COST OF ENSILAGE. 221 



It must be admitted that the success of the silos built 

 up to the present time, in the ensilage of green corn, has 

 been very remarkable, and has given this new system a 

 respectable standing in American agriculture ; but the 

 final verdict upon the system can only be given when it 

 shall be applied practically to the preservation of our 

 meadow grasses, and thus prove itself worthy of being 

 considered a system in stock feeding. 



COST OF ENSILAGE. 



Mr. August Goffart states that he is able to take the 

 corn growing in a field, cut it, haul it to the silo, run it 

 through the cutter, pack and cover it in th silo, for one 

 franc per ton a little less than 20 cents. This cannot be 

 done in this country, because our labor wages are more 

 than double those in France. What, then, is the whole 

 cost of producing and ensilaging one ton of corn? Whit- 

 man & Burrell estimate it at 80 cents per ton. Mr. Avery 

 estimates the cost of harvesting, hauling, running through 

 a cutter, packing in a silo and covering at $200 for 300 

 tons, or 66 cents per ton. Dr. Tanner, of Orange County, 

 N. Y., estimates the cost of harvesting and putting in the 

 silo complete 150 tons at 75 cents per ton. Mr. Chaffee, 

 of the same county, who put up ensilage for 30 cows, 

 estimates the whole cost of raising corn and storing in the 

 silo at $2 per ton, and this he considers very cheap feed. 

 The whole cost of raising corn and putting it in the silo 

 has been estimated by some half dozen others at from $1 

 to $2 per ton. If we take the latter figure as approxi- 

 mating to the real cost, and if we estimate three tons of 

 properly-kept corn ensilage as equal in feeding value to one 

 ton of good hay, then we find it as cheap as hay at $6 per 

 ton in the barn. 



But the great advantage to the small farmer in corn 

 ensilage is, that he may produce as much cattle food upon 



