38 H. E. STEVENS ON ENSILAGE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CORRESPONDENCE FROM 



- J". J~. HI. O-K.EC3-OE.ir, 



MARBLEHEAD, MASS., JAN. 15, 1881. 



H. R. STEVENS, ESQ. 



My Dear Sir: 



I have had no personal experience with silos, but think exceed- 

 ingly well of ensilage. In answer to questions, would say : Would 

 recommend " Blunt 's Prolific," expressly; but any of the largest 

 varieties of Southern corn will answer, such as " Chester County 

 Mammoth" for example. Why I would prefer " Blunt's " is be- 

 cause, while it gives great stalk here North (sometimes seventeen 

 feet high), it ears more abundantly than other Southern kinds. The 

 best time to cut corn is when the ears are in the milk, while they are, 

 bulk for bulk, by far the most valuable portion of the crop. I advo- 

 cate the Southern in preference to Northern varieties ; because, though 

 the Northern sorts analyze a large per cent of sugar, yet their bulk 

 of leaves and stalks is more than proportionally smaller. When to 

 plant, for the large Southern varieties, I would recommend, for this 

 latitude, to plant by 10th of June. 



I would advocate plenty of room, have the rows three to four feet 

 apart ; also to plant and work wholly by machinery, when the area is 

 large. We have grown stalks to weigh five pounds or more. 



As regards the quantity per acre, I would say forty tons, though 

 at rate of seventy tons per acre have been raised in small area. 

 Ensilage meets the means of doing what we before considered im- 

 possible : saves corn- fodder on a large scale, and large variety of 

 fodder, in better condition than when dried. It will make food more 

 acceptable to cattle, and present it in a form advanced one stage 

 toward digestion ; and, though the nutritious qualities may be slightly 

 diminished, the fat-making qualities are more than proportionally 



