56 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Apjil, 



pits sunk right into the floor of the barn. 

 The exact dimensions are, for each, length, 

 forty feet ; width, thirteen feet ; depth, 

 twenty feet. These pits are lined with con- 

 crete made of rubble and Rosedale cement. 

 They are solid and substantial. These are 

 the silos, which hold the ensilage. 



Now let us go back to the method of plant- 

 ing the special kind of corn. The term spe- 

 cial is hardly worthy of commenting upon, 

 and need be no bugbear, because the seed can 

 be most readily obtained, and is not in the 

 least expensive. There are good reasons for 

 using it : one is because of its luxuriance of 

 growth, and that, in our climate, it contains 

 the major part of the nutritious qualities in 

 the stalk and leaves before it goes to the seed, 

 and that by cutting it down in time we can 

 get the utmost advantage out of the vegeta- 

 tion. Mr. Mills sows it in drills three inches 

 wide, with spaces of three feet clear open soil 

 between the drills. These drills are heavily 

 seeded. In time the field looks as if it were 

 planted solid, though the intervening spaces 

 give the plants light and air. It is planted in 

 May, and cut about the middle or end of Sep- 

 tember, when it is some eight to ten feet 

 high. The product is about sixty tons per 

 acre, of green stalks and leaves. Mr. Mills 

 planted some thirteen acres, not more ; and 

 from the yield, 780 tons gross of green stuff 

 cut, he feeds his 120 cattle. Tliis very small 

 amount of land, used for this purpose, seems 

 wonderful. Just as soon as the corn is ready, 

 which is distinguishable by the tasselling and 

 the formation of a few nubbins, in go the 

 men, who . lay it low. It is at once carted to 

 the barn where are the silos. The green 

 stalks and leaves are submitted to the action 

 of ordinary cutting-machines, the only pre- 

 caution necessary being that the knives be 

 kept as sharp as possible, so that the green 

 stuff shall not be bruised, Mr. Mills" idea 

 being that by rough handling the juices are 

 expelled, and to that extent air takes its 

 place in the cells of the plant — a thing to be 

 avoided as much as possible. Two cuttin'j- 

 machines are used, which make the fodder 

 into lengths of one-lialf and one inch. 



Now to describe the method of filling the 

 silos. The cutting-macliines deliver the green 

 stuH into the cement-lined pits, the capacity 

 of each being 300 tons. As the material goes 

 iif it is not trodden on, but worked evenly 

 into the silos by changing the direction of the 

 delivery. When the pit is full, level with the 

 floor, a wooden case is placed like a fence 

 arouhd the pit, which case is seventy-five per 

 cent, in height of the depth of the pit, for the 

 ensilage by compression sinks about this much. 

 The pit being twenty feet deep, when it and 

 the fifteen-foot case are full, then the whole 

 mass of green material is covered over with 

 stout wooden planks, made in sections. These 

 sectional covers are among the most important 

 adjuncts of the silos, and in their proper con- 

 struction a great deal of the success of the 

 operation depends. These covers are made of 

 two-inch-thick spruce plank, tongued and 

 grooved, and firmly battened together, four 

 feet wide, and and one inch less in length than 

 the width of the silo. As the silo is forty 

 feet long, it will take ten of them to cover it. 

 The object in making them only four feet 

 wide will be apparent later. Now when the 

 silo or pit is full of green stuff, even to the 

 level of the fifteen feet additional, the sec- 

 tional covers are put on the green stuff, and 

 these are weighted evenly and carefully. 



The whole secret of ensilage depends upon 

 a simple mechanical one, tha,t of perfectly even 

 continuous compression. The air must be ex- 

 cluded, and also the ambient moisture. Mr. 

 Mills weights down his covers by distributing 

 on top of each silo fifty tons of grain or ground 

 feed in bags, which he afterward uses to mix 

 with his ensilage at time of feeding. He 

 recommends, in case grain is not handy, that 

 barrels be filled with gravel or sand, and used 

 for the same purpose. As soon as the weighted 

 covers are applied, the mass gradually sinks, 

 until it reaches a level with the floor, and if 

 the pit has been properly constructed, after 



the sinking down is concluded, the pits, or 

 silos, are exactly filled. In about ten days 

 the mass has come down to its bearings. In 

 two weeks after it has been put down, it is 

 ready to use, and the operation is completed. 



Now let us explain the reason why the 

 covers were made sectional. As a cover is 

 taken off it exposes a surface four feet wide 

 and twenty feet deep, and not any more. This 

 is cut down into for feed with a six-tined fork 

 clean to the bottom as the ensilage is used. 

 All the rest of the mass is covered, and has its 

 weight and compression the same, thereby 

 keeping out the air and all tendencies to fer- 

 mentation. As the ensilage is taken it may 

 be fed to cattle at once, but Mr. Mills thinks 

 it better to leave that portion intended for a 

 feed, when taken from the silo, to remain ex- 

 posed for twenty-four hours. Some slight fer- 

 mation then ensues, which apparently is ad- 

 vantageous to the cattle. When one silo, 

 cover by cover, is taken off and used, the mass 

 being cut into from top to bottom until ex- 

 hausted, the other comes into play. At Arra- 

 reek Farm one silo had been used up, and 

 about one-half of the other. The ensilage 

 gave out a sweet vinous odor, had nothing in 

 the least disagreeable about it, aud was rather 

 pleasant to the taste. It was not warm nor 

 heated, and on compressing the stalks the 

 juice exuded. This ensilage was used in the 

 proportion of one bushel per diem for each 

 cow, divided into two feeds, and with it was 

 mixed about two quarts of wheat bran or 

 middlings. This was all the feed the animals 

 — cows and horses — had had during the win- 

 ter, and the horses looked quite as handsome 

 as the cows. 



Now as to questions of cost. These two 

 silos, built in the most substantial style, cost 

 $350 each, or $700 for the two. The abso- 

 lute expenses oi making the crop, preparing 

 the ground, seeding, harvesting, cutting the 

 green stuff, and putting it in the silos, was 

 |500. Capital being $700 employed in the 

 silos, the interest at 6 per cent, being $42, 

 and depreciation on silos, say, twenty per 

 cent., which would be the very outside for all 

 possible repairs, we have, at the very utmost, 

 the cost of the ensilage to be $1.13| cents per 

 ton, aud this is a most liberal estimate. 



Now suppose we make up the cost of keep- 

 ing these cattle for the hay alone. The ex- 

 penses would have been certainly in 1880-81, 

 for hay, some $8000. With the use of the 

 ensilage, Mr. Mills has absolutely demon- 

 strated that he wintered his 120 head of cat- 

 tle and 12 horses, 132 head in all, from the 

 15th of October until the loth of May next, 

 seven months, at an expense of $682, or that 

 each animal ate an amount, the cost of which 

 at the highest estimate was $5.25. The dif- 

 ference, then, between $8000 for hay, and say 

 even $700 for ensilage, would show a balance 

 to the credit of the latter of $7300,. 



Now as to the products derived from these 

 ensilage-fed cattle. It would be impossible 

 for such fat, healthy cattle not to give the 

 best of milk. Mr. Mills produces a large 

 quantity of milk, the demand for which is so 

 great that it is beyond his capabilities of sup- 

 ply. The yield of milk is exceedingly large, 

 far beyond that usually given in winter by 

 hay-fed or even soft-fed cows, and this milk is 

 of the best quality. A lactometer placed in 

 the milk showed its uncommon richness, as it 

 stood at not less than 120. Particularly rich 

 in the fatty substances, the yield of butter is 

 very large, though the proprietor of Arrareek 

 Farm furnishes milk only, and does not sup- 

 ply butter. 



In all matters of this kind it is unwise to 

 form a too rapid judgment, for sometimes in 

 the most carefully considered plans there may 

 be initial vices which are concealed. But 

 there are certain facts in regard to this method 

 of ensilage which seem to stand out in tlie 

 most salient way. Firstly, the cettle seen were 

 in the finest possible order when examined at 

 a season when cows and all other farm stock 

 are usually at tlieir worst ; secondly, the pro- 

 duct made, the milk, was excellent ; and 

 lastly, this, which is one of the most impor- 



tant of all factors, seems to be conclusively 

 shown, that if Mr. Mills' 120 cows aud 12 

 horses had been hay-fed for tlie same time 

 —seven months— he would have expended on 

 each one of them $61.54, whereas by his 

 system of ensilage he has arrived at better re- 

 sults with a positive outlay not exceeding 

 $5.25 per head. 



Agriculturists may do well to ponder over 

 a system of this novel character which pre- 

 sents so many advantages. If in time this 

 method should be adopted, and its working 

 found to be successful, there will be a new de- 

 velopment given to the dairy and grazing 

 farms. In the West, anywhere where this 

 corn can be made to grow, the silo system 

 could be adopted. It might be even lucra- 

 tive for larger farmers to make ensilage 

 which could be sold to those who might re- 

 quire it. Of course hay-culture is not to be 

 abandoned; animals, like human beings, re- 

 quire change, with rotation of food; but en- 

 silage could be used twenty-eight days in the 

 month, or mixed with a small quantity of hay 

 every day. What Mr. Mills intends doing in 

 the future with this system is really remarka- 

 ble in the novel direction it takes. When 

 with his numerous cattle he has enriched his 

 Pompton farm so that it shall be luxuriant 

 with sweet, tender grasses, it is his intention 

 to take this fresh grass crop, when he has 

 more than sufficient for his cows to feed on in 

 summer, and in the same pits, aud by the 

 same method, instead of making hay, to con- 

 vert these succulent grasses into ensilage. 



Arrareek Farm to-day is a centre of great 

 attraction. Visitors from all sections of the 

 country come to it, and are amazed when they 

 see a siniple process by which 120 of the finest 

 cows in the country have been fed all winter 

 on the product of not exceeding thirteen acres 

 ot ground.— Harper^s Weekly. 



TOBACCO CULTURE.— NO. II. 



Some disagreement exists among, tobacco 

 growers as to the proper quantity of seed to 

 grow on a given surface of ground. We can 

 only saj', the danger always is to sow too 

 thick. A heaped tablespoonful to every 

 hundred square feet of surface are about 

 the usual proportions, but we regard the 

 quantities as too much. A far better plan 

 would be to increase the area of the seed- 

 beds largely, and sow on the quantities given 

 above. 



The seed, having been sufficiently sprouted, 

 should be sown at once. Being so exceed- 

 ingly minute, thit cannot be successfully 

 done unless they are mixed with some fine 

 material, such as sifted wood ashes, plaster or 

 very fine sand.- Advantage must be taken of 

 a calm day, so that an even distribution may 

 be secured. To attain this more effectually, 

 the seed-beds should not be more than four 

 feet wide, and they might advantageously be 

 sown one way with half the full amount of 

 seed, and then crosswise with the other half. 

 A more even stand of plants results in this 

 way. The beds must not be raked over after 

 the seed has been sown. The latter would 

 find their way too far under the surface to 

 make a rapid growth, and perhaps be smoth- 

 ered entirely. A smooth board laid over the ■ 

 surface of the bed and pressed upon the soil 

 by the the weight of a man upon it is about 

 the best plan we know of Some growers 

 simply walk over their beds, pressing down 

 the entire surface with foot, aud this method, 

 when carefully practiced, may give as good re- 

 sults as any other. The former, however, is 

 more rapid and does not pack the surface of 

 the soil so closely. A roller of the proper 

 weight could be used advantageously, aud 

 even a spade could be made to answer the 

 purpose. The object of this pressure is to 

 prevent the light seeds from being blown 

 away by the wind, and also to bring them in 

 direct contact with the ground, so that the 

 tender rootlets may at once penetrate it and 

 thus nourish the coming plant. 



We have already said the seed bed cannot 



