234 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
deficient, and cannot be increased by extra 
feeding of the mare, the colt may be fed on 
fresh cow's milk, which should be prepared by 
diluting it one-third with warm water, and 
adding sugar to make is noticeably sweet; lor 
cow’s milk is too rich in fat for a young colt. 
It is not difficult to teach a colt to chink from 
a pan, or small pail, but cave is to be taken 
that not more than one quart at a time is to 
be given, and as ofteu as may be zequived to 
make up the deficiency. As long as the colt is 
sucking, the mare must be worked carefully, 
and never over-worked or heated, or the milk 
will be acid, and the colt will suffer. W ith 
such reasonable care as this, a colt may be 
reared as safely as a calf, and with no more 
trouble and risk. 
i'avin (Jrcononuj. 
ENSILAGE versus HOOTS (AND R. G., JR.) 
HENRY E. ALVORD, OF HOUGHTON FARM. 
“ Certainly, the subject will bear a good 
deal more investigation.” This, the closing 
sentence of Mr. Goodman’s recent article on 
eusilage (page 182 of the Rural), will be gen¬ 
erally agreed to. but I must differ with my 
friend in almost every other paragraph he 
wrote. 
We have never been known at Houghton 
Farm as enthusiasts on the subject of ensilage. 
On the contrary, we have taken a decidedly 
conservative position. Yet we would on no 
account be without a filled silo as part of the 
winter outfit for a butter dairy. 
Careful studies as to the best winter food 
for butter-making cows, including repeated 
experiments with all the known feeding stuffs 
and their combinations, lead us to the con¬ 
clusion that there is true economy in the use 
of some succulent food whenever cows are 
kept in the stable These experiments did not 
depend upon a single animal, or two or three. 
We took for the test the practical results from 
the whole milking herd of Houghton Farm, 
twenty-five to thirty good butter cows. With¬ 
out going into details, these are average results 
of different trials: In December on absolute¬ 
ly dry food, every 10J pounds of milk made six 
pounds three ounces of merchantable butter. 
In January the same herd, treated just the 
same, except that, a part of each day’s ration 
was ensilage - about 15 pounds per head—grain 
and other food being the same as in December, 
made seven pounds one-and-one-half ounce of 
butter to every 100 pounds of milk. The cream 
per ceutage (of no great value, but interesting) 
was in December 16>£, and January aver¬ 
age of the herd. When on dry food, the whole 
milk being churned—100 pounds—ounces 
of butter were got at the second churning of 
the milk: when fed ensilage, second and 
third churnings combined brought only one- 
fourth ounce of butter to 100 pounds of 
milk. Correspondingly, when cream was 
removed and churned, and the butter and 
skim-milk were also churned, separately, 
these last, 4 together, yielded ounces of 
butter (to 100 pounds of new milk) when the 
cows were dry-fed; and no butter was thus 
obtained when the cows had ensilage, as stated. 
The weather was more favorable for butter¬ 
making in December than it was in January; 
but the January butter made when ensilage 
was fed, had a decidedly better color and 
flavor. Its higher quality was commented 
upon by numerous consumers, and the only 
variation in its production was this change to 
partly succulent food. The general hygienic 
condition of the cows was also greatly im¬ 
proved by this change in the daily ration. 
The same desirable results were obtained by 
using roots, about a peck, or 15 pounds per 
day to a cow, as with the ensilage. It seems 
to be the physical character of the food—its 
succulence, rather than its chemical composi¬ 
tion—that produces the gain, in quantity and 
quality, of the butter product. We have, 
therefore, been thoroughly convinced of the 
profit of “the green bite” to butter cows, 
every day in Winter. We would now about 
as soon think of dispensing with the grain 
ration as the succulent ration, in winter 
dairying. Thus convinced of the profit of 
this kind of food, the next point is how to 
obtain it economically. 
In the article first referred to, roots are 
spoken of as something which any one can 
have, while silos are very expensive and ensi¬ 
lage is“ wet stuff * * * of but little value.” Yet 
that writer will probably agree that where 
there is one farm on which a crop of roots can 
be grown at a profit, there are a hundred 
fa wns where fodder-corn can be easily and 
cheaply raised. In my own experience, on 
land adapted to both, fodder corn, as ensilage, 
can be harvested and stored at less than half 
the cost of roots, ton for ton. The ensilage 
fed to the stock costs but half the cost of the 
same weight of roots fed sliced or pulped; and, 
in practice, we find the corn ensilage a good 
substitute for roots, with sheep, swine and 
neat cattle of all ages, especially hotter rows. 
Fed moderately, in just about the quantity 
useful for roots, ensilage gives, at half the 
cost, as good results as mangolds or Swedes. 
I know of no one willing to grow good roots 
to sell at less than $5 per ton; ensilage in the 
silo should never cost 33 per ton, and gener¬ 
ally costs a good deal less. 
The relative food value of corn ensilage and 
cent, more), not because there is any new ele¬ 
ment added, but because a larger proportion 
of the fodder is rendered digestible. 
Mr. Goodman, after having stated as a fact 
that cows eau he kept, and good butter made 
on good dry hay and grain, "and nothing 
else whatever'' (which nobody denies except as 
regards the “nothing else"), then asks " Why 
bother about silos?” I answer: 1st, because 
ensilage will produce just as good milk, cream, 
the standard roots can be seen, chemically nv ui butter as auy other winter feed, and a 
compared, in the following table of analyses. little more ot them; ‘2d, a silo of any given di- 
The ensilage was taken from the silo at 
Houghton Farm on the 15th of February, the 
middle of the feeding season, and the figures 
for the roots are from average standard anal¬ 
yses. 
Corn Ensilage.. 
M aneroids. 
Suuar Beets. 
Swedes. 
Carrots.. 
Average four roots... 
0 
-*-l 
3 
oS 
O 
* 
u 
fc 
83,as 
2.28' 
32.10 
1.80 
E3.9U 
2.01 
87.00 
lJiO 
' S7.10 
1.00 
87.52 1 35 
Here we see that there is less “wet stuff” (i. e., 
water) and more food, of the right kind and 
well-proportioned for cows, in the ensilage 
than in any one of the roots, or the average of 
the four. 
As to cost in construction and repairs, a silo 
is as cheap as a root cellar, perhaps cheaper, 
if. as we now lielieve. ensilage, properly 
weighted, may' be exposed to frost without 
material injury. Although I have heard of 
some empty silos, this Winter, I don’t oelieve 
there has been a single one built in this coun¬ 
try, with any sort of judgment, on anv farm 
of 40 acres or over, that, properly treated, 
may not be made as wise and profitable an in¬ 
vestment as the mowing machine. We hear 
of mowers, creamers, and other good farm- 
helps, purchased and then set aside through 
some ignorance or blunder in their trial, or 
some prejudice. But such cases are no argu¬ 
ment against the real economy of such appli¬ 
ances. And even if a silo is not used every 
year, it is a good thing to have on a farm, and 
may, any season, more than pay for itself in 
saving, as food, a wet crop of clover or millet 
that would otherwise have been lost. 
It is worse than useless to advocate expen¬ 
sive and extensive masonry silos, under¬ 
ground. and an entire substitution of eusilage 
for bay and other dry fodder, and to talk of 60 
tons to the acre stored at a dollar a ton, or 
less. But I regard it as an equal mistake to 
oppose silos and eusilage so positively as my 
friend Mr, Goodman has done, or to advise 
winter dairymen to wait, wait, wait, as the 
Rural does, editorially. We expect to know 
a great deal more about silos and ensilage 10 
years hence; but. why not believe and use, ju¬ 
diciously, that which has already been made 
known. Our mowers are vastly improved 
over their patterns of 20 years ago, but what 
should we think of a man who had cut 20 
acres of grass annually with a scythe, till 
now, waiting for these improvements* 
“Why bother about silos and ensilage?” 
Because, for the but ter-maker, as well as for 
milk, and mutton, beef, pork and poultry, en¬ 
silaged food is of great value; because ensilage 
is an economical substitute for roots, and may 
be profitably used in place of a portion of the 
usual coarse winter forage. 
ADVANTAGES OF ENSILAGE. 
Any subject which claims to be of conside¬ 
rable advantage to agriculture deserves a bet¬ 
ter treatment than that given to ensilage in 
Mr. Goodman’s article in the Rubai, of March 
22. Is the fact that good butter can be made 
from good hay and grain any stronger argu¬ 
ment against eusilage than that good hay can 
be harvested with a hand scythe and rake is 
against the mowing machine and sulky rake? 
I bad always suppose 1, until Mr. Goodman 
told me to the contrary, that when a cow was 
fed on dry hay and grain, she would need a 
little water; in fact, here, in Central New 
York, neither fresh pasture grass, green clover, 
corn-fodder, nor roots contain so much water 
that cows fed on them do not require a little 
raora, and ensilage has five per cent, less than 
either of them; so what about the pump wheu 
these Jerseys are in the pasture? I read very 
attentively all that I found in the Country 
Gentleman and the Rural from Sir J. B. 
Lawes, Professor 8. W. Johnson, and many 
others upon this subject, but 1 do not now re¬ 
member a single fact stated by any of them, 
which was essentially different from the facts 
given by other scientists, unless it was in 
answer to the claim that ensilage has a greater 
feeding value than the same fodder has before 
it goes into the silos. This some of them denied 
on the ground that the process put nothing iu- 
to the fodder, which was not there before. 
This may be literally true, and yet we who 
have carefully fed both by weight, do find that 
it has a larger feeding value (we think 20 per 
little more of them; 2d, a silo of any given di¬ 
mensions will store three times as much fod¬ 
der as the same space in a barn will of hay, 
and is, therefore, cheaper; 3d. throe times as 
raauy cows can be kept ujjou the product of 
auy given number of acres of good tillable 
land with little difference in labor per cow. 
We who have tried ensilage think these three 
propositions are susceptible of reasonable 
proof, which we are both ready and willing 
to give; and unless some facts can be brought 
forward to show that this method is not much 
better than the old oue, would it not be wiser 
to say nothing about it,? 
If farmers cannot exactly agree as to the 
cost of raising auy ordinary farm crop, or the 
quantity that an acre will produce, why 
should our disagreement about the cost of 
ensilage be named as au argument against it? 
The truth is. that this uew method is much 
better than the old one, or it is little better 
than a humbug. Let us have more of reason 
and facts, and less casting of the dust of pre¬ 
judice, if we would thoroughly sift the matter. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. K t. hayden. 
ILL EFFECTS OF ENSILAGE. 
What is ensilage? Writers state that it is 
green fodder preserved for cattle by a process 
not unlike that employed in the preparation 
of sauerkraut. Corn, Red Clover, Pearl Mil¬ 
let, rye, oats, or any grass may be used. It is 
said cattle are very fond of it, and that it in¬ 
creases the yield of milch cows. But have its 
advocates giveu any of the dangers of its use, 
or of the different processes through which it 
may pass before feeding, especially in fermen¬ 
tation? In these an alcohol is formed, also an 
acid; animalcule- are generated: yeasty de¬ 
composition ensues, ending in what is com¬ 
monly called mold or putrefaction If care¬ 
fully examined by the microscope, bacteria 
in a)' be discovered, which are always abun¬ 
dant in the incipient stage of putrefaction. 
Living animals are liable to be injured by 
fungi of this kind. Silkworms are killed in 
great uumbers by a species of mold called 
muscardine. The question arises, what will 
be the effect on animals so fed? It will just lie 
the same as feeding swill from breweries— 
worse if the swill proves to be fresh. The 
blood will become feverish and watery, the 
system overtaxed from unnatural stimula¬ 
tion, and in a few months the animal will 
succumb, the latter being the case especially 
with milch cows. 1 will admit they will yield 
more milk, but at the expense of their general 
health. Now arises the most serious question: 
What is the character of the milk from such 
animals? Is it fit for the human stomach? 
And. more especially, is it fit food for young 
children whose whole nourishment comes from 
it? I answer most emphatically, No! Many an 
infant is slowly poisoned to death by its use; 
when, if the milk were pure and good, the 
child would be healthy, happy and thriving. 
Many so-called cases of cholera infantum, 
etc , are simply milk poisoning. You who are 
using eusilage, please stop a moment and think 
of the results; you who are thinking of build¬ 
ing silos, please don’t. “occasional.’’ 
Sunituijrvtr. 
KEEPING SOWS HEALTHY. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
was sprinkled thinly, so‘ that they were ob¬ 
liged to pick up a kernel at a time, which 
insured more thorough mastication than if 
fed on the ear. They were fed a piut each, 
nights and mornings, and at noon they had a 
bushel of roots and a forkful of bright clover 
hay cut when iu the blossom. They ate the 
clover hay with decided relish, and I think it 
did them a great, deal of good. There were 
16 in this lot, and each one of them will have 
pigs. They have had no swill or water during 
the entire Winter, as the roots seemed to afford 
a sufficient supply. Their coats are brightaud 
glossy, a condition which indicates that there 
was no lack in tin’s respect. Under this system 
they have had plenty of exercise, aud not oue 
of them has shown any uuhealthfulpess. Fresh 
straw has been given to them for bedding 
from time to time, as they required. A month 
before pigging they have been separated, and 
each sow put in a pen by herself, with a change 
to middlings nurl potatoes, as I have stated. I 
consider it a benefit to deprive them of any 
corn during this period. Hogs with thin coats 
of hair would not do as well thus exposed. 
The feeding spot was located out of the wind. 
A feeding platform would be better, aud will 
be necessary in the Spring, when the ground 
gets wet aud muddy. 
farm (Topics. 
CRUDE PETROLEUM: BARBED-WIRE 
FENCING. 
I used crude petroleum in 1878 and also 
West Virginia lubricating oil (crude), and 
like the latter much more than the other. The 
petroleum goes into the wood quicker and 
further than the West Virginia oil, but 1 do 
not think it gives such good protection. After 
five years the West Virginia oil is still on the 
surface, so much so that it will grease the 
hand if rubbed on the wood. The color of 
this oil would be objectionable to some, as it 
is rather dark. I think one good coat of the 
lubricating oil would give perfect protection 
for ten years, perhaps louger. It is easily ap¬ 
plied with a paint brush of the largest size. 
As to wire fences, I have about 400 yards of 
the barbed and more of the buckthorn, and 
like the latter much better, except for special 
purposes, such as a pig fence or a top wire on 
aboard fence, when I should prefer the close- 
set barb. 1 use chestnut posts three inches 
square, sharpened and driven down from 16 
to20 feet apart, and at every ninth and tenth 
post an eight-inch chestnut or oak straining 
post is planted three feet, and well rammed. 
The end straining posts only are braced. I 
find the best way to brace is to plant a stout 
post eight feet from the end post; put a brace 
from uear the top of one to the bottom of the 
other, at the surface of the ground; then nail 
a thick eight-inch board from the top of one 
post to the top of the other. Put up in this 
wav the straining-post will not “give.” 
Without the board, it is apt to push the second 
post over when cold weather arrives. I have 
not found wire fences dangerous to stock so 
far. 1 first used three strands of wire, but 
uow use four one foot apart, and the first, one 
foot from the ground. This makes a good 
fence, and is about the right hight. Cattle 
will put their heads through to reach grass 
outside the fence, but do not get hurt in doing 
so. I have never had an animal attempt to 
break through except an old boar, and in his 
case the feuce was too low and be jumped it, 
and in doing so pulled the wire from the post. 
When 1 buy my stock cattle iu the Fall, I turn 
them into a wire-fenced pasture, and they soon 
get acquainted with the fence, ami let it alone. 
For economy and durability it certainly excels. 
To make it still more economical, use one or 
two strands of flat steel ribbon, which co ; ts 
much less than the other and Shows plainer. 
Catonsville, Md. A. L. c. 
I am determined this Spring to keep the 
sows from getting constipated and feverish. 
When this is the case, they are sure to have 
trouble when the pigs come. They will either 
be crazy and destroy the young, or have rnflum 
mation in their udders. For a month before 
the young are born, the sows are fed on wheat 
middlings ground fine, with some flour mixed 
with swill, aud the other two feedings are 
raw potatoes. They are doing finely, keeping 
their condition. Their bowels are sufficiently 
open to keep them free from fever. 
I never had a lot of sows to winter so well 
as the Duroc-Jerseys have this year, aud I 
never have managed hogs exactly as they 
have been handled. A special building was 
erected iu the Fall, with a ground floor, and 
elevated so that it would be perfectly dry. 
The building was inclosed except a small door 
on the south side, through which the sows 
could go in and out at will. They were 
always fed on the outside on a spot kept clean 
for the purpose. In this spot shelled corn 
BARBED-WIRE FENCING. 
From my own long experience with barbed- 
wire fencing and still longer experience with 
hedges, I can find no weighty objections to 
the former. I have heurd some complaints 
and some expressed fears of possible danger 
to stock; but these objections have been few 
in comparison with the commendations 
given wire fencing. Its advantages as to 
durability, low 1 cost and capability of resist¬ 
ing wind storms, are certainly evident. Eco¬ 
nomically considered, there is no feuce that 
eau compare with it. We do not, in this vi¬ 
cinity, us n general rule, build fences of wire 
alone, preferring to use two six-inch pine 
boards at the bottom, with three wires above. 
The principal objection urged against 
barbed-wire for fencing, is that stock is liable 
to serious injury from running violently 
against the barbs. So far as my observation 
has extended, this objection arises only from 
au apprehension of danger, and is not based 
