196 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
an intelligent European in coming to this 
country, is the very frail look of our vehicles, 
especially the narrow wheels. While these 
may be desirable in road wagons, those for 
farm use may well be with broad tires. Con¬ 
tractors for road work always use broad-tired 
carts, as they find them most profitable. 
A Metiiod of Leading Cattle. 
Mr. J. W. Gilman, Kearney Co., Neb., 
writes of an arrangement of the halter for 
the easy leading of cattle that are inclined to 
hang back. He writes: “I learned the 
method from a young Dane in my employ. 
I had two cows, neither of which would lead 
with any degree of comfort; to lead them 
both at once was out of the question. One 
day I noticed the Dane leading them with 
A DEVICE FOR LEADING A COW. 
as little trouble as if they were well broken 
horses. This ease in leading was due to his 
taking a lialf-hitcli in the halter around one 
ear of each cow in such a way that it would 
not slip off. This idea has been worth a great 
deal to me.”—To those who have tugged and 
worried over a cow that would not lead at 
the halter, this hint will be welcome. The 
engraving shows the manner of making the 
half-hitch of the halter about the animal’s ear. 
Hanging a Harness. 
Mr. G. D. John, Whitesides Co., Ill., hangs 
his harness “ high and dry out of the way of 
a rubbing horse, rats, and chewing calves,” 
A HARNESS HUNG BY ROPE AND PULLEY. 
by means of a pulley and rope. A frame or 
support for the harness to hang upon is at¬ 
tached to one end of the rope. The harness 
tn the engraving is shown as hanging upon a 
large double iron hook, but a substitute may 
be readily provided. A piece from a tree 
with several branches given off at a sharp 
angle will answer, or a straight stick with 
several pins inserted in it may be used. The 
rope, being attached to whatever the harness 
is hung upon, passes over a pulley at the peak 
of the roof of the carriage-house and down 
to a convenient place at one side. The de¬ 
vice is an exceedingly simple one, and for 
those who wish to keep a fine harness out 
of harm’s way this can be recommended. 
Among the Farmers.—No. 64. 
BY ONE OF THEM. 
Wide-awake farmers that I meet with are 
interested more than ever in the problem of, 
how to keep more stock, and with this in 
view, and with especial reference to milk 
production, they are generally discussing 
Ensilage. 
It seemed at one time as if all were con¬ 
verts to the new practice. Now, when the 
practical questions connected with it come 
up—and they ask themselves whether or not 
they shall spend $300, $500, or even more, 
many are finding reasons for leaving their 
money in the Saving’s Banks. The wisdom 
of this step, from their stand-point—unwil¬ 
lingness to spend the money—is not clear; 
but it is the part of wisdom often to continue 
in well-tried ways, until others besides vis¬ 
ionary tyros and scientific enthusiasts, ‘who 
spend money which somebody else earned, 
carry the new practice to decided success. 
Professor G. H. Cook, of the New Jersey Ex¬ 
periment Station, which, by the way, is do¬ 
ing our farmers good service, comes out de¬ 
cidedly in favor of the use of ensilaged corn- 
fodder for milk production. His showing is 
not, however, the demonstration one could 
wish, for the quality of the milk does not 
seem to have been made a subject of special 
test, yet it must have been fair, for a marked 
lack of goodness in the product would certain¬ 
ly have been noticed and commented upon. 
It is an important thing to know liow much 
Alcohol and Vinegar 
it is safe to admit as proper ingredients in the 
food of milch cows. Certain it is, that vi¬ 
nous fermentation occurs at the expense of 
part of the sugar in the fodder. The mass 
of fresh ensilage, at the time of packing 
away, is charged with a pleasant vinous odor, 
and the amount of carbonic acid disengaged 
is very great—sufficient to endanger life, if 
care is not taken by those going into the pits. 
This demonstrates conclusively that the talk 
about sauer kraut is all gammon, for the fer¬ 
mentation which cabbage undergoes is not vi¬ 
nous or alcoholic at all, but lactic. This lac¬ 
tic acid is formed much as in the souring of 
milk. I doubt if any lactic acid has ever 
been discovered in ensilage of maize. After 
a while, no doubt, the fermentation in the 
tank stops. It will go on so long as there is 
any sugar left in the corn fodder, unless the 
natural ferment is exhausted, or the tempera¬ 
ture is too cool. The latter, I opine, is quite 
likely to occur, for vinoxis fermentation near¬ 
ly or quite ceases at a temperature of 45°F. 
We will suppose that on closing the pit or 
silo, only a moderate quantity of alcohol had 
been formed, and, on opening it, the temper¬ 
ature remained below 45°. Then only so 
much alcohol as had been already formed 
would be converted into vinegar by exposure 
to the air. This would and does take place 1 
with wonderful rapidity—so much so that 
samples of ensilage, placed in jars, and sealed 
up tightly, often lose within 24 hours, all 
their vinous odor, and are so charged with 
vinegar as to be utterly unpalatable to any 
cows but those of most perverted taste. In 
fact, I have seen some samples from which it 
apparently would have paid well to have ex¬ 
tracted the sour liquid it contained for vinegar, 
for as vinegar it was both sharp and good. 
Now, as I have said, much alcohol is often 
formed in the silo, and, on opening the lat¬ 
ter, or exposing its contents in any way to 
the air, a proportionate quantity of vinegar ' 
is rapidly formed. We need, therefore, an 
answer to the question— How much alcohol, 
and how much vinegar, it is safe to feed to 
milch cows? —Prof’s. Johnson, Armsby, At¬ 
water ; Drs. Cook and Habirshaw, please an¬ 
swer—but don’t all speak at once. This dis¬ 
cussion leads us away from the main question:. 
Will Ensilage Pay ? 
To that we must ever recur. It seems to 
be proved that ensilage is fairish fodder—pos¬ 
sibly better than some of us think—certainly 
not so good as the enthusiasts claim. It is 
surely unfit to use alone. Grain of some 
kind, or some equivalent, such as cotton-seed 
meal, must be fed with it, at the rate at least 
of 5 to 8 per cent of the latter, and propor¬ 
tionately more of Indian meal, shorts, etc. 
As winter feed, it appears to be then a substi¬ 
tute for roots. In the case of young stock 
and dry cows to be fed instead of turnips,— 
and in place of mangels—for milch cows. 
I had a very interesting talk with Dr. 
Miles, of Houghton Farm, Orange Co., N. Y. r 
the other day, and he described particularly- 
the process which was introduced by him 
at the Michigan Agricultural College many 
years ago, which might worthily be called : j 
Tlie Miles Process. 
As I understand it, it is this: The com fod¬ 
der, properly cured, is cut up by horse power 
one and a half to two inches long. This is 
spread to the depth of six inches, more or 
less, upon some convenient space within three 
walls. Over this layer one of finely'pulped 
mangels is spread (an English root pulper was 
imported for the College). This layer of 
pulped roots should have a depth of two or 
more inches, then comes another layer of 
corn fodder, then more roots, and so on until 
a mass four or five feet high is made. This j 
should contain food enough to last the cows 
three days. This is left until a good heat 
comes on, when it is fed out warm, and 
another heap is made. The addition of bran 
or meal would cause the fermentation to be 
still more active, and the use of close-oiled 
canvas or tarpaulin to cover the heap natur¬ 
ally suggest themselves. I did not inquire of 
the Doctor about the minutiae as I should 
have done. He said, however, that the corn¬ 
stalks were thoroughly softened, and that the 
cattle were extravagantly fond of the fodder 
thus prepared, even though wheat and oat 
straw were often largely used. The fer¬ 
mentation which takes place is vinous, but 
the time is too short for the formation of any 
considerable quantity of alcohol. The ration, 
thus prepared, is vastly superior for feeding 
to milk-giving cows to one containing ensi¬ 
lage in its best form, according to my notion. 
In the Matter of Eabor, 
the advantage, it seems to me, lies with the 
“ Miles Process.” Com fodder is very easily 
