4i4 
MAY 3o 
T 
LATEST FACTS ABOUT PRESERVED GREEN 
FORAGE. 
[A* our older readers know, we have given each year, a brief history 
of the patent ensilage system of Mr. S. M. ColcorJ. For the benefit of 
newer readers we briefly repeat the description of this system. The 
silo Is very strong and air tight-made of stones and masonry. “ Gov¬ 
ernors ” or perforated pipes are placed throughout the silo, connecting 
with a pipe which passes out through the bottom, as shown at Fig. 148. 
When filled with cut stalks, planks are placed over the mass and power¬ 
ful pressure Is applhd by means of jack-screws. This presses the air, 
gas and someof the Juice out of the ensilage, through the pipes. The 
mass does n >t heat and ferment, but remains sweet and perfect. Tiie 
I t N. Y. has long believed that the silo of the future will be managed on 
this plan or some modification of it. Mr. Colcord writes as follows:— 
Eds. R. N.-Y.l 
I cannot say that I have made any important improve¬ 
ments in the system since it was published as a perfected 
system. It has always been a success with me, and is so 
with others who use it in good silos with ordinary care. 
We all get uniform results. There are no wastes, no foul 
odors, no heat or fermentation. There is always a low 
temperature. 
For some time past many farmers and many agricul¬ 
tural papers have been advocating wooden silos, and some 
good wooden silos have been made, and many of them 
have been failures. Yet it is quite easy to calculate the 
required strength and durability of wood ; if the silo is 25 
feet high, and the forage settles seven feet, there will be 
18 cubic feet, which ought to weigh 45 pounds to each cubic 
foot, or 810 pounds, in the aggregate, to which add 90 
pounds superincumbent weight or pressure, and you have 
1,000 pounds’ pressure upon every square foot at the bot¬ 
tom. If the corn Is cut into pieces half or three-fourths 
of an inch long, six weeks after the silo is filled the juice 
in the corn will be free enough to be wrung out with the 
hand, and one half the weight of the forage can be easily 
pressed from it. Under such pressure the wood of the 
silo would be injected with the juice from the corn to 
about double Its original weight. It would not dry out as 
water does, bub would leave its virtues and vices in the 
wood to lap over into the next year. It would be easier to 
calculate the effects of lateral pressure upon the walls, 
than the chemical effects of the juice in the wood. I have 
seen many such cases, showing very varied results. 
Now, if we take a silo with 10 feet of basement wall, 
and 15 feet of wood on top, we get the same pressure at 
the bottom, and another set of lateral consequences : the 
forage easily slides down the 15 feet of wood, but when it 
comes to the basement wall the friction becomes very 
much greater. The middle settles more than the sides, the 
strata of forage curving down in the middle of the silo, 
from three to four feet before they get to the bottom, and 
at the bottom across the silo take the form of the lower 
side of an egg laid on the side, so that against the sides 
the ends of these curves look like wedges of forage press¬ 
ing against the walls, and the lateral pressure is sufficient 
to burst the wall, wherever great friction or stoppage oc¬ 
curs, and unless they are very strongly secured, it will 
throw the wooden portion from the cap of the stone part 
of the silo. These strata in the compressed mass of forage 
are seen beautifully illustrated by slicing down vertically 
the face of the cut across the silo from top to bottom, with 
a sharp, lightning hay knife. This shows the effects of 
pressure throughout the mass, and the density, moisture, 
color, odor, and in fact every condition of the ensilage is 
exposed and known from the vertical cuts. By this method 
of removing the forage to feed, the ensilage is kept in per¬ 
fect and uniform condition, and is removed more easily 
and expeditiously than in any other way. 
In this way can be seen how the removal of air and gases 
from the silo by the “ governors ” affects the forage, and 
how difficult it is to make the upper portions soft, wet and 
pulpy unless the pressure is put on when the silo is at first 
I ltd ; in fact it is the only chance we get to press the top, 
beciuse if delayed, the lower portions become soft and 
give way to the weight of the forage, and the top strata 
are comparatively unpressed, and undergo a change upon 
expisureto air which the lower portions do not. To get 
the top portions pressed more firmly, it is important to 
have no straw or anything else between the forage and 
covering, but to allow the air to pass out through the 
cracks between the planks, yet there must be no holes or 
openings large enough to allow the air to get in after the 
ensilage has settled. If the cover is air-tight the corn will 
get sl'ght pressure on top, and will be comparatively hard 
and loose, and will heat up and change rapidly when ex¬ 
posed to the air; no part of the cover should be disturbed, 
except the part removed when cutting down verticilly. 
Ooedience to these directions will prevent all damage at 
the top. 
The pressure should be such as to bring the juice from 
the lower portions of the forage to the very top tnroughout 
the mass by capill try attraction. By means of the gov¬ 
ernor this is very easily and perfectly done, as it removes 
the air and gas from the silo, allowing the forage to settle 
evenly, and distributes the juice evenly throughout the 
mass after it has been raised by this attraction. The 
principle is the same exemplified as water running up hill 
on the inside, and down the outside through many springs; 
if the hills run up to high mountains, the water comes 
back by the way of glacier i slowly, with springs under 
them—only a very small part of the glacier is made from 
melting snow upon the outside. 
Fig. 14S shows the unpressed condition of the upper por¬ 
tions of ensilage, and the flat compressed condition of the 
lower portions; also the darker color, and the different 
strata; also the means used to get the temperature of the 
forage at the center and throughout the central portion by 
the circulation of air, gas and temperature inside the gov¬ 
ernor. I find that sometimes there is no change of tem¬ 
perature inside for six weeks, no matter what the climatic 
changes are outside. 
1 have recently drawn plans and specifications for a very 
large silo to be built the current spring in conformity with 
my system, with every improvement I am able to make, 
HE RURAL NEW-YORKE 
designed to carry 100 cows and 40 bulls and young stock, 
and have a capacity of over 600 tons, the length of the pits 
to be 120 feet, width 14 feet and depth 24 feet, to be pressed 
with screws, and cut down vertically three feet at a cut, 
only three feet to be disturbed at one time. 
The only objection to this system seems to be the ex¬ 
pense and care necessary for perfect work; as yet I have 
not been able to devise a more economical way of doing 
what must be done to insure success. As regards the 
necessary care, I don’t think it requires one-quarter the 
amount that is needed to make gilt-edge butter from good 
milk. Perfectly preserved forage will certainly double the 
products of the dairy. It can be made, and is made uni¬ 
formly and economically. It is only a question of time 
when it will come into general use. There can be no better 
milk or butter produced than can be uniformly made on 
this food. Simply because the system is new, is no reason 
for its not being true. Three years ago it was said that 
Holstein cows could not be butter cows; within a week I 
have seen a Holstein cow that produced 31 pounds of but¬ 
ter in seven days. She eats this kind of forage. Within 
eight miles of me there is a cow that has given 93 pounds 
and 2 ounces of milk in 24 hours. She eats this forage 
regularly. The stock that have taken the highest prizes 
at the late fairs in New England are fed upon this forage, 
and the case was the same last year; but not the same 
herd or the same owner. S. M colcord. 
Norfolk Co., Mats_ _ 
SOME VERMONT FARM NOTES. 
Whole ensilage; costly grain;tariff a Mg thing; Vermont 
all right; breeding a good dairy herd. 
On page 356, Prof. Massey writes against uncut ensilage. 
He insists that it is impossible to pack uncut ensilage so 
that it will keep as well as the cut. With our small varie¬ 
ties of Northern corn this is not the case. A great many 
farmers in the Northeast pack whole corn and get perfect 
ensilage. Where the silo is so situated that a load of corn 
can be drawn up and dumped Into the pit, it can be packed 
very quickly and cheaply. Thousands of small farmers 
cannot afford the machinery necessary for cutting ensil- 
Sectional View of “Preserved Forage” in Silo. 
Fig. 148. 
age, but they can plant three or four acres of corn, pack it 
whole and thu ? secure the benefits of this system. Better 
have uncut ensilage than none. 
Corn meal sold in Northern Vermont on May 1, for $35 
per ton ; linseed meal for $33, and cotton-see I meal for $30. 
The feeding value of a ton of corn meal is (siimatedat 
$20, of a ton of linseed meal at $31, of a ton of cotton seed 
meal at $45. The fertilizing value of a ton of corn meal is 
rated at $6, of a ton of linseed meal at $21, of a ton of cot¬ 
ton seed meal at $28. There is food for thought in these 
figures. Cotton-seed meal is not to be fed to young cattle 
or heifers, nor should more than two quarts be fed to an 
average cow. 
The high price of feed will cause many farmers who 
have depended on Western feed, to try to raise their own 
grain. But in this section there are many farms upon 
which grain cannot be grown at a profit, and a man who 
can grow grass and clover, and who buys some cotton and 
linseed meal and turns these into good butter, need not 
worry if he cannot grow grain. Most farmers try to grow 
too many kinds of grain, etc. Look at the list—grass, 
corn, potatoes, oats, wheat barley, buckwheat, and, per¬ 
haps, rye. All are of value, of course, but is it best 
for one farmer to grow so many kinds ? It is the same 
with stock. One man will keep cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, 
poultry, and, perhaps, one or more dogs. Would it not be 
better to find what one can grow most profitably and then 
make a specialty of it ? And the same should be the case 
with the stock, except that with cows the skim-milk must 
be fed to some other stock, as a rule. 
That Wisconsin man, who came back to Vermont to 
visit his old home, struck a poor part of the State. Ver¬ 
mont farmers have raised a good deal of wheat for E ast- 
ern land, during the past 20 years. Some of them have 
made it pay. Yields of 35 to 50 bushels are occasionally 
reported. But a great many do not make wheat growing 
pay. In this town are two reapers, one a self-binder, so 
that farmers can get their wheat cut without labor. Our 
grain-growing would be small business for Western farm¬ 
ers, but perhaps Vermont farmers are as happy and as 
well off as farmers average throughout the country, 
The new tariff law is certainly helping us here in Ver¬ 
mont. Reciprocity with Canada would be a blow to us. I 
asked one of our dealers in general merchandise if the 
tariff had made any article in his store higher. He said 
there was no difference except in the price of pearl buttons, 
R. 
and I have not, to my knowledge, bought a single article 
which is higher on account of the tariff. But I have sold 
potatoes for more than I could have got had not the duty 
on them been raised. Maple sugar has been about as high 
as usual, and as most farmers sell their maple sugar and 
buy white sugar, the reduction in the price of the latter 
has been a great help. The farmer’s prospects look 
brighter than for years. Butter is our principal product, 
and the outlook is very encouraging. A farmer’s business 
in northern Vermont is not estimated, as The Rural 
once said, by the number of maple trees he taps, but by 
the number of cows he milks. Butter is always cash for 
the home-made product, as well as that manufactured in 
the creamery. But prices have been ruinously low, and 
our faces are all shorter on account of the prospect of 
better prices. The best way is to make a good article and 
send it directly to consumers, or to a man who is honest 
and will distribute for a fair commission. Winter dairy¬ 
ing is far better than summer dairying, as a rule. 
It is not an easy matter to breed up a herd of good cows. 
To begin with, half the calves will be males. Then half 
or more of the heifers will have some defect, something 
that is disagreeable, if it does not spoil them. And the 
higher a dairyman’s ideal, the more difficult will it be to 
get good cows. Raise up heifers and you will find one is a 
natural kicker, another is a hard milker, another is hard 
to get in calf, and I have had two injured by coming in 
when they were 18 months old. 
I am finishing this in bed, laid up, for a few hours only, 
I hope, by what seemed a very simple thing. I stuck the 
tine of a manure fork into my instep. It soon began to 
swell and pain me so I had to quit work. My wife soaked 
my foot in hot water, then put on spirits of turpentine, 
and bound up the foot with a wet cloth. The foot grew 
very hot and the pain was great, but it soon subsided. 
Then she made a flaxseed poultice and put it around the 
foot while hot, and I had a good sleep. Now the foot feels 
quite natural. I speak of this to show how simple treat¬ 
ment relieves pain. j. w. newton. 
Lamoille Co., Vt 
R. N -Y.—It may not be amiss to put in a word here 
about the need of care in handling farm tools. The Pa¬ 
cific Rural Press finds the following in the daily papers: 
Thomas Denton, a young farmer, was accidentally kill¬ 
ed to-day near his home, three miles from Stockton. He 
was riding in a buggy with his brother, returning from a 
neighbor’s farm, where they had been sharpening scythes. 
They had the scythes with them in the buggy, and while 
driving along a levee the horse shied, overturning the ve¬ 
hicle. Edward Denton was not hurt, but Thomas fell 
upon one of the scythes, which ent*red his thigh, severing 
the femoral artery and entering the abdominal cavity. 
The flow of blood could not be stopped, and he bled to 
death before a physician reached him from Stockton. 
The deceased was a native of England, 29 years of age. 
John Davey was instantly killed near Placerville while 
spraying his trees. The air chamber of a Bean pump 
burst and struck him on the head. Tne pump was thrown 
a distance of 60 feet. 
We frequently hear of injuries due to the careless hand¬ 
ling ot edged tools. A scythe falls upon a child, an axe 
flies out of a careliss chopper’s hand, a knife or chisel turns 
in its course and makes a dangerous wound. No matter 
how familiar one may be with a tool, it should never be 
handled carelessly, and this care is all the more necessary 
now that we are more and more with magnified force—the 
steam engine, electricity, and all the machines for utiliz¬ 
ing horse power. There is a point in their use beyond 
which It is dangerous to go. 
AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 
French farmers' balance sheets; characteristics of 
French farmers; value of farm manure in France; 
farmers'system of book keeping; new departures of 
French scientists; feeding rations complicated; 
chemical and biological standards. 
Farmers, like merchants, can derive immense advan¬ 
tages by comparing the balance sheets with those of their 
competitors, and it Is with this object in view that I pro¬ 
pose to present in a few articles the balance sheets of 
French farmers, that of stock raising being the most sea¬ 
sonable of the present time. Before entering into the 
core of the subject, however, it is necessary to introduce 
it by explaining French conditions and characteristics, and 
to show how French authorities vary from orthodox 
methods in science and practi je. 
The Frencbm m, although having a strong tendency to 
speculate, is the master of method, and his progress is 
marked by a keen desire to combine science and practice, 
forced upon him by a chronic depression in agriculture, and 
he still has implicit faith in the powers of his government to 
ameliorate his condition, mainly by the exclusion of for¬ 
eign productions of the soil or high duties upon them. 
In the line of scientific inquiry the Germans still take the 
lead, and they are almost the only authorities quoted by 
French writers. 
Hand in hand with increasing soil exhaustion and pre¬ 
cariousness of the crops, the French farmer, as well as the 
higher agricultural authoriti ;s who are laboring in his 
behalf, lay increasiug stress on the value of farm-yard 
manure. In recent official statistics the value thereof is 
estimated at 10 francs per 1,000 kilograms, or $1.76 per 
American ton upon the following basis: 8 8 pounds of 
nitrogen at 21 cents per pound ; 4.4 pounds of phosphoric 
acid at 9.7 cents, and 11 pounds of potash at 7 % cents, 
which, after adding one franc (19 4 cents) for the lime, 
make a total of $1 76 per ton for average farm manure, the 
average animal giving 60 kilos (132 pounds) of manure 
per diy, valued at 10% cents. This production is said to 
equal 17}£ per cent of all the production of France. The 
theory drawn from these figures is that farmers must 
raise more stock; bu, as it requires 2J times more land to 
support a human being from the animal than from the 
vegetable kingdom, this seriously clashes with the theory 
of over-population, Besides, the increasing failure of the 
