778 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 25 
then I have all of the fertility to go on the land 
again.” 
“ What kind of corn do you raise ?” 
“The Virginia white corn that I send for, so as to 
know that it is genuine. We plow under clover, top- 
dress in the winter, plant early, and cultivate with 
harrows, Breed’s weeders and light-running cultiva¬ 
tors, but never to exceed 1% inch in depth. If the 
roots are not pruned, you can rely upon a large 
growth of ears. Deep culture must be avoided in 
Southern corn for ensilage.” r. G m. 
The illustration on the first page, Fig. 250, is from a 
photograph taken in Mr. Gould’s corn field. This in¬ 
dicates the height and size of the ensilage corn crop, 
and also shows the size of the man and knife that 
beats a team of horses and a harvester for profit. 
Fig. 251 shows how the corn is loaded in the field so 
as to save backache and hand work, while 252 shows the 
whole crew drawn up around the engine and cutter. 
A NEW JOB FOR ENSILAGE. 
SOILING FBOM THE SILO. 
Feeding Corn Ensilage In Summer. 
The Questions at Issue. 
1. What would be the effect of feeding ensilage put up this fall to 
dairy cows next July and August to take the place of the usual soil¬ 
ing crops? 
2. Would such ensilage supply as good feed as a succession of green 
crops? 
8. Could it be made to take the place of grain, and thus make the 
farm more nearly self-supporting, and enable the same pasture to 
carry more cows? 
It Would Be Successful. 
1 . It would have been better than any soiling crop 
this year ; some years it might not be. 2. It would. 
3. It need not take the place of grain altogether, but 
partially. With 
ensilage and a 
little grain you can 
double the stock 
on your pastures, 
also on your farm, 
and have them do 
as well as before. 
I am keeping 35 
cows, and am rais¬ 
ing from 10 to 15 
young heifers and 
bulls to keep my 
stock good. I also 
keep six horses, on 
100 acres all told, 
five acres of which 
is in woods. The 
cows average over 
250 pounds of but¬ 
ter each, counting 
heifers as cows. I have fed ensilage six years. 
Ohio. w. H. STRONG. 
“Have Fed Ensilage In Summer Two Years.” 
That corn ensilage is a good and cheap feed is de¬ 
monstrated to me by my experience and practice. 
The daily ration of my cows in winter is about 12 
pounds of hay, 30 pounds of ensilage, with from four 
to eight pounds of mixed grain feed, according to the 
age, size, and other conditions of the cow. The value 
of the 12 pounds of hay, at $10 per ton, is six cents ; 
the value of the 30 pounds of ensilage, at one-third 
the value of hay per ton, is five cents, and, as we can 
produce 18 tons of fairly matured and well-eared corn 
per acre, it is easy to see the importance of the corn 
crop to the dairyman. Every dairyman knows that 
the pinching time for feed is between hay and grass 
and between grass and hay, and more especially dur¬ 
ing the latter period in late summer when the past¬ 
ures begin to fail. Not only drought, but the natural 
declination of our pastures, together with the ten¬ 
dency toward all-the-year-round dairying, make the 
scarcity of proper dairy feed at this season of the year 
very perceptibly, and often very distressingly, felt. 
To bridge over, and carry the cows through this sea¬ 
son, is an important question. A succession of green 
crops to supplement the pasture at this season is the 
general practice. It is attended with much labor, and 
is often neglected. Fodder corn has been much used, 
and has often been found unsatisfactory from the fact 
that it is immature and lacking in nutrition, or, if 
well matured, it is not easily masticated, and the 
coarser parts of the plant, as the butts of the stalks, 
are left to waste. 
As there is less waste in feeding ensilage than in 
any other method by which we can handle the corn 
crop, why not use it for summer feed as well ? So I 
have reasoned, and I have practiced it for two seasons 
with gratifying results. As ensilage is a very perish¬ 
able product, it should be kept and handled with care 
to prevent waste. Many farmers are wasteful by 
feeding from too large a silo surface. As ensilage, 
when exposed to the air, deteriorates quite rapidly, 
six square feet per cow daily is a good rule. That is, 
a silo feeding surface of 10x12 feet is about right for 
20 cows. For summer feeding to supplement pasture 
we feed but once a day, and the silo should be smaller 
proportionately, so we have our silo divided, feeding 
from the top. When one section is exhausted, we un¬ 
cover and feed from another. The last one is divided 
again the other way, this partition being only about 
five feet high, the last or top plank of which is hewn to 
an edge so that the ensilage will readily settle around 
it. When we have fed down to a little below the top 
of this partition, we cover one side with sawdust 
about a foot thick, leaving it for summer use. We 
fed the last ensilage in spring the day the cows went 
to full pasture, June 5. August 5 we uncovered the 
remainder and fed the last after we had begun to put 
in the new crop September 8. j. o. sanford. 
Stamford, Vt. 
Why Not Have Two Silos ? 
1 . Ensilage put up this fall, if from mature corn 
properly siloed and cared for, will make excellent feed 
for cows during July and August next, if fed while 
the cows are on grass, or balanced with some grain 
food of proteinaceous character. 2. I hardly think 
ensilage as good for cattle as soiling with a succession 
of green crops. Being rich in carbohydrates, it is 
likely to be fed without being properly balanced. 
Another objection is that it spoils very rapidly in 
warm weather; three to four inches must be taken 
from the silo each day, and the surface kept cov¬ 
ered. 3. Ensilage for summer feeding can be made to 
take the place of grain almost entirely, if cows are 
allowed a fair amount of grass; otherwise I should 
say, no, but I would feed much the same as for win¬ 
ter : clover hay, oat and pea hay, bran, rye meal, oat 
meal, etc. 
I am studying the question of two silos, one for 
clover and the other for corn. In this way I could get 
nearly a balanced ration, both for winter and summer 
use. This plan would also lessen the amount of nitro¬ 
genous grain to be purchased ; both the clover and 
corn would be produced on the farm, thereby making 
the farm more nearly self supporting, and enabling 
the pasture to carry more cows. 
In putting up ensilage for summer use, our dairy¬ 
men should be very particular to use nothing but well- 
matured corn ; immature corn sours worse in July and 
August than mature corn. I prefer to have the ears 
well dented. If the contents of the silo are not kept 
well covered during hot weather, they will reheat and 
spoil rapidly. Farmers should aim to produce more of 
the food required on the farm. Oats and peas with 
the clovers are easily and cheaply produced, and are 
rich in that expensive element, protein, that must 
enter into the ra'ion of any animal that is being 
rightly fed. p. h. evebett. 
Wisconsin. 
Ex-Governor Hoard’s Opinion. 
1 . I have had no experience in the feeding of ensil¬ 
age in July and August; but the files of the Dairyman 
contain several reports from persons who have made 
this a practice for the past three or four years, and 
the testimony is invariably in the affirmative as to its 
good effects. 2. I am satisfied that such ensilage 
would supply as good feed as a succession of green 
crops, and that it can be put up and handled at a much 
less expense than the usual method of handling soil¬ 
ing green crops. 3. It would not take the place of 
grain and thus make the farm more nearly self-sup¬ 
porting, but would enable the same pasture to carry 
more cows for the reason that it is more of a substi¬ 
tute for grass than for grain. It is grass in its green 
and succulent state of which the cows are deprived by 
the drought usual in July and August. The aim 
should be to supply in this manner a succulent food. 
When ensilage is put up, however, for such use, care 
should be taken in the construction of the silo. The 
pits should be narrow and deep so that as small a sur¬ 
face as possible shall be exposed and the feeder be 
obliged to go down vertically for his inches of food 
rather than over a larger horizontal surface. This is 
necessary foi the reason that when ensilage is exposed 
in hot weather it sours very rapidly; but only to a 
certain depth. w. d. hoard. 
Editor Hoard s Dairyman. 
Peas and Oats With the Ensilage. 
1. If the ensilage has been proparly put up so as to 
be good, and the size of the silo be proportioned to 
the size of the herd so that three or four inches in 
depth are fed off each day the effect will be good, as I 
know from personal knowledge and observation. In 
warm weather ensilage is injured more by exposure 
to the air than in cold weather. 2. Although corn en¬ 
silage is good summer feed for cows, and they do fairly 
well on it, alone and of itself it is not a perfect dairy 
ration, having too large a proportion of carbohydrates. 
Cows do much better to have, with the ensilage some 
pasture grass, clover, peas and oats, or other food con¬ 
taining more protein. 3. If the ensilage is made of 
well-eared corn, it would partially supply the grain, 
but even then, for reasons given above, it would pay 
well to feed with it wheat bran and oil meal or cotton¬ 
seed meal. If it is desirable to raise all the cow food 
on the farm, then raise peas and oats to furnish the 
protein and properly balance the ration. 
Ft. Atkinson, Wis. c. r. Goodrich. 
Has no Doubt of its Success. 
While my experience is limited in the matter, what 
I have practiced has decided me in its favor. To that 
end, a special silo has been filled for the next mid¬ 
summer soiling. Outside of my own practice, I have 
the testimony of those who have put it to a thorough 
trial, that it, in every way, is better than the usual 
soiling crop in that while the succession of crops is at 
the mercy of all kinds of weather, the corn crop is, 
if planted as it 
should be, and 
rationally culti¬ 
vated afterwards, 
one of the surest 
of growth. This 
year, the dryest 
that I have ever 
known in this 
township, my corn 
was of very heavy 
growth, fully 
eared, and has 
given me silos run¬ 
ning over full of 
the best of food. 
My own experience 
is to the effect that 
55 pounds per cow 
of good Virginia 
corn ensilage will 
make as much milk as good grass, and that cows eat it 
as readily, as soon as the fresh taste is gone from the 
grass. Judging from my own trials, an acre of ensilage 
equals three acres of farm pasture, and it will require 
no more grain with it to keep up the flow than pasture 
grass. iOne of the answers to these questions, will I think 
go to show that the farmer with ensilage is practically 
independent of pasturage, and that hiset ws have not 
known of a drought the past season. From the looks 
of his corn fields, famine is a long ways in the dis¬ 
tance. As I said, I have had but limited personal ex¬ 
perience in the matter, but such as I have had has 
given me faith enough to fill a special silo for sum¬ 
mer, to see if I cannot be a little more independent of 
the millers. joiin gould. 
A Conservative Opinion Against It. 
I have used the silo three winters, and am extremely 
well pleased with the results. As to ensilage for sum¬ 
mer feed, I have been somewhat doubtful all along, 
and while at the World's Fair this summer I took 
pains to investigate the matter there. They had ex¬ 
cellent silos, better than the ordinary farmer can 
afford, and certainly needed thenfeed, but in the hot 
weather it spoiled faster than it could be used. It is 
reasonable to suppose that it would do so, for in freez¬ 
ing winter weather, one has to use care or it will 
spoil then. Corn is the only successful ensilage crop 
so far, and it lacks variety, so that would be some¬ 
thing against summer feeding. I always like to feed 
grain, or nitrogenous foods in addition to the ensilage; 
so, on the whole, I do not think the silo is adapted to 
summer feeding. o. w. massee. 
Wisconsin. 
The Plan Entirely Practical. 
1. This is practiced by many, not only in July and 
August, but through the entire year. The requisites 
are a separate silo for the purpose ; deep, with a small 
surface, insuring solidity, and enabling one to feed 
from the entire surface each day, to a depth of at least 
four inches. This should insure the ensilage at its 
best. The advantage is that corn can often be put 
into the silo in the fall at one operation, much more 
cheaply than a man and team can go to the field each 
Loading Ensilage Corn. Don’t Kill Yourself Lifting to a High Wagon. Fig. 251. 
