and work out hi.s salvation, as he will. 



Mr. F. J. Kinney. You have not said anything about 

 ensilage. Do you recommend farmers to feed ensilage? 



Dr. Twitchell. Do you feed ensilage? 



Mr. Kinney. I am not a practical fanner, but I do 

 believe in ensilage. 



Dr. Twitchell. I asked a lawyer once if he could tell 

 me in a sentence how he found success. He said, " Yes ; I 

 always try to find what the advice is my client wants, and 

 then bring the law to suit the case." The farmers of the 

 State of Maine are not feeding ensilage as much as they do 

 in Massachusetts. In certain sections they are feeding it, 

 and finding it profitable. I know of some few instances 

 where they have given it up. But I must say that I believe 

 ensilage is to become one of the sure foods of the future. 



Mr. Dyer. Allow me to ask the price of hay in Maine. 



Dr. Twitchell. This hay was reckoned at ten dollars a 

 ton. In making our rations, we figure our hay at ten dollars 

 a ton. To-day it is ten dollars or less in the State of Maine. 



Mr. Dyer. That will help to explain why ensilage is not 

 used as much in Maine as it is in Massachusetts. 



Governor Hoard. I want to inquire still further concern- 

 ing the experience of those men in Maine who are giving up 

 the feeding of ensilage. I want to ask how long they have 

 been engaged in it, and the general character of the ensilage 

 that they have been using, What is the reason they are 

 giving it up ? 



