ARCH 26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
average yield will give a better idea of the 
actual merit of this herd of cattle than any 
individual records. Smiths & Powell. 
Syracuse, N. Y., March 1. 
^rirntifif aui (fistful. 
NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL EXPERI¬ 
MENT STATION,—XI. 
Ensilage. 
In this bulletin we give the results of a feed¬ 
ing experiment with corn ensilage. 
Ou November 16th four cows of native breed 
were taken from the herd at the College Farm, 
placed side by side in the same barn and for a 
term of 91 days were fed, exercised and milked 
at the same time. 
During the first period of 28 days a ration 
was divided among them, made up of 22£ 
pounds of clover hay, 49 pounds of wheat 
straw, 75 pounds of brewers' grains, 75 pounds 
of turnips and 7^ pounds of cotton-seed meal. 
It was calculated to furnish daily to each 1,000 
pounds of live weight 
2 5 pounds digestible proteine, 
0 5 pound digestible fat. 
12 5 pounds digestible carbohydrates, 
this being, according to German investigators, 
the necessary amount of food. 
For the Becond period of 28 days no change 
was made in the ration fed cows No. I. and II., 
while in that fed III. and IV. 100 pounds of 
ensilage were substituted for 40 pounds of tur¬ 
nips ; in other respects it remained the same 
us that fed during the first period; it fur¬ 
nished daily to each 1,000 pounds of live 
weight 
2.50 pouuds digestible proteine. 
.90 pound digestible fat. 
14 90 pounds digestible carbohydrates, 
This was fed id order to determine whether an 
increased amount of the heat-producing com¬ 
pounds, fat aud starch, was rendered necessary 
by the severity of the weather. The additional 
food caused uo increase in the yield of milk; 
cows I. aud II., on the poorer ration, gave 
during this period more milk than daring the 
preceding. 
Our intention thus far was to ascertain the 
quantity of food required to keep these cows 
up to their full yield of milk. 
For the third period, of five weeks, ending 
February 17, Nos. I. aud II, were fed the same as 
during the first and second periods; to III. and 
IV. an equal amount of digestible food was 
given daily in 120 pounds of ensilage and five 
pounds of cotton-seed meal per cow ; it was 
eaten without waste and with appareut relish. 
We tabulate below the yield of milk for 13 
weeks. It must be remembered that during 
the first period all four cows received the 
the same ration; that during the second 
and third periods cows I. aud II- received 
the same as during the first; that cows III. 
and IV. were fed durin g the same period with 
an unusually rich ration, aud during the third 
period with one made up of ensilage and cot¬ 
tonseed meal alone, containing, however, an 
amount of food equal to that fed during the 
first period. 
butter made from the fodder being, to our 
knowledge, of unusually fine color and flavor. 
The composition of ensilage is by no means 
constant, as the following table of analyses 
shows. Soil, variety of corn, method of plant¬ 
ing and cultivating, aud, above all, the time of 
harvesting, exert a decided influence*on its 
quality. 
The samples furnished by Mr. Pratt and 
Messrs. Whitman & Burrell had the characteris¬ 
tic vinous smell, which indicated that they had 
been exposed to the air before reaching the 
laboratory ; and probably an analysis of a per¬ 
fect sample would have indicated a larger 
amount of nutritive matter. From personal 
observation at the silo, we know that Mr. 
Platt’s ensilage was as well preserved as any 
we have seen. 
thus placing the outside horses on an evener 
not much longer than an ordinary two-horse 
doubletree and giving the middle horse twice 
the leverage and raising his singletree Dine 
inches above the whiOletrees of the other 
horses. This arrangement allowB the team to 
travel close, and I find very little trouble in 
turning as wide as the plow naturally cuts 
without an equalizing side draft plate, which 
we were compelled to use with the 4-^- feet evener 
and doubletree, such as is described in your 
diagram. By this method the weight of one 
long doubletree is saved, the draft equalized 
aud the team allowed to travel so close as to 
draw the plow on a line, or nearly so, with the 
off horse in the furrow. 
A, beam of plow ; B, vertical iron barl^ inch 
wide, 9 inches long from upper to lower hole; 
Lobs at 
212“ F. 
Per cent. 
Mr. Mills, Pomptpn, N. J... 77.4 
Mr. Morris. Oakland Manor, Maryland. 78.51 
Buckley Brothers, Port Jervis, N. Y. 80.8*5 
(Joe Brothers, West Meriden. Connecticut. 82.10 
(Jollejre Farm, New Brunswick, N. J. 83.52 
Mr. Platt,Hufneld, Connecticut. 88.5*5 
Whitman & Burrell, Little Falls. N Y. 83.54 
Janies Lippiucott. .Mount Holly. N. J. 84.28 
Dr J. M. Bailey , Billerica. Massac husetts. 84.87 
In the above table the samples have been ar- 1 
ranged with reference to their percentages 1 
of water and carbohydrates:— 
The amount of ensilage to be used depends 1 
entirely upon its quality and upon the plans of 1 
the farmer. < 
Mr. Mills, for instance, could make up a full 
ration for a cow of 1,000 pounds live weight, : 
by feeding daily 80 pounds of his ensilage and 
5i pounds of cotton-seed meal; while at the 
College Farm, with five pounds of cotton-seed 
meal, 120 pounds are necessary. In these ra¬ 
tions nearly all the carbohydrates needed, and 
a portion of the proteine and fat, are furnished 
at a very low price by the ensilage; the bal¬ 
ance of the proteine and fat is drawn from the 
cotton-seed meal. If desirable, a much smaller 
quantity of ensilage could be used aud the 
carbohydrates given in form of corn-meal or 
any feed rich in these compounds ; in ensilage 
they can be had, however, much cheaper thaa 
in any feed known to us at present. One thing 
must be considered : if the quality of the en¬ 
silage obliges the farmer to feed his cows more 
than 80 or 90 pounds daily per head, there is 
reason to fear that they will scour. The 
amounts fed by the above named gentlemen 
have varied from 65 to 80 pounds, and with 
these amounts no trouble whatever has been 
experienced. We therefore conclude that if 
the ensilage is of first-class quality, SO pouuds 
per day will furnish an animal with the full 
amount of carbohydrates ; if it is of medium 
quality, it will be safer to limit the amount to 
about 90 pouuds, furnishing the rest of the 
carbohydrates in form of feed or straw. 
From the above experiment we feel justified 
in concluding that milch cows can be safely 
fed large quantities of this fodder, and that it 
is a perfect substitute for hay. The question of 
expense we reserve for a future bulletin. 
George H. Cook, Director. 
New Brunswick, March 7, 1881. 
Proteine. 
Fat. 
Fiber. 
Aeli. 
Carbohy¬ 
drate*. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
u.68 
6.85 
1.00 
13.04 
0.62 
6.43 
1.53 
12.03 
0.67 
5.47 
1.00 
10.73 
0.71 
5.31 
1.02 
9.62 
0.65 
5.18 
1.43 
8.28 
0.73 
5.76 
.81 
8.08 
0.50 
6.85 
1.40 
7.66 
0.50 
4.68 
1.26 
7.91 
0.45 
5.61 
.98 
7.08 
Our readers will be amused while reading 
the following which we find in Sutton’s Ama¬ 
teur Guide for 1881, published in London, 
England. It will be seen that our cousins 
in order to enjoy the "green cobs” of Indian 
corn are obliged to treat the seeds and plants 
as if they were those of some tender flower. 
The italics are ours: 
Maize, or Indian Corn. —" Few diHhes are 
more delicious than the green cohit of M aize, 
boiled and served with fresh butter, and yet 
the cultivation of the plant has scarcely been 
attempted in this country. The seeds should 
be sown iu April, in boxes which should be 
placed in a cool vinery, orchard-house ,, or pit. 
After the plants attain the hight of two in¬ 
ches they may be gradually hardened off, and 
should be transjilanted about the end of May." 
If our EnglLsb friends would procure seed 
of some of our quickest-maturing sweet corn, 
as, for instauce, Early Minnesota Sugar or 
Moore’s E illy Coucord, audplaut it in warm 
exposures about June 1st, we have no doubt 
they might enjoy the "green cohs of Maize’ 
without the trouble of sowing in boxes etc. 
D, link with 4-feet doubletree attached at lower 
hole three inches below plow-beam ; C, hook 
10 inches long with singletree, G, 22 inches 
long for middle horse, six inches above plow 
beam; E and F, singletrees 22 inches long for 
outside horses. w. p. d. 
Mossing Ford, Va. 
Jfarm (iriMiorag. 
THREE HORSES ABREAST. 
After reading the query on page 135, and 
examining the diagram of appliances for hitch¬ 
ing three horses abreast on page 13 L of the 
Rural of February 26, I concluded that your 
correspondent (like myself) may have tried the 
device described, aud would be glad to learn of 
some method by which as good results can be 
obtained with a shorter evener. I therefore 
send a rough sketch of a very light and con¬ 
venient vertical iron evener which I have used 
on three breaking plows for the past two years 
with entire satisfaction. 
The vertical iron bar is nine inches long from 
center of lower to center of upper hole; 
an inch and a half wide and half or five- 
eighths of an inch thick. At the lower 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
Mr. E. P. Roe writes ns; 
"I was a little surprised at what you wrote 
concerning ‘ potted strawberry plants.’ I have 
found that they give very general satisfaction. 
I like potted plants so well that for my own 
Summer planting I use them as far as possible, 
preferring them to larger plants taken from 
an adjoining bed. I don’t see how there could 
be much Summer planting without them in 
dry, hot seasons. It is a question that should 
be argued on both sides. Yon axe the kind 
of a man who likes to hear both sides.” 
That is true, Mr. Roe, the Rural is precisely 
that kind of a man. If strawberry plants are 
properly potted and are left in the pots long 
enough to hold a good part of the soil together 
when thumped out, the advantage is evident. 
But, taking our own experience as a guide, 
they are not, as a general thing, so 6enl oat. 
Often the plantB are root-bound from being 
too long potted or the soil falls off entirely be¬ 
cause they have not been potted long enough. 
An able scientist and respected friend writes 
us as follows: 
"I hope you will maintain a calm and con¬ 
stant mind in respect to ensilage—in spite of 
grievous provocation. The process is really 
an extremely valuable one—and it does not ap¬ 
ply only to corn-stalks by any manner of 
means. I have myself never had the least 
: doubt of the merit of the process. I have in¬ 
sisted upon its merits for ten years now and 
have year by year set forth the advantages 
of adopting the system in this con ntry in lec¬ 
tures to my students.. 
At the Michigan Ag. College, they sow oat6 
early in August between the rows of raspber¬ 
ries. These look better than weeds, Prof. 
Beal thinks, while they serve as a mulch dur¬ 
ing Winter and in Spring leave the ground 
quite clean. .. 
In a private uote Pres. Lyon, of Michigan, 
tells us that the lowest thermometer, on what 
is there designated as " Peach Land," during 
the Winter, has been 14° ; although, in val¬ 
ues and low grounds, it has been considerably 
lower. He learns of considerable loss of peach 
buds on low lands ; and some in nearly all lo¬ 
cations. Ou Marsh 9th he carefully examined 
an orchard on the bluff near the lake; and 
An opportunity iB here offered to call atten¬ 
tion to tbe fact that up to a certain point the 
yield of milk may be iufluenced by thequantiiy 
of digestible food, but beyond this point, which 
is determined by breed, time of calviDg and in¬ 
dividual peculiarity, an increased amount of 
food fails to increase the yield of milk ; ensil¬ 
age can produce no more milk than any other 
fodder which contains an equal amount of 
food, a point well illustrated by the above 
table. 
While the yield of milk and its percentage of 
butter cannot be iuereased at will, it is well 
kuown that its quality may be materially in¬ 
fluenced by the feedlug. it is claimed for en¬ 
silage that it makes "Winter butter equal to 
June butter ”—a claim willingly admitted, 
ffo/tAL/JVE w< Yorker, 
THREE HORSES ABREAST.—FIG. 179. 
link is attached a 3-feet 8 inches or 4-feet 
doubletree, to which the two outside horses 
are hitched by singletrees 21 inches long. 
One-third of the way from the double- 
tree to the upper hook is a draft liuk, where 
the plow is attached. The middle horse’s single¬ 
tree is hitched to a hook 10 or 12 inches long, 
found that from one-tenth to one-fifth of the 
fruit buds of the peach showed signs of In¬ 
jury, leaving enough to require thorough 
thinning should no farther calamity befall 
them. He is assured of a similar state of af¬ 
fairs along the lake shore, as far Horth as 
Muskegon and at Traverse City. 
The Sugar Industry —From late proceed¬ 
ings of the Ehuira K -rulers' Club, as reported 
in the Husbandman, we take the following: 
Mr. Little. ” I measured exactly one square 
rod of ground beginning with a whole space 
between two rows, and finishing with a row, 
so that the plants on the square rods should 
have precisely the allowance of ground that 
every other rod gave- The other way I stretched 
a line across the rows to mark the boundary. 
From the square rod I cut 235 pounds of 
stripped cane that yielded juice from which 1 
extracted two gallons of molasses that weighed 
twenty two pounds and eleven ounces. Taking 
this rod as the average. I had 320 gallons of 
molasses to the acre—the weight, eleven 
pounds five and a half ounces to the gallon. 
To get this I threw out all small eanes aud cut 
off all waste. ADOther rod measured in the 
same way gave thirty-five pounds less in the 
weight of the gross product. 
I had the work doue by hand with an old 
crusher I picked up and had run by two-man 
power. The boiling, as I have said, was on a 
stove at first with one open kettle, and after¬ 
ward, as the kitchen work was doue to give me 
fall possession, I got three kettles going. In 
this way I got good molasses." 
Mr. Brown: " l am ioformett thatfive pounds 
of dry sugar from a gallon of molasses weigh¬ 
ing 11 pounds are a fair average. We sent some 
to a refinery in New York where 38 per cent, of 
sugar was obtained, and we are told that 48 per 
cent, of sugar was the full average of the best 
commercial molasses procured from the South.’’ 
A voice: " What soil is best ?’’ 
Mr. McKee!: "The plant adapts itself read¬ 
ily to the soil aud situation, but I cannot say 
what composition of land is best for it. The 
best in saccharine yield I have found was that 
grown on sandy land , the poorest from muck, 
but the latter had more juice. So much de¬ 
pends on other conditions and circumstances 
that I dare not say any specified kind of soil is 
best.” 
Mr. Chamberlin, of Southport: " What is the 
cost per gallon of making molasses ?’’ 
Mr. McKeel: " My charge has been 25 cents 
for 11 pounds.” 
Mr. Chamberlin : " And that ^ves you good 
profits ?” 
Mr. McKeel: "lam satisfied." [Laughter.] 
The value of the sirup or molasses may be as¬ 
certained by use. 1 desired to increase the use, 
so I have sold it at five cents a pound, and it 
has gone off rapidly. I consider that a fair 
price, certainly low enough. 
In advising farmers who have consulted me 
about the laud to be chosen for the cane crop, I 
have said, ‘Take that which is suited to corn, 
aud you will find that for every bushel of corn 
you might reasonably expect irom that land, 
you will get about four gallons of molasses.’” 
Mr. Little : " How much sugar have you been 
able to obtain from a gallon of heavy mo¬ 
lasses ?’’ 
Mr. Reynolds: " By the use of a centrifugal 
machine without chemicals, about five pounds; 
by the aid of chemicals, possibly seven pounds.” 
Should Lime be mixed with Fertilizers 
containing Ammonia Salts or soluble 
Phos. Acid. —" It we mix lime intimately with 
mauurea containing ammonia salts, the am¬ 
monia is set free as a gas and escapes into the 
air. Again, if we mix lime with a fertilizer 
containing phosphoric acid, or phosphates 
soluble iu water, there is formed so-called re¬ 
verted phosphoric acid, i. e., phosphate of lime 
insoluble in water. 
From these facts it has beeu inferred that 
lime should not be mixed with fertilizers cou- 
i taining either ammonia-salts or soluble phos¬ 
phoric acid,” says Prof. Johnson in his last 
