ENSILAGE IN DAIRY FARMING. 



The following Bulletin is put out at this time, not because 

 of the original* investigation which it records, but more as an aid 

 to those farmers who may be thinking of adopting the silo as a 

 means of increasing the profits of dairy farming, by decreasing 

 the labor item in the production and storing of the required food. 



The present outlook for an abundant hay crop, while not 

 positively discouraging, is not especially flattering, and I have 

 no hesitation, after five years of practical experience with ensil- 

 age, in saying that no dairy farmer in the State can afford to be 

 without a silo. Even on the so-called " natural grass farms " a 

 moderate use of ensilage will prove beneficial. Now, if this is 

 true, and I am sure that time will fully demonstrate that it is, 

 then the more rapidly farmers adopt the system the better, and 

 I am led to issue this Bulletin for the purpose of calling the at- " 

 tention of as many as possible to the matter, at a time when it 

 is possible to take immediate steps towards guarding against a 

 shortage in the hay crop. 



There is now time to extend the acreage of corn for the 

 silo; even as far north as Hanover we have produced good 

 crops of fair quality when planted as late as June loth, and cer- 

 tainly throughout the greater part of the State, from the first to 

 the tenth of June would not be too late for ordinary seasons. 



ADVANTAGES OF ENSILAGE. 



ist. More actual food material can be produced from an 

 acre of corn than from any other of our common farm crops . 

 Land capable of producing two tons of hay will, as a rule, pro- 

 duce twenty tons of ensilage, having at least twenty five per 

 cent, of dry substance, or actual food material. 



40,000 lbs. of ensilage equals r 0,000 lbs. dry matter. 

 4,000 lbs. of hay equals 3,000 lbs. dry matter. 



It is safe to say, therefore, that three times as much dry 

 substance may be produced from a given area of corn as from a 

 like area I of grass. 



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