No. 4.] SILOS AND SILAGE. 157 



are keeping, there being only 72 acres that are tillable, while out 

 of these 72 acres only about half is adapted for cox-n growing, the 

 balance being meadows which are kept permanently in grass. 



We found that by rotating our fields with crops of corn, oats and 

 clover, and clover we could get results in crop production far in 

 excess of a continuous cropping of corn alone. We are able to j^rove 

 that 36 acres, divided into three sections, each section i^roducing 

 corn one year, oats and clover the next year and remaining in clover 

 the third yeai', and then back to corn again, will produce more tons 

 of silage in these three years than we ever giew in the same length 

 of time where corn was the continuous crop. In this manner we 

 secure one 12-acre crojD of corn, one of oats and clover, and one of 

 clover each j-ear. 



In this system it is possible to produce 8 to 10 tons of clover and 

 oat silage as a first crop, with a chance for a good second crop of 

 clover rowen or ensilage the same year, and in the year following 

 8 to 10 tons of clover silage per acre as a first crop, and also a good 

 second crop for silage or rowen hay. 



To bring this matter down to the latest experiences we find the 

 best results are gained by planting corn on the clover sod in the 

 spring following the second year's gi'owth of clover, using 15 to 20 

 loads of stable manure per acre; then follow the next year with 

 oats, IV2 to 2 bushels drilled per acre, with 8 quarts of clover seed, 

 mixing 5 or 6 quarts of red clover and 2 or 3 quarts of alsike and 

 3 quarts of timothy, sowing these after the oats, and lightly har- 

 rowing in and rolling, sowing 1/4 ton of burnt lime or 1 ton of raw 

 lime-stone per acre, and harrowing thoroughly into the soil before 

 sowing the oats or clover seed. 



The following fall or winter season, or early in the following 

 spring, top-dress this clover with 10 loads of stable manure, and 

 grow a maximum crop of clover silage. In harvesting these silage 

 crops we cut the clover with a mower, load with a hay loader on 

 our flat platform wagons and haul to the cutter, throwing off on to 

 a table or platform on a level with the top of the cutter, and cut 

 all into half-inch lengths and pack in the silo. 



After this clover crop, which is part timothy, is stored away in 

 the silo, for the first three or four weeks the silage will come out 

 hot, and we spray water on the same while filling the silage trucks 

 before feeding the cows; but after three or four weeks the silage 

 becomes cured, and a sweeter, more palatable food can hardly be 

 furnished, and nothing will be more relished by the dairy cow. Per- 

 sonally we feel that even if we could grow corn enough to supply 

 our herd all the year we would prefer to fill and feed clover silage 

 during the months of June, July and August. Other good summer 

 silage feeds are alfalfa, with a mixture of orchard grass, or tim- 

 othy, or the crop of oats and clover gi-own together. 



