ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 1 23 



Boyd says he fed his cows all they would eat, and they would 

 easily eat about 32 pounds. I have had my cows eat 60 pounds, 

 but not when there was ears on. If you can grow corn very 

 cheaply in the country you live in, it will pay you better to grow 

 a large yield for roughness and supplement it with mill-feed. If 

 you don't grow corn cheaply, if you have to feed that in the 

 best way, you had better plant it thinner so as to have your 

 corn all ready there. Now, throughout the east, they can raise 

 it cheaper by planting far enough apart so the ears will form 

 and have considerable richness in the ear itself. Throughout 

 the west where corn is cheap they plant it thick, and raise a 

 large yield of it for rough fodder and put in a grain ration 

 besides. Of course, an animal cannot eat so much of rich, con- 

 centrated food as it can of weaker food." 



Mr. Boyd : " It is very possible that a cubic foot of my ensi- 

 lage will weigh more than a cubic foot of yours. Yours might 

 have had considerable more water than mine in it; might have 

 been composed of more leaves and stalks, while mine had large- 

 sized ears; the corn was partially glazed when I commenced to 

 cut it, and it seems to me that that corn would weigh more per 

 bushel than corn that was raised very thick and composed 

 largely of leaves and light stalks." 



Mr. Tenney: "The discussion here on this ensilage question 

 has been entirely with respect to corn. How does clover do 

 put into a silo ? " 



Mr. Boyd : " I have had no personal experience of it, but I 

 cannot see the economy of it." 



The Secretary : " I havn't had any practical experience in 

 the matter, but I can tell you what Mr. E.J. Oatman said at 

 the meeting of this association in Aurora, and he is a man who 

 has made thorough experiments in all these ensilage questions. 

 Mr. Oatman made the statement that he had absolute faith in 

 clover silage; had tried a little before, and had filled one large 

 silo with clover last year, but could, as yet, make no positive 

 statement of results. Within a few weeks after this Mr. Oat- 

 man told me that on opening the clover silo it was found in per- 



