344 CATTiB. 



SILOS AND ENSFLAGE. 



This subject has been much discussed of late, and the stock-raiser has 

 come to recognize that silos have come to stay, and that if proper]}^ 

 built and filled, they will supply a good fodder at a less cost than the 

 plan now commonly adopted. F. A. Converse, a successful farmer of 

 Woodville, N. Y., has so ably covered the subject that we are pleased to 

 be able to give in his own words the results of his experiments. He 

 thus tersely covers the whole subject as to cost and advantages : 



"I was an unwilling convert, because in years past I had seen silos 

 built costing a large amount of money, and filled with a product I would 

 not feed a decent cow. The ensilage resembled a poor quality of sauer- 

 kraut more than it did a wholesome food. Such ensilage put up from 

 immature corn made bad results, and it was condemned, and rightly too. 

 But conditions have changed, and men have come now to know that 

 ensilage is not only a good food, but it is the cheapest food we can pro- 

 vide for our stock, and, properly cut up, no food is more wholesome, 

 and the farmers of the future will be compelled to use the silo to meet 

 the competition into which he will be forced in the effort to produce 

 milk, butter, or beef at a small cost. 



In going over the States, I find that the dairymen who are using the 

 silo are able to produce more milk and do it cheaper than iliey could 

 bsfore the silo was built. This is the universal testimony. Some may 

 ask why so many silos are abandoned. As a matter of fact there are 

 not many silos abandoned, unless the corn crop for some cause failed; 

 or by the whim or prejudice of certain creamery owners or condensed 

 milk manufacturers, where poor, sour ensilage was used in the past, and 

 as a natural consequence, to protect themselves they had to stop using 

 the ensilage, owing to its poor quality; but where ensilage is properly 

 put up and made from mature corn, the silos have not been aban- 

 doned. 



As an evidence of the quality and flavor of milk or butter made from 

 ensilage, it is only necessary to state that those who are getting the best 

 for their dairy products, are feeding ensilage. 



Why is ensilage better suited to cheapen milk production than any 

 other food ? Because it provides us with a succulent food in winter, 

 without which no milch cow can do her best; it can be raised so much 

 cheaper than any of the root crops; and the food-producing power of an 

 acre can be doubled and thribbled over any other crop. The dairyman 



