70 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



year that will not cut more than half a ton to 

 a ton of hay to tlie acre? The last three or 

 four years I have raised considerable quanti- 

 ties of fodder corn in this way, with but little 

 labor, and a saving of labor is a saving of 

 money. Four years ago I bought a piece of 

 mowing-laud that liad been to grass for twenty 

 years, without any manure, except one or two 

 years during tlie time horses were pastured on 

 it. Each year I have plowed-up from an acre 

 to an acre and a half and spread on it a fair 

 coating of mostly green manure, say fifteen 

 to twenty-two horse loads to the acre, or less, 

 and harrowed it in well; then sowed broadcast 

 about two bushels of Southern white corn to 

 the acre. The corn cost at different seasons 

 from sixty-five cents to one dollar per bushel. 

 This kind of corn, I think, is much prefera- 

 ble to sweet corn, because the stalks grows 

 much longer, therefore, giving a larger quan- 

 tity of fodder, and the seed costs much less 

 than sweet corn. 



I break up the land and sow the corn any 

 time in June, the last two years from the 20th 

 to the 30th — can all be done after the otlier 

 planting is over; but sometimes the draught 

 begins the last of June. This is all the labor 

 I give the corn, except putting up twiije or 

 something to keep the crows off until harvest- 

 ing time. When it has got its growth nearly 

 I cut it before there are any signs of ripening, 

 taking a strip say six to eight feel wide, with 

 a common corn cutter, and place it in bundles 

 as largb as can be bound with convenience 

 and let it lie a few days in the sun to wilt, but 

 not long enougii to become mouldy and slimy 

 on the under side. Had rather bitrd it up 

 green, which I do at times; then I put it up 

 in stooks of six to eight bundles, and let it 

 dry as much as it will; then put two or three 

 stooks together in a dry day and bind around 

 the whole with a large twine or strong cord, a 

 little above tlie middle (twine for an acre will 

 not cost more than fifty cents) and let it stand 

 in the field, and draw in a load or two at a 

 time as I want to feed it. It comes out as 

 briglit and green as if it had been well housed, 

 except a few leaves on tlie outside. My cows 

 eat it up clean as if it were good hay, and it 

 makes as much milk. I am confident I got 

 equal to four or five tons of good made hay to 

 the acre. 



I believe it almost impossible to have it 

 dried by the weatlier so as to pack it in a mow 

 and .not have it hurt. Mine stands until 

 winter, if I do not wish to feed it before 

 Small farmers can raise an acre or two witli- 

 out being at the expense of silos. The next 

 year I plow the same land and manure it the 

 sanle, harrowing in the manure, and sow 

 about three bushels of oats to the acre, and 

 obtainetl two tons of oats to the acre, and 

 obtained two tons of mowed oat fodder for 

 winter food. Sometimes I manure in this 

 way and plant corn the usual way, if I have 

 plenty of time to cultivate, which is prefera- 

 ble to oats. 



I can make the most winter fodder with 

 less expense in this way than any other I 

 know of.— C. P. Barney, in Germantown 

 Telegraph, 



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 Price, 81.00 per annum. 



ENSILAGE. 

 A Pennsylvania Farmer's Conclusions. 



In the Western States where liind is worth 

 from $20 to $.30 per acre, and corn can be 

 raised profitably at 20 cents per busliel, I 

 think the present plan of allowing the corn to 

 mature, and feeding the ears to hogs and the 

 stalks and leaves to cattle, will pay better 

 than ensilaging the corn when in tassel. But 

 in Eastern Pennsylvania, where good land 

 brings 1100 to $200 per acre, according to dis- 

 tance from great markets,and where the soiling 

 system is practiced in order to keep one cow 

 to each acre of arable land, and where good 

 butter brings from 40 to 50 cents per pound in 

 winter, and 25 to 30 cents in summer, it seems 

 to me that ensilage is tlie most economical 

 cow food. I have the " ensilage fever " this 

 spring ; last spring I had an attack of the 

 root fever, but I am cured of that. I planted 

 an acre with sugar beets, but only about a 

 pound of seed came up. I suppose 1 had at 

 the rate of ten tons of beets to the acre. I 

 fed the two tons I raised in five days, giving 

 thirty pounds to a feed, and decreased the 

 regular ration of cut cornfodder from two 

 heaped basketfuls to one per day, and fed as 

 usual eight quarts of bran and two quarts of 

 cottonseed per day. My cows did not increase 

 any in their flow of milk by the change of 

 food, arid I am convinced that I can raise one 

 basketful of sowed corn cheaper and on less 

 land than I can sixty pound of beets. I am 

 also convinced tliat it would be better to keep 

 the corn in a green state than to dry it. 



One huudred tons have been kept green in 

 a silo this winter by Enos Barnard, one of 

 my neighbors. He is now feeding it to 70 of 

 his 150 milch cows, and the man who feeds 

 and tends to the cows says they like ensilage 

 better than any other food, and are thriving 

 well upon it. Mr. Barnard informed his butter 

 buyer when he commenced the feeding of en- 

 silage, and requested him to test tlioroughly 

 the quality of the butter, and inform him if 

 the butter was not up to the standard ; but 

 he has received no word, and still gets 43 

 cents per pound wholesale. When a man 

 like Mr. Crozier, who receives $15 apiece for 

 shepherd pups, and $20 to $100 for calves 'and 

 yearlings, and who sends away whole carloads 

 of high priced cattle, talks about the expense 

 of a silo, it strikes me as bordering on the 

 ludicrous. 



I propose to build a silo this summer 40 

 feet long, 20 feet wide and 14 feet deep ; the 

 walls will contain about 100 perches, and a 

 mason will build it for 50 cents a perch. My 

 hired man will dig the pit with a little assis- 

 tance, and I have the stone and most of the 

 lumber that will be required. I think $100 

 will build a silo that wiU hold 200 tons of 

 corn fodder, which I expect to raise on 7 

 acres of corn land. I have not charged 50 

 cents a load for tlie stone, or $30 a month for 

 my hired man and $2 a day for my team ; but 

 I have the team and man, and not work 

 enough to keep them and myself busy unless 

 I grow roots. I would like to know where 

 there is a farmer who would not lose $1 ,000 a 

 year if he charged sucli exorbitant rates for 

 his labor and the use of his team, as some of 

 the writers calculate when trying to run up 

 the cost of a silo. 



I think by buying from $300 to $400 worth 

 of grain a year and adopting the system of 

 ensilage, I can keep 30 cows and 100 sheep, 

 and raise more wheat and corn, on 70 acres, 

 than I now do by keeping 20 cows and farm- 

 ing in the old way. I will set apart 7 acres 

 of my best land, and gfve it a good coat of 

 manure every year and one ton of superphos-, 

 pliate. About the first of June I will drill 

 my corn at the rate of 1^ bushel per acre, and 

 in September will ensilage the corn. After 

 taking off the corn, I will drill in rye, and by 

 manuring every year, will increase the fertili- 

 ty of the ground. I will make them 5 to 15 

 acre fields, and follow corn by two crops of 

 wheat and the wheat by clover. By keeping 

 more than double the amount of stock, I will 

 have plenty of manure for tlie last crop of 

 wheat, a clover sod for C(;rn, and will drill 

 phosphate for the wheat whioli follows corn in 

 tlie fall. In this way I will liave 30 acres of 

 wheat and 15 acres of corn. The only loss will 

 be in the timotliy hay now raised on eight 

 acres, and a little pasturage.— TFaKer Dar- 

 linijlon in Country Gentleman. 



CASTOR POMACE AS A FERTILIZER 

 FOR TOBACCO. 



As there has been of late considerable in- 

 quiry concerning the use of castor pomace as 

 a fertilizer for the tobacco crop, I "will give 

 you the benefit of our experience in its use 

 here in the Connecticut Valley. Twelve or 

 fifteen years ago, some of our tobacco grow- 

 ers were casting about for fertilizers out of 

 the usual course, having ■ become disgusted 

 with the use of some of the superphosphates 

 with which our valley was so persistently 

 flooded. Some experimented with shorts, 

 others with corn meal and cotton-seed meal, 

 and still others with castor pomace. 



At that time the most desirable color for 

 the leaf was a light cinnamon, something that 

 would grow a wrapper largely of Claro or 

 Claro Colorado. As these colors were the 

 most fashionable among consumers, so of 

 course dealers were obliged to seek light col- 

 ored leaf. Hence, light sandy soils were in re- 

 quest for tobacco lands, and any fertilizer that 

 had a tendency to give a dark-colored leaf was 

 ignored. The only exception to the latter 

 rule was the use of Peruvian guano, and this 

 was used with care. As fertilizers, corn meal, 

 cotton-seed meal and castor pomace were 

 generally discarded. 



At the present time the trade demands a 

 darker leaf than that in former fasliion. 

 Cigars of a shade as light as Colorado are 

 sometimes painted or colored, either after the 

 manufacture or at the resvveating, through 

 the use of some mixture in dampening the 

 leaf for the resweating process, that shall give 

 a fine, dark-colored cigar. To enable the leaf 

 to bear the second sweat successfully it must 

 possess more body than is possessed by such 

 leaf as is usually grown in light soils. Con- 

 sequently on account of this present demand 

 for a darker and more fashionable leaf, and 

 also of a heavier body, our farmers are once 

 more resorting to the use of castor pomace 

 and cotton seed meal as cheap and desirable 

 fertilizers In tlie growth of tobacco. They are 

 also cultivating the leaf on heavier, darker 

 soils than formerly. 



