56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



acreage of corn and more of these protein crops. W'c had 

 been phmting from 30 to 35 acres of corn each year previous 

 to the crop-rotation system we operate to-day, which used 

 up all the available land on our farm for this crop, and which 

 necessitated the planting of corn after corn for many years 

 with the result that we grew less and less tons of ensilage per 

 acre, until we found it a hard matter to fill 375 tons of silo 

 room from this comparatively large number of acres. Our 

 farm measures up to only 72 acres of tillable area, and this 

 .is quite widely scattered in 3 townships. The very next 

 season, after seeing the splendid results of oat and clover 

 growing at friend Holt's, we cut oif 8 acres of our best corn 

 land and sowed it to oats and clover, with the result that we 

 grew a magnificent crop, the clover growing from 10 to 12 

 inches high in these oats, I expected to harvest for the silo, 

 but through the objection of my brother, who is j)artner 

 with me in the IMillbrook Dairy farm, I was persuaded to 

 cut this oat cro]i for hay; but when the second crop of clover 

 came on that season, it was rather wet for hay making, so 

 we put that into the silo with the corn, which made us at 

 least 50 tons of clover silage. When we came to feed that 

 silage, I think it settled the matter for all time with us of 

 the great value it possessed as a milk-])rodiU'ing food. The 

 milk records showed it, the cows' ap])etites showed it, and the 

 satisfaction of cleaning up a field in a quick and easy man- 

 ner was supreme. To-day we plan to have 8 to 10 acres of 

 our cornfields in clover and alfalfa, 8 to 10 acres in oats 

 and clover, or rye and clover, and the balance in corn. We 

 grow more tons of food as this chart (Xo. 2) illustrates than 

 we ever did with the corn ensilage system alone, and the best 

 of it all is we have reduced the acreage of corn until we 

 grow only IS or 20 ncres at the present time, and can keep 

 cows enough together, with the young stock needed to maintain 

 the herd, to supply manure enough to cover all of our tillage 

 fields and grass fields every year. 



We spread with a 35-bushel spreader 20 loads of manure 

 to the acre for our corn crop, 10 loads to the acre on our grass 

 and clover fields, and by a]i])lying lime at the rate of V2 

 ton to the acre every third year in our crop rotation system 



