ANIMAL INDii^TRlElS 215 



dairying method much of the labor is shifted from 

 summer to winter and a large flow of milk is main- 

 tained throughout the winter. This flow is revived 

 when pasture comes on in the spring, so that a much 

 more continuous flow of milk is maintained than 

 under the old " cheese-factory " system. 



A few farmers, especially those making the highest 

 grade of milk and cream on tillable land, are inclined 

 to reduce the pasture area and to depend almost ex- 

 clusively on summer silos and soiling crops. There 

 is no question but that on tillable land a larger 

 amount of nutriment may be secured by this method 

 than by the use of pasture. It should be noticed that 

 tliis system departs from the chief foundation on 

 which dairying rests, the use by means of the cow 

 of the cheap pasture that is not tillable. It, there- 

 fore, entails a higher cost of production. 



There is an increasing tendency to supplement the 

 late summer and fall pasture that is frequently short, 

 by the use of silage. The silo has come to be very 

 generally regarded as essential to economical winter 

 dairying and the larger part of commercial 

 dairy farms are now equipped with that structure. 

 In 1917, 40 per cent or 63,000 farms had silos. 

 Corn produces more nutriment to the acre than any 

 other tilled crop grown on the farm, a large part of 

 which is in the stalk, which is difficult to masticate 

 when the fodder is matured and dried. Not only 

 is there loss thereby but tbe storage of tlie material in 

 shocks in the field or in bays in the barn entails the 

 probability of further loss. When the crop is pre- 



