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whole. This may be an unwise plan, perhaps we shall 
not do it. But hot early September weather makes a 
stout bull puff in a power and we certainly shall not 
buy an expensive cutting rig for what advantage short 
ensilage has over long. 
How We Began Soiling. 
In 1880, 1887, 1888 and 1889 we sowed an acre of corn 
fodder in drills upon the same piece of land adjacent 
to a pasture lot where it would be convenient to feed 
it over the fence to the cows. This bit of land bore 
the brunt of the summer drought for a herd of 5 to 10 
cows against some 00 acres of pasture. Of course, they 
nearly dried up before the corn was large enough to 
feed, but no matter; after three or four years we 
thought of something, or rather our starvation worries 
made us receptive of other ideas. Viewing the achieve¬ 
ments of that half acre led to calculations of the pos¬ 
sibilities of the 80 acres on which we paid taxes. The 
only particular advantage of this rather 
astounding calculation was that it influ- 
*- enced us to resist the urgent advice of 
our friends to buy an attractive block of 
land near our farm. There are over 50 
acres of land adjoining ours, that we have 
been urged to buy, while many an acre 
of what we now own doesn’t bring us a 
dollar a year. The demand for milk in- 
creased. In the spring of 1889 we sowed 
SOILING AND ENSILAGE. 
Part II. 
Putting Whole Corn In The Silo. 
When we reached the silo one man in it received the 
armfuls of corn and butted a course against one side, 
then shingled on another, and the tops of the third 
were doubled nearly up to the ear joints against the 
opposite side and then broken down. A load weighing 
perhaps 1,750 pounds would make a layer about six 
inches deep across the silo. The next load was begun 
with the tips where the butts of the other were, 
shingled on and butted over the first. So on, alter¬ 
nately, all the corn was laid straight and no crossing 
allowed. A broad-axe or hay-knife was used to help 
the settling of corners and edges 
When filled, the seven acres were just enough, be¬ 
tween 60 and 70 tons with no ears. We covered with 
a foot of salt hay laying on planks to hold it down. 
water on it. To about one-third of a pailful of this 
jelly—four pounds of grain—I add the cow’s share of 
the skim-milk. This just makes milk. Many say the 
grain should be fed dry, and that the milk is of course 
poor in quality—being from Holsteins and liquid feed¬ 
ing. Well now I thought I did not get enough for the 
milk, so I set 200 pounds of it in the creamer. From 
that quantity I made nine pounds of butter. Is that 
poor milk? That is about 4% per cent, which is very 
good for any dairy of fresh cows.” 
“ Why do you have them come in early in the fall ?” 
“ Because a cow will then give more milk in a year. 
In May, when our milk goes to the factory, one dairy 
of 14 fresh cows gave 400 pounds, another of 28 cows 
gave 400 pounds, the same day our cows that had been 
milked all winter gave 703 pounds. Then again, the 
calves will bring more ; they are worth $11 each now, 
but only $5 in March.” 
“ How much did your cows bring you last year ?” 
“ For the l,ast 11 months we have sold : 
Butter.r..1208.50 
Calves. 151.38 
Pigs. 97.42 I ed 
Stock. 50.00 
Milk. 820.56 
Total.J1 393.81 
This gives an average of $53.60 per cow.” 
“ How much land have you ?” 
“ One hundred and seventy acres.” 
“ How much have you paid out for 
grain ?” 
“Just $104.34.” 
This gives a good profit, although the 
dairy arrangements are not yet satisfac¬ 
torily completed. The running water 
in the barn will be put where the cows 
can drink any time. Now they are 
watered in the barn and are only out a 
short time to drink on sunny days. 
“ I don’t want to make ice-water tubs 
of my cows,” Mr. Moore remarked. On 
the way back, we visited the barns of 
C. S. Rice whose agricultural writings 
most readers of The Rural are familiar 
with. His dairy are in fine condition, 
and show large milking capacity ; they 
are composed of grade Holsteins. The 
water is carried in pipes and in front 
of each cow is an open iron cup from 
which they can drink at will. Between 
the cows is a wooden partition extend¬ 
ing back nearly to the udder. He claims 
they cannot now step on each other’s 
teats, and require less room per animal, 
as they cannot hook each other. They 
are fastened at the side with a chain 
around the necks. Owing to sickness 
Mr. Rice could not accompany us to the 
barn. We hope he will soon recover. 
[A wish in which The R. N.-Y. heartily 
joins.—Eus.] c. e. c. 
Oats and Peas, Hungarian and Rye to 
the Rescue. 
In the spring of 1890 we braced our¬ 
selves up for “ the greatest effort of our 
lives.” One acre of land in good con¬ 
dition we plowed and cultivated thor¬ 
oughly and on it sowed separately the 
oats and peas—two bushels of the former 
and one of the latter. The year before I 
had carefully mixed the oats and peas 
in a wash tub before sowing, and specific 
gravity as carefully separated them as 
the seed went from my hand, so that the 
young crop looked like a streak of fat 
and one of lean. This crop of 1890 grew 
luxuriantly and on July 1 we cut it with 
scythes and carted it green into the silo, 
estimating the crop at about 6% tons 
green. From June 20 we had been feed¬ 
ing the cows from this field. From the 
silo we continued to feed them, taking 
off the whole top each day until August 
1. This they ate greedily with good results 
in the milk pail; but owing to the hot 
weather and large surface of the silo— 
14x14 feet—together with the shallow 
depth and light pressure, much of this fodder was 
spoiled and had to be thrown away. A summer silo 
should be so small in proportion to the herd fed that 
at least about a foot in depth can be fed daily and 
some air-tight cover kept over the ensilage. 
But to return to the field : We immediately plowed 
the acre, sowed three pecks of Hungarian grass seed 
upon the mellow furrows and wheel-harrowed with a 
disc and bushed. The ground was in good tilth, the 
weather hot, and the crop came up and grew all right, 
although favored with little rain. A light sprinkling 
of stable manure was applied for this crop. September 
1 we cut and cured two two-horse loads of Hungarian 
hay—about a ton and a half. The ground had been 
twice plowed, so as soon as the hay had been removed 
we sowed two bushels of winter rye upon the stubble, 
thoroughly harrowed with the disc harrow and bushed. 
April 30, 1891 we began cutting this rye to be fed 
green to the cows in the stable, and there was an 
immediate increase in the flow of milk. Finding that 
oats and peas were a valuable extension to corn 
fodder, we looked for a further extension to them. 
We have felt our way from one crop to another. I 
would not advise any one to enter at once upon a too 
elaborate system of soiling without experience. There 
is much to be learned and so many chances for failure, 
that too much new work attempted in the beginning 
might lead to failure and discouragement. 
Double Crops Save Idle Lands. 
The feeding of green corn to cattle during the sum¬ 
mer months will perforce teach the feeder to utilize 
the land cleared, for later crops, i That lesson will pay 
for raising the corn. When we first fed green fodder 
Judging Draught Horses: Competing for the Ogilvie Medal. Fig. 37. 
ESTABLISHING A MILK FACTORY. 
Do not wait for “ some one to come 
along and start one.” If you have live 
dairymen in your territory, as no doubt! 
you have, start a cooperative butter fac-l 
tory. At this stage of the industry, with so much The filling was finished by October 1, and on Novem- 
of the experience of others to draw from, carrying one her 10, we opened and began feeding. The ensilage 
on is pretty plain sailing, if there are level-headed was in good condition, readily eaten, lasting till April 
business men to manage the concern. After several 1. We fed the equivalent of two bushels per day, 
rather expensive failures in our attempts to run a with a midday feed of hay. 
butter and cheese (white oak) factory in conjunction, 
our dairymen have discarded the cheese business 
entirely, making butter alone. Our present plant 
was started almost a dozen years ago. Every man¬ 
ager is a practical working farmer. Every move made 
from the start to the present time has been a success. 
Now we have six separators, a lactocrite and an ice 
machine. The managers have sold, at the par price of 
$5 per share, 1,700 shares of stock, which are now sell¬ 
ing at $10 per share. The plant at the present time is 
worth about $35,000. Several thousand dollars’ worth 
of machinery has been added to manufacture sugar 
from the skim-milk, and food from the curd. The 
butter now sells at 39 cents per pound wholesale, in 
Philadelphia. Cream testers of every sort were dis¬ 
carded at an early day as unreliable, and for years 
tests have been made with the lactocrite for butter 
fats alone, for which the patrons are paid. With it 
12 samples can be tested in five minutes. Another 
creamery about six miles distant, run on the same 
plan, is equally successful, though not quite so well 
equipped. The above was suggested by the inquiry 
of A. D. Baker in a late issue of The R. N.-Y. There 
are many details that might be given, but this hint 
may suffice. Individual creameries are rarely much 
of a success; for patrons have a greater regard for 
those in which they are pecuniarly interested. 
Chester County, Pa. wm. smedley 
Machine Shop: Students at the Carpenter’s Bench and Turning Lathe. Fig. 38. 
Deaf Ensilage—Corn Without Ears. 
The ears left in windrows on the lot were turned 
with a potato digger once in a few days or after every 
rain, then husked and binned in the ordinary manner. 
If the weather is good corn will cure well in this way, 
and for three successive years we procured good seed 
corn from among the ears thus handled. But if there 
is much wet weather the curing is difficult for a large 
quantity, and encumbers the land where we wish to 
put on another crop. We had 1,003 bushels of husked 
ears from the seven acres described. 
Now we pick off only four rows in 16, or 25 per cent 
to feed horses and poultry, putting the remaining 75 
per cent into the silo with the stalks, picking, however, 
the windrows at right angles to the direction of cut¬ 
ting in order to have the ears evenly distributed through 
the ensilage. 
In 1889, 1890, and 1891, our corn was put into the 
silo of full length. But there is so great a majority 
of advocates of cut ensilage that we cut it this year 
—80 tons—with one bull in the tread power. We 
could cut about 2 % tons per hour at the best. While 
our rig is enough for dry fodder cutting, for ensilage 
a larger outfit would be better. We think now we 
shall plant large corn early next year, and for the 
later, use smaller corn ; then cut the large kind into 
the bottom of the silo and put the smaller on top 
