20 ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 



The experience of Goffart, "the Father of Modern Silage," on this 

 point is characteristic. On his farm of less than eighty-six acres 

 at Burtin, France, he kept a herd of sixty cattle, besides fattening 

 a number of steers during the winter, and eye-witnesses assure 

 us that he had ample feed on hand to keep one hundred head 

 of cattle the year around. 



10. Other Advantages. Silage feeding does away with all ag- 

 gravating corn-stalks in the manure, and prevents their waste 

 as well. It excels dry feed for the cheap production of fat beef. 

 It keeps young stock thrifty and growing all winter and enables 

 the cows to produce milk and butter more economically. Its 

 use lessens the labor required to care for a herd, if it is con- 

 veniently attached to the barn or feeding shed. It allows the 

 spring pastures to be conserved until the opportune moment, and 

 can be fed at any time of the year as occasion demands. It enables 

 preservation of food which matures at a rainy time of the year, 

 when drying would be almost impossible. It does away with the 

 system of strictly grain farming where few of the elements are 

 returned to the soil. It increases digestive capacity, that is: the 

 chemical action that takes place is an aid to digestion that enables 

 the cow to eat more than she otherwise could digest and assim- 

 ilate, thus making more milk from the same food elements than 

 she could make from any other dairy food product. 



We might go on and enumerate many other points in which 

 the siloing process has decidedly the advantage over the method 

 of field-curing fodder or haymaking; but it is hardly necessary. 

 The points given in the preceding will convince any person open 

 to conviction, of the superiority of the silo on stock or dairy farms. 

 As we proceed with our discussion we shall have occasion to 

 refer to several points in favor of silage as compared with dry 

 feed, which have not already been touched upon. We shall now, 

 first of all, however, proceed to explain the method of building 

 silos of. all kinds, after which we will discuss the summer silo, 

 the wonderful progress of silage in beef production, and of its 

 help in maintaining soil fertility. The subject of silage crops 

 and of the making and feeding of silage will then follow. 



