36 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



State, the advantages of winter dairying. I believe that for us, even more 

 than in northern Illinois, the v^^inter dairying will be more profitable than 

 summer dairying. I think there has been no summer since I have been here 

 that butter has not sold for ten cents per pound, and there had been no win-, 

 ter that butter has not been at a high price. I heartily believe that you can 

 have equally good success— and in many cases— better success in the final re- 

 sults in fall and winter calves, than you certainly can with late spring calves. 

 That has been my observation. I believe that we shall find it decidedly de- 

 sirable to go into winter dairying. 



Dr. Tefft : I feed bran for the phosphates it contains; while you are 

 milking your cow, you are certainly drawing phosphates from that cow, and 

 the cow must have more supplies from some source. 



Dr. Mills : I want to speak of the curing of clover. It has been a 

 study with me to cure clover well, and put it into the barn without losing 

 part of it. I want to tell you a little experience that I had. Myman, onthe 

 farm cut a good deal of clover hay and part of it was very imperfectly cured, 

 he did not want to spoil his part of it and he put it in the barn. I felt uneasy 

 about that clover hay, until he came to feed it in the winter. It came out 

 bright and sweet, not mouldy. In talking with Mr. Scott and others, I find 

 that has been their experience in tight barns. Mr. Eaymond says if you cut 

 your clover and put it right in your barn, if your barn is tight it will come 

 out sweet, clean and nice. I think the clover crop is corn and oats and hay 

 practically; I thmk that we have nothing in the way of farm products that in 

 any way approaches it. I would hardly recommend cutting twice. Better 

 cut once and what the cattle don't take, will go to fertilize the land. 



Mr. Gurler- Do you think that you can afford to use anything as a 

 fertilizer that out stock will consume? 



Dr. Mills : Well, the cattle will finally eat up about all that is left on 

 the ground. 



Mr. Allen : What little clover I have put in the barn green, has gen- 

 erally come out pretty black and rotten. 1 know that Mr. Scott can tell us 

 something about this. 



Mr. Scott : I would not recommend putting clover in the barn abso- 

 lutely green, but clover hay cut on a bright day, in the morning, will be kept 

 very safely put in the barn in the evening. A brother of mine in Kentucky, 

 raises a good deal of clover hay, and I have known him to cut his clover in 

 the morning, and pack the mow in his big mule barn right up full of what 

 you would call green clover and it would come out as bright, and nice for 

 the cattle as can be, and the stock will eat very heartily of it, all they can 

 eat. It don't do to do the same here in sheds and stacks, but if it is to be put 

 in a tight barn free from dew or mildew, it does not need to be cured, and it 

 comes out without any mold or black. The thing is, to put it into the barn 

 without any water on it, if it is cut and barely wilted, cut in a bright morn- 

 ing and put up the same day, free from moisture, it will keep, 



Mr. Broomell : It seems to me, Mr. Scott's method of putting up his 

 clover has the elements of the ensilege system. The two preserving elements 

 are the exclusion of air and weight. He gets that by his tight barn and by 

 the weight of clover packing it down. 



