G03 



alfalfa should not make a larger loss than 

 was here given in our experimental silo, 

 or about 10 per cent, of its feeding value. 

 To make good ensilage from whole alfalfa 

 is a much harder proposition. It requires 

 that the alfalfa be quite green ; that the 

 silo be both tight and deep ; that the 

 alfalfa be thrown into the silo in small 

 forkfuls and carefully tramped, and that 

 it be weighted, by from 4 to 6 feet of 

 some heavy, tight-packing material, like 

 cut corn fodder. If the alfalfa is put up 

 in the middle of summer, in clear bright 

 weather, it must be raked and loaded just 

 as fast as cut. One lot we tried was too 

 dry for ensilage two hours after it was 

 cut. 



Comparing the three methods of hand- 

 ling alfalfa — in the stack, in the barn, and 

 in the form of ensilage - the bulletin says 

 that, under the best of ordinary comli- 

 tions, for every 100 lb. of feeding value 

 as it exists in the green alfalfa at the time 

 it is cut by the mower, 75 lb. will be 

 saved if the hay is well cured and put in 

 a stack under good conditions ; 86 lb. will 

 be saved if put in the barn ; and 90 lb. 

 can be expected if made into first-class 

 ensilage. In the comparison of the en- 

 silage and the stacked hay, the principal 

 advantage of the ensilage must lie in the 

 fact that the alfalfa can be put in the silo, 

 even under bad conditions of weather at 

 time of cutting, and that once siloed it is 

 safe from the worst weather. 



A Safe Gate'Fastener, 



ONE of the most simple and safe gate- 

 fasteners we have seen is that shown 

 in our sketch. It is made of iron lin. 

 broad and thick. The part that goes 

 over the gate-head leing much longer 

 than that on the other side of the bolt 

 will keep it down. When a horse attempts 

 to lift the loop the pendant piece of iron 

 plate, ^in. thick, on the other side, coming 

 down on the top rail effectually prevents 

 the loop from bting raised over the gate- 

 head. The centre bolt should have plenty 

 of play, also the pendant piece of plate. 

 The latter should hang loosely, so as to 

 be always in place. "When one wishes to 

 open the gate the piece of plate is raised 

 outward, when the loop can easily be 

 raised over the gate-head. This gate- 



fastener is in common use about Mans- 

 field, and no horse or cow has yet 

 succeeded in opening a gate fastened with 

 it. Fig. 1 shows the gate fastened ; fig. 2 

 the fastener detached. — Australasian. 



A clever scheme for adulterating milk by 

 which all the cream is removed, but will still pass 

 the Babcock test, has been discovered in New 

 York, and it is believed to have been practised 

 to a small extent in several parts of the State. 

 The milkman stirs into the skim milk an emulsion 

 .offats, manufactured for medicinal purposes, 

 much in the same way that skim milk is fixed 

 for making filled cheese. These parts are naade 

 up of the same ingredients which enter into 

 oleomargarine. It is said to give the milk a 

 fine, rich appearance, and a chemical analysis 

 is required to show that it is not butter fat. 



