SILAGE FOR POULTRY. 181 



of our swine. Mr. J. W. Pierce of Indiana writes in re- 

 gard to silage for hogs: "We have fed our sows, about 

 twenty-five in number, for four winters, equal parts of 

 ensilage and corn meal put into a cooker, and brought 

 up to a steaming state. It has proved to be very bene- 

 ficial to them. It keeps up the flow of milk of the sows 

 that are nursing the young, equal to when they are run- 

 ning on clover. We find, too, when the pigs are farrowed, 

 they become more robust, and take to nursing much 

 sooner and better than they did in winters when fed on 

 an exclusively dry diet. We also feed it to our sheep. 

 To sixty head we put out about six bushels of ensilage." 

 Dr. Bailey, the author of "The Book on Ensilage," fed 

 large hogs ten pounds of silage, and one pound of wheat 

 bran, with good results; the cost of the ration did not 

 exceed 2 cents per day. He states that clover silage 

 would be excellent, and would require no additional grain. 

 Young pigs are exceedingly fond of silage. Feeding ex- 

 periments conducted at Virginia Experiment Station show 

 that silage is an economical maintenance feed for hogs, 

 when fed in connection with corn, but not when fed alone. 

 In feeding silage to hogs, care should be taken to 

 feed only very little, a pound or so, at the start, mixing 

 it with corn meal, shorts, or other concentrated feeds. 

 The diet of the hog should be largely made up of easily 

 digested grain food; bulky, coarse feeds like silage can 

 only be fed to advantage in small quantities, not to ex- 

 ceed three or four pounds per head, per day. As in case 

 of breeding ewes, silage will give good results when fed 

 with care to brood sows, keeping the system in order, 

 and producing a good flow of milk. 



Silage for Poultry. 



But little experience is at hand as to the use of 

 silage as a poultry food; some farmers, however, are 

 feeding a little silage to their poultry with good success. 

 Only small quantities should of course be fed, and it is 

 beneficial as a stimulant and a regulator, as much as 



