150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



system. Counting the expense for growing corn at $1.25 

 a day for the hiborer, $2.50 for a team and man and $3 an 

 acre for the rent of the land, and counting every dollar of 

 cost of the crop at those rates, our corn cost this last year 

 $20 an acre for getting a crop into the silo, counting nothing 

 for the exhaustion of the land or for management. Then our 

 horse beans have cost $25 an acre, sunflower heads have cost 

 $20.09, and hay I estimated at $8 an acre ; the roots cost 

 $30 an acre. Adding the cost of growing these crops and 

 having them in the silo or ready to feed the cows, I find a 

 cost of $103 for the crops from five acres; and that food is 

 just as cheap, so far as feeding value is concerned, as though 

 you had hay for $5.50 a ton, as though you had wheat at 28 

 cents a bushel, as though you had barley at 23 cents a bushel, 

 as though you had Indian corn grain at 22 cents a bushel, 

 as though 3^ou had oats at 16 cents a bushel. I would rather 

 feed the bulky fodders from the five acres, as far as the effect 

 on the health of the animal is concerned, than the equivalent 

 nutrients in the grains I have mentioned at the prices I have 

 named. This is how we feed our cows to get the best re- 

 sults : 50 pounds of this mixed ensilage, 25 pounds of roots 

 (for the sake of the stimulating influence), 5 pounds of hay 

 and 5 pounds of mixed meal (1 pound each of barley, wheat, 

 oats, wheat bran and linseed meal). That on the whole 

 makes an excellent ration at a cost of 12 to 11 cents per cow 

 per day. 



Question. What is the average product? 



Professor Robertson. That depends on the cow. Some 

 cows will give a large yield of milk, which do not eat any 

 more than others that give a small yield of milk. That is 

 not the point. I find that I cannot by any quantity of food 

 make some cows give as much milk as others which take 

 less feed. We have had cows that have o;iven us all the way 

 from 5,000 pounds of milk a j-ear upwards. We have had 

 none that went over 11,000 pounds and none down to 4,000 

 pounds. We cull the poor ones every year. 



Question. Is this horse bean which you speak of suita- 

 ble for drvinor and curing:? 



Professor Robertson. You cannot cure it easily, because 

 the stalk is juicy and difficult of being dried, and so it is best 

 preserved in the silo. 



