20 BULLETIN 716, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



years they produced 90 per cent of the concentrates used and prac- 

 tically all the roughage. They considered corn their most impor- 

 tant cereal and the cheapest source of .concentrates. The importance 

 of corn in furnishing feed for the live stock of this area may be seen 

 from Table X, page 42. During this five-year period 56 per cent 

 of the total feed requirements, exclusive of pasture, was supplied by 

 corn — 75 per cent of the concentrates and 32 per cent of the rough- 

 age. All farmers raised corn and much the greater part of it was 

 grown from grain. Occasionally on a few farms a small acreage of 

 the corn was planted so late or had eared so poorly that it was har- 

 vested for fodder only. Of the total corn acreage for the five-year 

 period about one-sixth was used in growing corn for the silo. 



Prior to the period covered by this survey there had been but one 

 silo in the township, and it was put up in 1911. The number of 

 silos has increased until at the close of the five-year period, Novem- 

 ber 1, 1916, there were 22 in the entire township, the greater number 

 of which were built in 1915 and 1916. Of course, the proportion of 

 the com acreage grown for the silo has increased each year and de- 

 cidedly so in the last two years. In 1912, 12 per cent of the corn 

 acreage on the 25 farms was put in the silo and in 1916, 30 per cent. 

 Whether or not putting up silos has increased the corn acreage on 

 those farms can not be stated positively, yet the data show that on 

 the farms which had silos during the last two years, but did not have 

 them during the first three years, the com acreage for the last two 

 years had increased 13 per cent over that of the first three years, and 

 that on the farms which have no silos the corn acreage for the last 

 two years has increased but 5 per cent over that of the first three 

 years. No doubt these silos were built in order that more stock might 

 be kept, an assumption substantiated by the data from the farmers 

 with silos and from those without. On the farms that put up silos 

 the amount of stock kept has increased 22 per cent, while on the 

 farms that did not put up silos the amount of ftock increased but 5 

 per cent, or just as much as the corn acreage was increased. While 

 the farmers who put up silos increased the amount of stock kept 

 much more than they increased their corn acreage, yet this greater 

 increase was not altogether because of the silos, for there was also 

 an increase of $2.57 per animal unit in the amount of feed bought. 

 By increasing the corn acreage 13 per cent, building silos, and pur- 

 chasing a small additional amount of feed, they M'ere enabled to 

 keep 22 per cent more stock than they had been keeping. 



A few farms were found which occasionally grew small acreages 

 of cowpeas or soy beans, which were mixed with the corn when 

 filling the silos. 



