876 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Dec.  31 
CHEAP  COW  FEED. 
Ensilage  from  Mature  Corn. 
I  have  been  using  ensilage  for  the  past  three  years 
as  the  principal  feed  for  my  winter  dairy.  This  year 
I  packed  away  over  150  tons  of  mature  corn.  I  have 
three  silos.  The  two  I  fill  first  are  13  feet  square  and 
22  deep,  and  are  side  by  side.  I  was  anxious  this  year 
to  know  how  the  ensilage  would  turn  out ;  for,  on 
account  of  delay  in  receiving  an  engine  to  run  my  cut¬ 
ter  and  difficulty  in  making  it  work  after  its  arrival,  I 
did  not  begin  cutting  until  the  corn  had  passed  the 
glazing  period.  In  fact,  it  was  as  ripe  as  it  usually  is 
when  I  cut  it  for  husking,  or  even  riper.  So  ripe  was 
it  that  the  corn  was  shelled  as  the  large  ears  passed 
through  the  cutter  ;  many  of  the  leaves  were  dead, 
though  the  stalks  were  quite  juicy.  When  I  opened 
one  silo  on  December  1,  there  were  not  500  pounds 
spoiled  ;  it  was  in  fine  condition  up  to  the  very  edges 
of  the  silo  ;  the  grains  of  corn  were  all  sound.  The 
leaves  that  had  been  dry  when  put  in  the  pit  were 
moist  when  taken  out.  The  crucial  test  was  actual 
feeding.  The  milkers  liked  it,  and  in  five  days  not 
only  did  their  milk  yield  not  shrink,  but  it  actually 
was  25  per  cent  more  than  just  before  when  they  had 
a  ration  of  roots,  malt  sprouts  and  hay. 
The  great  advantage  of  ensilaging  corn  so  mature  is 
that  it  is  much  lighter  to  handle.  A  team  can  draw 
twice  the  bulk  ;  much  labor  is  saved  in  loading  and 
unloading,  which,  after  all,  is  the  heavy  work  of  put¬ 
ting  away  ensilage,  as  no  machinery  has  yet  been  con¬ 
trived  to  do  it  satisfactorily.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any 
corresponding  loss.  The  only  serious  objections  to 
ensilaging  corn  with  plenty  of  ears  so  mature  is  the 
danger  of  frost  while  waiting  for  it  to  ripen,  and  the 
fact  that  all  the  grains  do  not  appear  to  be  digested. 
Ensilage  made  from  ripe  corn  has  no  sour  smell ;  it 
has  rather  a  sweet  one.  It  would  seem  that  corn  may 
be  ensilaged  at  almost  any  period  of  its  growth,  and 
the  nearer  maturity  it  is,  the  less  labor  required  and 
the  better  the  results. 
I  use  the  Early  Mastodon  corn  on  account  of  its 
heavy  growth  of  ears  and  stalks.  I  plant  about  10 
quarts  of  seed  to  the  acre — not  much  thicker  than  corn 
is  usually  planted  when  one  expects  a  yield  of  at  least 
100  bushels  of  ears  to  the  acre.  I  cut  the  stalks  in 
quarter-inch  lengths ;  we  tramp  very  little,  leveling 
it  down  only  three  or  four  times  a  day  until  the  pit  is 
nearly  full ;  then  we  cover  it  with  a  layer  of  building 
paper — oil  paper  preferred — then  a  layer  of  two-inch 
hemlock  plank,  kept  for  that  purpose,  being  careful 
not  to  let  the  ends  of  the  planks  come  within  several 
inches  of  the  sides  of  the  silo,  so  they  will  not  catch 
and  drag  in  settling  ;  then  we  lay  a  plank  the  other 
way  across  each  of  the  ends  so  as  to  make  the  cover¬ 
ing  complete  and  also  one  across  the  center,  and  place 
on  the  middle  and  corners  of  the  silo  about  half  a  ton 
of  stones,  so  as  to  make  the  cover  settle  evenly.  To 
further  assure  this  we  ram  down  the  plank  covering 
with  a  heavy  bar  of  iron  twice  a  week  for  several 
weeks.  This  last  I  regard  as  very  essential,  as  it 
insures  even  settling,  without  heavy  weighting  and 
tramping  and  prevents  much  loss  of  ensilage.  When 
we  take  the  weights  off  we  place  them  on  a  little  plat¬ 
form  on  top  of  the  silo  to  have  them  ready  for  the 
next  year. 
In  Sussex  County,  N.  J.,  where  my  farm  is  located, 
there  are  not  half  a  dozen  silos,  though  most  of  the 
farmers  are  engaged  in  shipping  milk  to  New  York. 
Most  of  them  appear  never  to  have  heard  of  ensilage. 
They  are  the  only  class  of  people  I  know  who 
do  not  appear  to  think  it  is  necessary  to  read  the 
literature  devoted  to  their  interests  to  learn  what 
progress  is  being  made  in  their  lines.  Instead  of  look¬ 
ing  this  subject  up  and  trying  to  cheapen  production 
by  better  methods,  they  spend  their  leisure  moments 
in  finding  fault  with  hard  times  and  the  immense 
profits  of  the  middleman.  Most  of  those  who  con¬ 
demn  ensilage  have  never  seen  any,  and  those  who  are 
in  the  neighborhood  of  silos  in  successful  operation  are 
unwilling  to  inspect  the  system  and  learn  something 
to  their  advantage.  We  farmers  as  a  class  need  not 
expect  to  derive  much  benefit  from  any  legislative 
action,  when  we  refuse  to  adopt  the  ensilage  system 
and  thus  cheapen  the  cost  of  production  of  all  dairy 
products.  It  will  also  enable  us  to  double  the  number 
of  cattle  usually  kept  on  the  same  area  and  thus 
enable  us  more  cheaply  to  restore  the  soil  to  its  orig¬ 
inal  fertility.  frank  e.  pellet. 
Ensilage  vs.  Beets. 
Mr.  Voorhees’s  reply  to  T.  M,  W.  in  The  R.  N.-Y. 
of  December  10,  concerning  the  relative  advantages  of 
ensilage  and  beets  for  stock  feeding,  is  very  instruct¬ 
ive,  but  I  must  disagree  with  his  decision.  For  the 
dairy  farmer,  the  corn  crop  is  preferable  to  the  beet 
crop  wherever  corn  can  profitably  be  raised.  It  will 
build  up  a  farm  while  the  beet  crop  is  a  heavy  drag 
upon  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  The  tendency  of  the  en¬ 
silage  system  is  to  increase  the  corn  acreage  and  in 
that  way  the  farm  production. 
In  regard  to  the  expense  of  filling  a  silo,  the  farmer 
with  a  small  dairy  must  not  try  to  follow  too  closely 
the  methods  of  the  large  farmer.  For  a  10-cow  dairy 
one  hay  bay  in  the  barn  about  13  by  13  feet  or  less  and 
as  deep  from  the  great  beam  as  can  be,  will  make  a 
sufficiently  large  silo.  No  cutting  machinery  is  neces¬ 
sary.  Corn  put  in  full  length  will  make  just  as  good 
ensilage  as  the  short  cut,  although  it  cannot  be  taken 
out  so  easily  nor  is  it  so  handy  to  mix  with  a  grain 
ration.  Half  an  acre  of  mature  corn  ensilage  per  cow 
will  feed  from  Thanksgiving  to  April  or  longer  with 
one  feed  of  hay  or  clover  at  noon.  Three  men  and  one 
two-horse  or  ox  team  will  put  one  acre  of  corn  into  the 
silo  in  10  hours. 
I  have  found  some  other  advantages  in  the  silo 
system  besides  those  usually  enumerated.  When  an 
acre  of  ensilage  corn  is  harvested,  the  land  is  clear. 
This  has  taught  me  to  follow  the  harvesting  closely 
with  winter  grain.  My  corn  is  raised  by  level  hill 
culture.  We  sow  on  the  corn  stubble  winter  rye  or 
wheat  and  cultivate  each  way  with  a  one-horse  cul¬ 
tivator,  bushing  afterwards  sometimes.  In  the  spring 
we  roll  down  the  corn  stubble  with  a  field  roller.  This 
winter  grain  is  cut  with  a  mowing  machine  in  June 
for  hay  soon  enough  for  planting  another  crop  of  corn, 
if  we  like.  I  am  feeding  a  milk  dairy  of  20  cows  upon 
ensilage  and  hay  in  winter,  and  green  feed  and  pasture 
in  summer.  Within  two  or  three  years  ensilage  and 
soiling  have  taught  me  much  regarding  double  crop¬ 
ping  and  increased  fodder  production.  There  are  great 
possibilities  in  this  system  for  the  cow  keeper. 
Connecticut.  edward  c.  birge. 
UNRIPE  VEGETABLES  OUT  OF  SEASON. 
HOW  THEY  HURT  LEGITIMATE  TRADE. 
To  speak  against  a  common  practice  is  often  useless 
and  always  a  thankless  effort,  but  The  Rural  has 
shown  so  much  independence  in  always  working,  not 
for  what  is  popular  among,  but  for  that  which  is  best  for 
farmers  and  gardeners  that  I  am  tempted  to  speak  to 
its  readers  of  a  practice  which  I  believe  works  more 
injury  to  gardeners,  stands  more  in  the  way  of  an  in¬ 
crease  in  home  gardens  and  a  more  general  use  of 
fruit  and  vegetables  for  food  than  all  other  causes 
combined.  This  is  the  increasing  tendency  to  grow 
green  fruits  and  vegetables  to  be  shipped  long  distances 
and  used  out  of  season. 
From  mid-winter  till  July  our  markets  are  full  of 
tomatoes,  cucumbers,  melons,  strawberries,  etc., 
which  have  been  shipped  in  from  the  South.  Early 
in  the  fall  men  move  into  southern  Florida  and  rent  a 
piece  of  land  which  they  judge  will  be  free  from  frost 
and  plant  it  to  tomatoes.  As  fast  as  the  fruit  reaches 
full  size  and  before  it  shows  a  sign  of  color  it  is  picked, 
wrapped  in  papers  and  shipped  North.  It  ripens,  or 
rather  colors  up  in  transit,  and  upon  arrival  at  New 
York  looks  very  tempting.  The  housewife  buys  a 
pound  or  two  and  serves  it  as  a  delicacy.  The  family, 
remembering  how  they  enjoyed  tomatoes  last  summer, 
eagerly  welcome  the  dish,  but  they  prove  so  different 
from  the  real  tomatoes  of  summer  that  a  taste  suffices. 
This  experience  is  repeated  from  time  to  time  until  by 
summer  all  have  been  taught  that  they  don't  care  for 
tomatoes.  This  effect  is  partly  due  to  the  poorly 
ripened  fruit  and  partly  to  the  inferior  varieties  used  ; 
for  I  do  not  know  of  a  single  instance  in  the  case  of 
summer  vegetables,  and  of  but  very  few  in  fruits, 
where  the  ability  to  stand  shipment  and  poor  quality 
are  not  in  direct  proportion,  and  naturally  only  those 
varieties  which  will  stand  shipment  are  used. 
Other  vegetables  go  through  the  same  course,  and 
in  many  cases  with  as  disastrous  effect  on  the  health 
as  on  the  tastes  of  the  consumers.  Cucumbers  and 
melons  fresh  from  the  vines  and  in  the  heat  of  mid¬ 
summer  are  most  conducive  to  good  health,  but  the 
same  fruits  picked  green,  delayed  from  2  to  10  days 
in  transit,  and  eaten  in  the  cold  and  damp  weather  of 
winter  and  spring,  are  simply  an  urgent  invitation  to 
all  sorts  of  diseases  and  disorders  to  come  and  take  up 
their  abode  with  the  eaters. 
The  total  consumption  is  still  farther  reduced  by 
another  condition.  Every  prudent  housekeeper  has 
in  mind  a  more  or  less  definite  amount  to  be  spent  for 
vegetables  and  fruit  and  this  available  sum  is  reduced 
faster  by  even  a  small  quantity  of  the  high-priced  out- 
of-season  fruit  than  by  a  more  abundant  supply  of 
home-grown,  so  that  the  whole  trend  of  this  practice 
is  to  materially  reduce  the  total  yearly  consumption. 
It  is  not  by  decreased  demand  alone  that  the  grower 
is  affected;  eyery  mile  of  carriage,  every  day’s  “crowd¬ 
ing  of  the  season,”  and  consequent  increased  risk  in 
handling,  materially  increases  the  proportion  of  the 
consumer’s  price  which  will  stick  in  the  hands  of  the 
shipper  and  dealer,  and  decreases  the  grower’s  share. 
Again ,  the  men  who  go  to  Florida  to  grow  tomatoes 
go  there  for  that  purpose  and  not  to  make  homes — 
they  have  no  interest  in  the  country  beyond  what 
they  can  make  out  of  their  crop  and  as  soon  as  that  is 
made  they  are  off — they  are  not  settlers  but  merely 
“skinners,”  and  if  we  shut  our  doors  to  the  Chinese,  why 
not  to  them. 
I  have  not  exhausted  the  objections  to  this  practice  : 
there  are  others,  and  each  one  I  have  referred  to  will 
grow  in  force  and  importance  as  it  is  considered  and 
developed.  Few  of  these  objections  apply  at  all  to 
forced  (home  grown)  vegetables  or  to  canned  fruits 
and  vegetables  which  are  well  grown  and  put  up. 
Their  tendency  is  to  increase  rather  than  diminish 
the  total  consumption.  Nor  am  I  asking  for  a  sort  of 
McKinley  protection  to  our  home  gardeners.  It  may  be 
for  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  that  they 
must  meet  any  possible  competition  from  better  goods 
at  lower  prices,  but  my  plea  is  for  protection  from  a 
wiping  out  of  the  demand  by  poorer  goods  at  higher 
prices  Is  there  not  room  here  for  a  reform  worthy  of 
The  Rural,  worthy  of  the  earnest  effort  of  every  one 
who  loves  a  garden  ?  will  w.  tracy. 
PRICE  OF  PREMIUM  CHEESE  IN  NEW  YORK. 
The  senior  editor  of  The  Rural  will  probably  re¬ 
member  having  some  years  since,  printed  a  picture  of 
the  homestead  and  dairy  herd  of  Judge  J.  C.  Oliver,  of 
West  Charleston,  Vt.  The  judge  has  long  been  the 
champion  cheese-maker  of  Orleans  County.  He  has 
been  prominent  in  our  State  Dairymen’s  Association 
for  over  20  years,  having  served  two  terms  as  vice- 
president  ;  and  he  has  probably  taken  more  premiums 
on  his  dairy  products  at  our  fairs,  State  and  local, 
than  any  dairyman  in  eastern  Vermont.  The  judge  is 
getting  along  in  years,  and  is  not  a  very  pushing  man, 
anyway.  He  had  no  idea,  as  he  certainly  had  no  need, 
of  exhibiting  his  cheese  at  the  recent  New  York  Food 
Exhibition.  He  has  a  market  at  his  own  dcor  for 
much  more  cheese  than  he  makes,  at  11  to  12  cents  a 
pound,  cash.  Rut  being  repeatedly  urged  by  Secre¬ 
tary  Cheeseman,  he  at  last  consented,  and  sent  two 
cheeses  to  the  Exhibition.  The  papers  informed  him 
that  he  had  received  second  premium,  and  that  is  all 
he  learned  for  some  time.  It  took  repeated  letters  of 
inquiry  before  he  could  get  any  information  from  the 
secretary.  At  last,  under  date  of  December  1,  he  got 
the  following  from  Mr.  C. 
Inclosed  please  find  check  for  $3.57  for  51  pounds  of  cheese  at  seven 
cents.  That  Is  all  the  commission  man  could  get  for  It  Our  Food 
Exposition  closed  In  arrears,  and  I  fear  we  shall  not  get  the  premium 
money.  Will  send  you  the  certificate  when  signed. 
The  cheese  when  shipped,  September  26,  weighed 
71  pounds  net.  The  expressage  on  the  cheese  was 
$1.70,  and  the  entry  fee  $1 — net  returns  on  the  cheese 
87  cents,  and  a  promised  certificate  from  a  “  busted” 
exposition.  It  looks  to  me  as  though  it  would  be  a 
good  while  before  confidence  in  New  York  expositions 
will  be  restored  among  the  farmers  if,  as  I  suppose, 
all  the  exhibitors  at  the  great  “  Food  Exposition  in 
Commemoration  of  the  Discovery  of  America”  had  a 
like  experience  to  that  which  befell  this  one. 
Newport,  Vt.  t.  h.  ii. 
R.  N.-Y. — This  is  but  a  sample  of  other  complaints 
that  have  reached  us.  We  have  letters  from  other 
cheese  makers  to  the  same  effect.  It  is  a  shame  that 
these  prize  winners  should  be  made  to  suffer  because 
of  the  show’s  failure. 
(Every  query  must  be  accompanied  by  the  name  and  address  of  the 
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at  one  time.  Put  questions  on  a  separate  piece  of  paper.] 
COTTON  HULLS  FOR  NORTHERN  COWS. 
Many  of  the  stations  in  Southern  States  have  issued 
bulletins  on  the  feeding  values  of  cotton  hulls,  and  in 
many  cases  have  praised  them  highly  as  an  economical 
food.  The  hulls  are  now  offered  for  sale  in  some 
Northern  markets,  and  we  receive  letters  from  dairy¬ 
men  asking  if  they  will  pay  to  buy  at  $10  per  ton  to 
mix  with  grain  feed  of  different  kinds.  We  should 
not  buy  them  where  we  could  get  good  hay  at  a  fair 
price,  nor  do  we  think  they  would  be  largely  bought 
and  fed  at  the  South  if  farmers  there  had  plenty  of 
hay.  Except  where  fed  at  the  large  cotton-oil  mills,  on 
a  very  large  scale,  we  think  their  most  economical 
use  is  in  burning  them  for  ashes  to  be  used  as  a  fer¬ 
tilizer.  Here  are  some  other  opinions  : 
Cotton-seed  hulls  have  been  fed  without  injury  to 
fattening  stock,  and  are  regarded  as  of  considerable 
value  to  feed  with  cotton-seed  meal  mixed  in  such  pro¬ 
portions  as  to  make  a  balanced  ration.  In  the  South¬ 
ern  States,  where  both  meal  and  hulls  are  abundant, 
this  method  of  feeding  is  commendable,  since  it  results 
in  saving  a  waste  product.  The  hulls  would  be  an 
expensive  feed  at  $10  per  ton  ;  they  contain  consider¬ 
ably  less  digestible  dry  matter  than  either  wheat  or 
■oat  straw,  and  are,  like  these  products,  highly  car¬ 
bonaceous  in  their  character.  At  the  North,  as  a  rule, 
the  economical  feeding  of  dairy  cows  demands  the  pur- 
