184 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 



vania Station, the cost of an acre of beets in the pit 

 amounts to about $56, and of an acre of corn in the silo 

 about $21, only half the quantities of food materials ob- 

 tained, and at more than double the cost. 



When the feeding of these two crops has been de- 

 termined, as has been the case in numerous trials at ex- 

 periment 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, therefore, 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 average 

 crop of green fodder will weigh twelve tons of Northern 

 varieties and eighteen tons of Southern varieties. Esti- 

 mating the percentage of dry matter in the former at 30 

 per cent., and in the latter at 20 per cent., we shall have in 

 either case a yield of 7,200 pounds of dry matter. If we 

 allow for 10 per cent of loss of dry matter in the silo there 

 is still 6,500 pounds of dry matter to be credited to the 

 corn. The expense of growing the corn crop is, of course, 

 higher than that of growing hay, but by no means suffi- 

 ciently so to offset the larger yields. It is a fact gen- 

 erally conceded by all who have given the subject any 

 study, that the hay crop is the most expensive crop used 

 for the feeding of our farm animals. 



The late Sir John B. Lawes, of Rothamsted Experi- 

 ment Station (England) said, respecting the relative value 

 of hay and (grass) silage: "It is probable that when 

 both (i. e., hay and silage) are of the very best quality 

 that can be made, if part of the grass is cut and placed 



