230 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



and altogether, is to plant about a bushel to live acres. And 

 that will make you the best feed. Up there on my farm in 

 Warren county, we planted sorghum that made 22 tons to the 

 acre, and it was so heavy and ground thick people declared as 

 they went through the field in the daytime they saw fireflies 

 between the rows. The chemical analysis of sorghum is lower 

 in protein, and higher in carbohydrates, and as to practical 

 results, I am not in a position to say that one is better than the 

 other. There is no danger in feeding, but I know that corn and 

 sorghum, cut half and half and put in a silo, is more palatable 

 and cows eat it more freely than clear corghum. If a cow likes 

 anything, it is pretty good proof that it is good for her. 



A Delegate : — Can we safely go entirely by the chemical 

 analysis in regard to foods? 



Mr. Cobb: — No, we cannot; because we find some things 

 that analyze all right, but are not palatable. 



A Delegate : — Take this southern corn we used to plant here 

 for ensilage, that grew 14 and 16 feet high. Don't you get 

 more tons to the acre with that? 



Mr. Cobb: — We get a great amount of watery stuff, with 

 a very little nutriment in it. Down in the east I found a great 

 many people planting that corn, and they were dissatisfied with 

 ensilage, but they didn't know why. I explained the matter to 

 them. The ensilage was very sour, and it lacked palatability, 

 and it lacked nutrition. But the tillable land is limited there, 

 and they wanted to produce the greatest tonnage, and they were 

 doing it that way. I was in Wisconsin this fall, and they were 

 doing that same thing there, trying to raise tons to the acre. 

 And I never believed it before in my life, although I have been 

 told so, but actually they had drains in the bottoms of the silos, 

 to drain off the excess of sap. That is a new feature, but that 

 is just exactly what some of those silos were fitted with. 



Mr. Glover : — Mr. Young has had some experience with 

 that. What do you think about it, Mr. Young? 



