20® 
MARCH 25 
THE RURAL HEW-Y0RKER. 
l^tisceUtraeows. 
Green Fodder Corn, Dried Fodder Corn 
and Ensilage Compared.— We gather the 
following results from a bulletin received 
from the New Jersey Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station :— 
Two very important questions are consid¬ 
ered—First, is the loss of food, by fermenta¬ 
tion, when green fodder corn is dried in stacks, 
greater or less than when it is preserved in a 
silo i Second, is ensilage more valuable for 
milk production than dried fodder corn i 
To study these questions, an experiment was 
begun ou the College Farm on the 1st of Sep¬ 
tember, 1881. At that time the corn was in 
milk, the stalks were very rich in cane sugar 
and all conditions apparently were favorable 
for the trial. 
The amount of green fodder corn, by actual 
weight, was 10 tons. Of this one half was ar¬ 
ranged in the field in 50 small stacks, while 
the other half, after it had been cut by horse 
power into lengths of three-sixteenths of an 
inch, was closely packed in a sdio of about 12 
tons’ capacity. The analysis of a sample 
taken with the utmost care to represent the 
entire quantity used in this experiment, gives 
the chemical composition of the corn before it 
was affected either by loss of moisture or by 
fermentation. 
About the last of November,after an expos¬ 
ure to the weather of nearly three months, 
1,200 pounds of the dried stalks were passed 
through a cutter and crusher, then thoroughly 
mixed and sampled. The analysis of this 
sample compared with that of the original 
green corn shows the changes which occurred 
during the process of field curing. 
On the 23d day of December the contents of 
the silo were found to be in an excellent state 
of preservation. A sample taken 18 inches 
from the surface was entirely free from disa¬ 
greeable smell, insipid to the taste, and, as 
shown by the analysis, equal in all respects to 
the best ensilage which has yet been received 
at this Station. The chemical composition of 
these three samples can be seen in the follow¬ 
ing table. It. should be remembered that 
sample No. I represents the green corn, while 
samples Nos. II and 111 represent fodders ob¬ 
tained from this corn by two different meth¬ 
ods of preservation. 
TABLE NO. I. 
Water. 
No. I 
Green stalks. 
.... 75.00 
No. II. 
Dried stalks. 
39.37 
No. III. 
Ensila 
74.50 
Ash. 
. 1.58 
4.63 
1.95 
Protelne. 
1.25 
3.84 
1.75 
Fat. 
.22 
.66 
.77 
Fiber. 
.... (5.35 
18.65 
7.86 
Carbohydrates. 
.... 15.60 
32.85 
13.47 
100.00 
100.00 
100.00 
On account of the different amounts of water 
in these samples, their relative compositions 
are not plainly seen. Comparisons between 
them can be easier made by arranging the re¬ 
sults in another table, in which the composi¬ 
tion of 100 pounds of the dry matter of each 
sample is given. Table No. II is computed for 
this purpose. 
_TABLE NO. II. 
No. I. No. II. No. III. 
Green stalks. Dried stalks. Ensilage, 
Ash . 6.32 7.64 7.71 
Protelne..... 5.(10 6.33 6.03 
Fat.88 1.09 1.06 
Fiber. 2 >.40 So.76 31.07 
Carbohydrates. 62.40 54.18 53.24 
_ 100.00 _ 100,00 100,00 
The ash of corn stalks is that portion which 
cannot be destroyed by lire. It is not in the 
least affected by fermentation, nor is it prob¬ 
able that its total amount was in any way 
changed either after the corn was packed 
away in the silo or after it was stacked. It is 
therefore adopted as a standard in comparing 
the above analyses. 
It has been shown that 100 pounds of the 
green corn contained 75 pounds of water; 400 
pounds, therefore, of this corn would have 
yielded 100 pounds of*dry matter, containing 
6.32 pounds of ash. The question now is, 
what is the weight of dry matter in the ensil¬ 
age and in the field-cured stalks, which con¬ 
tains 6.32 pounds of ash ? A simple calcula¬ 
tion from the figures in table No, II gives the 
following results;— 
_ table NO. III. 
NoT l. No. II. No. III. 
Green stalks. Dried stalks. Ensilage. 
Ash. 6.32 6.32 6.32 
Protelne. 5.U0 5.24 5.67 
Fat.as .90 .86 
Fiber. 25.40 25.44 25.49 
Carbohydrates. 62.40 44.82 43.64 
T'l w't dry matter luo.UQ mg. 82.72 ftn, ;S1.98 llis. 
Eighty-two pounds of the dry matter of the 
ensilage and 62% pounds of the dry matter of 
the field-cured stalks now contain the same 
weight of ash which 100 pounds of the dry 
matter of the green corn contained, Duiring 
the process of field-curing, therefore, 400 
pounds of green corn lost 17% pounds of dry 
matter; while 400 pounds of green com pack¬ 
ed in a silo lost 18 pounds of dry matter. 
Table No. Ill shows, further, that neither the 
field-cared com nor the ensilage suffered a 
loss of proteine, fat or fiber, but that the total 
loss fell upon the class, carbohydrates, which 
includes sugar, starch, etc., the least costly in¬ 
gredients of fodders. 
Admitting now that quite as much of the 
dry matter of green com was preserved, in 
this experiment , by field-curing as by packing 
in a silo, there remain still several important 
questions to be considered. First, will cows 
eat the dried-corn fodder as readily and with 
as little waste as they will eat ensilage ? Sec¬ 
ond, how does the milk of cows which are fed 
dried fodder corn compare in quantity and 
quality with the milk of the same cows when 
ensilage is used ? 
A feeding trial was begun on tbe 6th day of 
December for the purpose of studying these 
questions. Four cows were selected from the 
herd, placed side by side, fed, watered and exer¬ 
cised at the same time, and for 60 consecutive 
days treated in all respects as nearly alike as 
was possible. 
During the first period of 20 days all four 
cows were fed the same daily ration, made up 
for each 1,000 pounds of live weight. The ta¬ 
bles are omitted, but a summary of the facts 
shown in them is as follows:— 
First—When the green corn was dried in 
stacks the loss of food was less than it was 
when the com was packed in a silo. 
Second—When dried fodder corn was cut 
and crushed it was eaten by the cows under 
experiment quite as readily and with as little 
waste as ensilage. 
Third—In three cases the yield of milk was 
not increased when ensilage was substituted 
for dried corn, but in one case ensilage caused 
an increase of 87 pounds of milk in 40 days. 
Fourth—In the mixed milk for 20 days of 
herd No. I ensilage caused no increase in the 
yield of total solid matter; while in the milk 
of herd No. II for the same period it caused a 
gain of 8% pounds, or seven per cent. 
Alfalfa or Lucerne.— We areafraid that 
many, influenced, by all that is said about 
Alfalfa or Lucerne, to cultivate it, will be dis¬ 
appointed. Nevertheless, in some States it is 
for certain purposes highly praised. We hope 
next Summer to obtain some information re¬ 
specting it from our plot at the Rural Farm. 
F. D. Coburn, of Kansas, gives tbe JN ew Y ork 
Tribune, Prof. Shelton's opinion of Alfalfa, 
which has been arrived at by careful experi¬ 
mentation at the Agricultural College of that 
State. Omitting a considerable part qf this as 
having been published in the Rural New- 
Yorker, we give a few extracts which answer 
questions we are constantly receiving : Prof. 
Shelton sowed it for the first time in 1875, and 
has had more or less growing upon the college 
farm ever since. When properly treated, he 
thinks it is one of the safest and most profit¬ 
able crops grown in Kansas; still a large pro¬ 
portion of those who undertake to raise it there 
will fail miserably. Enough persons, how¬ 
ever are successful to make its cultivation no 
longer a doubtful experiment. 
He says it will endure drought better than 
any other crop, not excepting White Oak 
timber. Last Summer it made a growth of 
about 18 inches every six weeks, apparently 
as well as if there had been frequent rains. 
He has cut four crops of one-and-a-half tons 
each per acre dnring a single season, and can 
do as much in any season that is not too wet. 
The hay is not so good as Red Clover, the stalk 
being solid and very woody; to obtain the 
best results it should be cut on the first ap¬ 
pearance of the blossom. Cattle and horses 
eat it well, though always leaving the woody 
stems; but it is preeminently excellent for a 
pasture, producing two or three times as much 
food as clover or Blue Grass, and if allowed 
stock will literally gnaw' it into the ground. 
If pastured too closely, however, it is liable to 
be seriously injured. 
It surpasses anything he knows of for hog 
pasture, and for that use he had rather have 
one acre of it than five acres of artichokes. 
Its worst enemies at the farm are gophers and 
moles, w'hich completely honeycomb the soil 
and in time destroy the plants. To get rid of 
these he would trap them. Any good corn 
land answers well for Lucerne, but new break¬ 
ing, raw prairie, very poor soils, very wet 
lands, or lands very foul with persistent weeds, 
will not do, as upon such it cannot survive the 
first year. Good, rich, tolerably clean, dry 
laud will do in almoit any situation, and if it 
inclines to strong clay so much the better. 
Prof. S. would prepare the ground w-ell by 
thoroughly ploughing and harrowing, and 
sow broadcast about April 1st, not less than 
twenty pounds of seed per acre, and follow 
with light harrow and roller. 
California or South American seed should be 
I used, or that grown from such here, as he has 
found from experience that either Eastern or 
European seed is wholly unreliable. During 
j the first season’s growth Lucerne is a feeble, 
sickly appearing plant, easily destroyed and 
should not be pastured or mowed closely. 
None of these should cause discouragement; if 
the weeds are kept out and the stock not 
allowed on it, the development in the second 
year will be abundantly satisfactory. 
Mr. M. Collar, of Ford County, in the south¬ 
western part of Kansas, reports having sown 
four years ago on three acres of cultivated 
soil thirty-six pounds of se d, which grew well 
the first year and was not mowed. The second 
year it attained a hight of forty-two inches 
before it was cut by hand and fed to different 
kinds of stock. In the Fail it was cut with a 
mower, cured and some of it stacked and some 
stored in a mow. He says the leaves fell from 
the stalks, and it all broke In such small pieces 
as to be little else than dirt. The third year 
the gophers damaged it considerably and he 
afterward exterminated them. He now has 
one-and-a-half acre in good condition; the 
gophers work mostly in the upland, and Mr. 
Collar says, from west to east. If to do over 
again he would, with the experience he has 
had, sow Red Clover instead of Lucerne. 
We find the following in an agricultural 
column of the World; P. T. Barnum, who 
having attended an agricultural lecture where 
the speaker was very lavish in his praises of 
muriate of soda as a fertilizer, went in the 
morning and ordered several tons to be sent 
to his farm, which in due time were delivered 
His farmer opened one of the casks with the 
intention of applying it, and was surprised to 
find it common salt. He started for Mr. Bar¬ 
num and accosted him in the following man¬ 
ner: “Mr. Barnum, what did you say that 
stuff was that came yesterday 1 ” “ Muriate 
of soda.” “Muriate of soda I” said the farm¬ 
er, “ it’s nothing but salt,” “ Nonsense,” said 
Mr. Barnum, “it is muriate of soda.” “Mr. 
Barnum, come and see for yourself.” He went, 
he saw and tasted it, and declared it to be the 
greatest fraud ever perpetrated. He started 
for the city, and went directly to the dealer 
from whom it was bought, and asked what 
the stuff was they had sent him. Their reply 
was, “Muriate of soda, as ordered.” “ It is a 
mistake, for it is nothing but common salt.” 
Then, for tbe first time, he learned that com¬ 
mon salt and muriate of soua are one and the 
same thing. 
Gardening Hints. The Judge, a comic 
paper of New York, gives the following inval¬ 
uable hints on gardening. Early Rose 
Potatoes should be planted early. It is not 
called Early Rose because it grows on rose 
bushes, but because it gets up at five o’clock 
in the morning. Do not make tbe mistake of 
peeling these potatoes before planting. As for 
cutting to one or two eyes, we think they had 
better have one eye single to their own happi¬ 
ness. This potato is to be eaten whole. 
Mashed pbtatoes should be sown broadcast.... 
The String Bean is the best bean for growing 
on strings. One string will do for ten beans. 
Some of the high-strung beans need pole®. 
These may be pulled up and taken on fishing 
excursions and be returned with the lines 
attached. The best strings for these beans are 
B strings. The Champion of England 
Peas were named after Tom Sayres, the 
great prize-fighter. These peas do not need 
any pods on them. We have planted them 
for many years without pods on them. One 
great advantage of the Champion of England 
peas is that they spar for themselves. You 
can handle the Champion of England without 
gloves. In selecting ground for them it is 
best to have the sun in their eyes. Peas 
should never be eaten with a knife, because 
they roll off. It is best to pour them into a 
funnel. Oats should not be planted 
wild. Still we have known oats sown wild to 
produce a larger crop than the tame oats. 
Many of them are sown by moonlight and 
some by gaslight, but it is sometimes worse 
for the man who raises them than for the oats 
themselves. Tbe best place to sow oats is in¬ 
doors by a nice fire and with a little sprinkling 
of cold water. Whiskey is a destroyer of the 
crop, and though very good for harrowing 
in induces a growth of weeds. In Scotland 
the oats are fed to men and in England to 
horses, so that a famous Scotchman said that 
nowhere could such horses be found in the 
world as in England and nowhere such men 
as in Scotland. This is the reason why on the 
borders inns are sometimes called oatels. 
Do not fail to raise sheep. The proportion 
should be three dogs to one sheep. They will 
make it lively for the sheep. When you go 
wool gathering take your dinner w ith you, 
for you may get lost. Lambs are best cooked 
a lamb mode. Chinamen eat rice with mutton. 
Hence their knives and forks are called chop 
sticks. Thns a Chinaman will say:—“Lainby 
hard to bleat.” Lambs are best when they 
begin to gambol—you bet—on the green. It 
is funny, but Lamb’s finest work was on pigs. 
Yet, vice versa, we have seen pigs getting in 
their best work on lamb and peas. Ask a 
Chinese cook what goes with lamb, do you 
mind, and he says peas and queues..... 
There is a grea consolation in finding a hair 
in the butter. presence is a, solemn {proof 
that the compound is not oleomargarine. 
Hooper & Co., seedsmen of London, offer 
prizes for the biggest potato. This elicits 
from tbe agricultural press much unfavorable 
criticism. Big potatoes are not valued in 
England as here. .Among the new peas 
of England Carter’s Pride of the Market is 
pronounced the best main crop pea in cultiva¬ 
tion . In this commonplace world every 
one is said to be romantic who either admires 
a fine thing or does one.—Pope. One 
day is worth three to him who does everything 
in order... 
-- 
ECONOMIZING AND FACILITATING 
FARM OPERATIONS. 
These have been brought about during the 
past and present generation, more by the in¬ 
troduction of new or improved implements 
and machinery than by anything else. The 
tendency has been and is still going on to in¬ 
crease the size, and consequently tae weight 
of these, so that they can accomplish a greater 
breadth of work, and also a greater variety of 
it, and at the same time with considerable less 
manual labor than heretofore employed. We 
have now the double or three-share plow, the 
broader harrow, the clod crusher and pulver¬ 
izer, the combined reaper, raker and binder, 
the horse-power, the thrasher and winnower, 
the grain mill, and lastly, the screw pulver¬ 
izer—just out—which, it is asserted, can break 
up and seed in the best manner twenty acres 
of stubble land per day. 
To operate these improved implements and 
new machinery in the most economical way, 
a larger and more powerful class of horses is 
requisite than our farmers have been in the 
habitofusing, except in a few localities, so 
that two to four may be able to do the work 
which now demands four to six of the ordina¬ 
ry breeds, and thus save the services of addi¬ 
tional hands and stable-room, besides some¬ 
thing for feed and cost of wear and tear of 
harness. 
Extra-powerful horses have been imported 
from Europe in considerable numbers during 
the past ten years, making it easy in neigh¬ 
borhoods close to the stallions for the far¬ 
mers to obtain tbe service of these for their 
mares. If the latter are of fair size, sound 
and strong, the half-breeds produced by such 
a cross will generally be sufficiently powerful 
when three to four years old, to work this en¬ 
larged machinery with ease in less numbers 
than are now usually required of our smaller 
horses. 
May and June are the most proper months 
to stint mares; the colts are then dropped in 
April and May, when the weather has become 
genial. Abundant pasture soon follows, 
which enables the dam to give a sufficient flow 
of milk for the rapid growth of her foal, and 
at the same time keep herself in good condi¬ 
tion. A. B. Allen. 
<Jf)f fyovseman. 
AN ANTI-CRIBBING ARRANGEMENT. 
In the Rural of February 25, I noticed an 
inquiry and answer about a cribbing horse. 
I send a sketch of a method for preventing 
cribbing that I saw applied some years ago 
in a stable near Boston. The manger can be 
Fig. 100. 
swung backwards and forwards, towards tbe 
horse for feeding, and back into the passage 
for filling. When it is tilted back, the horse 
has a blank wall in front of him with no 
chance of getting his teeth fast to anything. 
New York City. R. W. Nrwbery. 
California Horse s- 
I notice that your California correspondent, 
in writing in a late Rural about the horses 
in California, makes a mistase in speaking of 
the extensive ranch of one of the most noted 
horsemen in that State when he alludes to Mr. 
Sandford. He probably means ex-Governor 
Leland Stanford w ho was the owner of the 
famous trotter Occident, and who has made 
extensive purchases of thoroughbred mares 
and trotting horses in the State of New York. 
Mr. Stanford hasa brother,ex-Senator Charles 
Stanford, residing in the town of Niskayuua, 
Schenectady Co., N. Y., who is also an exten¬ 
sive breeder of trotting horses and who sold 
his brother, Gov. Stamford, a few years ago, 
a car-load of horses bred by himself. Gov. 
Stanford is a native of New York State. He 
purchased the thoroughbred mares for the 
purpose of crossing them with trottiug stallions 
as an experiment in improving trotting stock. 
I have never heard how he has succeeded, but 
it would be interesting to know. f. d. 0 . 
