CORN SILAGE COMPARED TO ROOTS. 205 



cheap and desirable food for any kind of live stock, as a crop suit- 

 ed for the fallow break, which cleans the land at little outlay, or 

 as one which preserves or increases the fertility of the soil.' 



"If the growth of turnips is abandoned or restricted, ensilage 

 comes in usually to assist the farmer in supplying their place. 

 * * * When one comes to compare the cultivation of silage 

 crops with that of roots, there are two essential points in favor of 

 the former. One is their smaller expense, and the other is their 

 practical certainty. The farmer who makes silage can make cer- 

 tain of his winter store of food, whereas he who has only his root 

 crop may find himself left in the lurch at a time when there is lit- 

 tle chance of making other provision." 



We have accurate information as to the yields and cost of pro- 

 duction of roots and corn silage in this country from a number of 

 American experiment stations. This shows that the tonnage of 

 green or succulent feed per acre is not materially different in case 

 of the two crops, generally speaking. But when the quantities of 

 dry matter harvested in the crop are considered, the corn has been 

 found to yield about twice as much as the ordinary root crops. 

 According to data published by the Pennsylvania Station, the cost 

 of an acre of beets in the pit amounts to about $56, and of an acre 

 of corn in the silo a.bout $21, only half the quantities of food ma- 

 terials obtained, and at more than double the cost. 



When the feeding value of these two crops has been compared, 

 as has been the case in numerous trials at experiment stations, it 

 has been found that the dry matter of beets certainly has no 

 higher, and in many cases has been found to have a lower, value 

 than that of corn silage; the general conclusion to be drawn, there- 

 fore, is that "beets cost more to grow, harvest and store, yield less 

 per acre, and produce at best no more and no better milk or other 

 farm product than corn silage." 



Corn silage compared with hay. A ton and a half of hay per 

 acre is generally considered a good average crop in humid regions. 

 Since hay contains about 86 per cent, dry matter, a crop of 1% 

 tons means 2,580 pounds of dry matter. Against this yield we 

 have yields of 5,000 to 9,000 pounds of dry matter, or twice to 

 three and a half times as much, in case of fodder corn. An aver- 

 age crop of green fodder will weigh twelve tons of Northern varie- 



