1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
653 
SILACE AND CONDENSED MILK. 
The Bordens' Side of the Controversy. 
The question of an economical and prac¬ 
tical ration for milch cows is interesting 
and suggestive in the field of dairy inves 
tigation and experiment. A cheap ration 
and one that will produce milk satisfac¬ 
tory to the consumer is the question which 
Is alike vital to both the producer and 
consumer. The producer cannot hope to 
make satisfactory sales of his product if 
his effort is given to making a large quan¬ 
tity at the expense of its quality, because 
it is the quality of his milk that virtually 
makes it salable. As much as experiment 
and investigation have thus far been able 
to suggest and establish, it is not yet 
.settled just what ration will produce the 
best quality or the greatest quantity. The 
question to be solved is what ration will 
produce a good or even a large fiow of 
milk, that will neither Injure the milk- 
producing organs nor Interfere with the 
normal odor and flavor of milk, or change 
any of its constituents as well as its 
keeping qualities. I do not desire to open 
a di.scussion or engage in a controversy 
on the feed question. I am content to be 
a patient listener and learn from the ex¬ 
perience of those who are competent to 
bring intelligent facts to the surface, and 
whose opinions are worthy of considera¬ 
tion. Recently much has been written and 
spoken in advocacy of silage as a ration 
for milch cows. I am glad to note all 
sound deductions as the result of careful 
and impartial experiment with this sort of 
fermented food, and to give the milk pro¬ 
duced from such food as liberal a trial as 
the requirements of consumers will permit, 
and as T have undertaken some experi¬ 
ment and investigation with silage, it is 
interesting to compare results with those 
who have published their experience, ani 
on the basis of what is definitely settled 
as to the merits and demerits of silage 
milk state our objections to milk produced 
from such a ration. 
Physiologically speaking, milk will par¬ 
take of the characteristic odor and flavor 
of certain vegetable foods while undergo¬ 
ing digestion and absorption in the body 
of the milk-secreting animal. To feed the 
milch cow on cabbage, turnips or garlic 
will produce milk which will both smell 
and taste very much after the nature of 
these vegetables. This is equally true of 
any fermented and sour food, such as wet 
brewery and distillery grains and silage. 
In the first case the milk will possess the 
flavor of the vegetable only, which renders 
it unpleasant and objectionable. In the 
case of fermented brewery grains, this 
sort of food, while undergoing digestion 
and absorption in the animal’s body, 
transmits the flavor and fermentive ele¬ 
ment characteristic of the grains into the 
milk, which at once renders the milk unfit 
for infant feeding. The same is true of 
silage, with an additional element which 
renders it still more unfit in its raw state 
for infant food. Silage not only contains 
the lactic acid ferment, but it also pos¬ 
sesses acetic acid (vinegar sour), which is 
induced by the acetous fermentation of 
the saccharine vegetable juices of the corn 
in a temperature between 70 and 100 degrees 
F. during the thermic process. My obser¬ 
vation is that there is no such thing as 
sweet silage: that all silage begins to turn 
sour immediately following the heat and 
fermentive process, which is usually com¬ 
plete in from four to six weeks after being 
put into the silo, according to the stage 
of maturity and moisture of the corn; and 
that the degree of acidity of the .silage 
depends very largely upon the stage of 
maturity of the corn; that the acidity in¬ 
creases with each succeeding month until 
the silage is fed up, which is about the 
first of April. I have also observed that 
many of the herds fed on silage through¬ 
out the Winter months become reduced in 
flesh and present an unthrlftlness com¬ 
pared with herds wintered on a like quan¬ 
tity of field-cured corn fodder properly 
cared for, which has been prepared the 
same as silage by putting it through the 
cutting machine in quantities sufficient to 
last for about one week, keeping about 
that quantity cut in advance of feeding 
requirements, and that there is no more 
milk produced from silage than from cured 
corn fodder when such fodder is cut at the 
proper stage of maturity (corn in the milk) 
put up in large shocks, tied firmly at the 
top with an additional band not lower 
than one-third down on the shock, as 
proper curing is very essential to the suc¬ 
ceeding feeding value of corn fodder, and 
that milk produced from such fodder pos¬ 
sesses in full the normal odor and flavor 
of wholesome milk, while milk from silage- 
fed cows does partake of an odor and 
flavor peculiar to any sour and fermented 
ration, besides po.s.sessing an excess of 
acidity which shortens the life of sweet 
milk. 
During December, 1902, 1 made an addi¬ 
tional test for acidity in the milk of a herd 
in which two full milking cows were fed 
on so-called sweet, first-class silage In ad¬ 
dition to the regular ration they were re¬ 
ceiving along with the herd of ^ cows, all 
of which were milking, the larger part 
of the berd coming fresb between Septem¬ 
ber and November, and at the time the 
test was made were fed on hay, field- 
cured corn fodder, ships, hominy and cot¬ 
ton-seed meal. The silage was obtained of 
a neighbor dairyman, there being none on 
the farm. At the beginning of the test the 
milk of the herd, including the two cows, 
contained one and two one-hundredths 
tenths of one per cent acidity. 'I'he two 
cows that the test was made wdth received 
one-half bushel of silage morning and even¬ 
ing after being milked. The milk was im¬ 
mediately cooled and tested for acidity not 
longer than two hours after being with¬ 
drawn. On tbe third day the silage milk 
contained one and seven one-hundredths 
tenths per cent acidity. One the sixth day 
the milk of both the morning and evening 
mess tested one and eight one-hundredths 
tenths per cent acidity, and continued to 
test this quantity of acidity throughout 
the remaining part of the silage feeding, 
the whole of which was 10 days. The 
acidity of the milk from the remaining 
part of the herd continued tbe same as 
on the initial test. The acidity of this 
milk (silage) reduced to dry weight would 
Indicate as follows: One quart of freshly- 
drawn milk before any silage was fed con¬ 
tained from 18 to 20 grains of lactic acid. 
At the end of the test the silage milk con¬ 
tained 27.18 grains of acidity per quart. 
Nearly all of the experiment stations re¬ 
porting on com silage as a food for dairy 
cattle are Joud in their praise of silage as 
a milk-producing ration. In nearly all ex¬ 
periments the object has been to offer a 
method of feeding that would produce the 
greatest quantity of milk with little con¬ 
cern for the quality produced. An analysis 
of silage by various stations. Including that 
given in the Government report, deals 
wholly with the feeding value of silage 
(protein, carbohydrates, fat), and only in 
two or three experiments is the acid con¬ 
tent mentioned. This element (acid) is a 
factor that should be considered in its re¬ 
lation with milk as human food. The 
normal acidity of milk, the result of bodily 
health of the animal, associated with a 
dietary on wholesome unfermented food, is 
beneficial in the economy of digestion of 
milk as human food, but detrimental when 
the acids are in excess. The writer has 
heard many silage dairymen remark that 
it was not safe to feed Infants in their own 
family on silage milk, as it made them 
sick. One or two of tbe best cows in the 
herd would be fed on sweet, wholesome 
foods (no silage), and the amount of milk 
necessary for tbe baby was taken from 
their product. 
It is claimed by nearly all advocates of 
silage that an acre of corn fodder put into 
the silo will go further in feeding value 
and produce more milk than can be shown 
under any other method of handling the 
corn. On what basis this assumption is 
arrived at is difficult to understand, as a 
comparative analysis of the digestibility or 
cured corn fodder and silage proves that 
the converse is the truer. Allen gives the 
digestibility of corn fodder in its three 
classes of food value as follows, pounds of 
digestible matter in 100 pounds of corn 
fodder and corn silage: 
Dry Pro- Carbohy- 
matter. tein. drates. Fat. 
Corn 
fodder, 
green. .20.7 
1.10 
12.08 
0.37 
Corn 
fodder, 
dry.57.8 
2.48 
33.38 
1.15 
Corn 
silage . 
.20.9 
0.56 
11.79 
0.65 
This show’s that cured corn fodder pos¬ 
sesses more than double the amount of 
digestible protein contained in green corn 
fodder and four times greater amount of 
digestible protein than contained in corn 
silage. It also shows that there are three 
times greater the amount of digestible 
carbohydrates in cured corn fodder than 
in silage. During March, 1903, we selected 
what was judged as being excellent silage 
and had it analyzed to determine its acid 
content. Prof. Geisler, of New York City, 
made the analysis. The silage was pro¬ 
cured from dairymen in the counties of 
Delaware and Dutchess. The analysis 
shows that it contained an average of l.ii 
per cent lactic acid and .74 of one per cent 
of acetic acid, which means that in every 
pound of the silage analyzed it contained 
about 2V^ ounces of commercial vinegar, 
the standard of commercial vinegar being 
4% per cent acetic acid, so that in an ordi¬ 
nary feeding of this silage (30 pounds) the 
cow would receive about V/j quart of 
vinegar. 
The character of the acid is briefly this: 
Lactic acid is a digestive element used in 
the treatment of dyspepsia in man, it be¬ 
ing a normal constituent of the gastric 
juice. It is procured from the whey of 
milk, also by evaporating the water ob¬ 
tained from wheat starch factories from 
which the starch has been deposited, 
when this acid is taken into the stomach 
it produces an artificial digestion of the 
food, in a way taking the place of normal 
digestion and functional activity of the 
digestive organs, which may be Inactive 
through disea.se. In the cow’s stomach it 
acts as a digestive and is somewhat neu¬ 
tralized before entering the blood. I can¬ 
not say that the quantity of lactic acid as 
reported in the analysis of silage made by 
Mr. Geisler would in any way be detri¬ 
mental to the health of the cow, but it 
would show an increase of lactic acid in 
the milk. Mr. Geisler finds an average of 
per cent of lactic acid in the samples 
analyzed, which would be about five ounces 
of the acid in a feeding of 25 pounds of 
silage. It is the acetic acid (vinegar) in 
silage that is so detrimental to the milk. 
This acid acts upon the digestive organs 
as an astringent and irritant. Entering 
the blood it becomes decomposed, passing 
out of the system as carbonates, but when 
given in excess, as found in the silage 
analyzed, quantities of it escape more or 
less unchanged by the kidneys. In medi¬ 
cine acetic acid is not employed Internally 
except as an antidote in case of poisoning 
by alkalies. “A normal milk is the sole 
food of young animals and as such con¬ 
tains all the elements of a typical diet. 
(1) albuminous substances in the form of 
caseiQ and serum albumin, (2) fats in 
cream, (3) carbohydrates in the form of 
lactose or milk sugar, (4) salts, chiefly 
calcium phosphate, and (5) water. Milk 
does not stay in the stomach much longer 
than plain water and must therefore be 
considered very digestible.” To maintain 
this normal condition of the milk depends 
entirely upon the character of its produc¬ 
tion and proper handling to the consumer. 
With the Increasing demands for milk 
as a food for children, as well as adults, 
there is also a corresponding demand by 
the consumer that the milk shall be pure 
and wholesome. The Increased consump¬ 
tion of milk in recent years has been 
brought about largely through the efforts 
of the boards of health and practicing 
physicians demanding the purity of the 
fluid. Laws have been made enforcing 
the purity and wholesomeness of milk 
when put upon the market. A business-like 
milk company can do much to bring about 
a public sentiment in support of such effort 
by educating the nominal consumer to re¬ 
quire a greater quantity for his dally 
needs, because milk is an entire food, 
cheap and nutritious in comparison with 
other foods: by such means increasing 
the demand for production: therefore 
making a market for a product of the 
farm. 
The Borden Condensed Milk Company by 
means of the 46 years of large experience 
realize the importance of producing clean, 
wholesome milk in their endeavor to create 
a market for milk, aufl the dairymen who 
try to comprehend what this means are 
the ones who profit most in the production 
of milk. The United States Department of 
Agriculture has recently been giving keen 
attention to the conditions connected with 
the production, handling and sale of milk 
from the consumers’ standpoint, realizing 
the dangers associated with the sale of 
unwholesome milk, and how much danger¬ 
ously poor milk is shipped into the consum¬ 
ing cities and villages, thereby virtually 
affecting the condition of health in such 
community. Thoughtful dairymen will 
naturally comprehend that large handlers 
of milk build their business foundation by 
being careful of the quality of goods sold— 
that few large concerns develop or exist 
without this principle uppermost in their 
practice. There are many distributing 
handlers of milk who are not any too 
careful, and whose movements and actions 
unfortunately have to be watched very 
closely by boards of health in different 
cities. There is hardly any one subject 
that is agitating the public mind more at 
the present time than that of pure, whole¬ 
some milk supply on which so large a per¬ 
centage of the new-born infants are de¬ 
pendent for successful raising to maturity. 
The demand for any manufactured or nat¬ 
ural product depends very largely upon the 
satisfaction it gives to the consumer. The 
business-like producer will be alert to 
these needs. The public’s demand to-day 
for milk as human food is that the condi¬ 
tions about the da.iry shall be sanitary, 
the cows healthy and free of disease and 
feed upon sweet wholesome nutritious food, 
w’ith a pure water supply, thus insuring 
wholesome milk. Cows fed upon sour, fer¬ 
mented food cannot produce wholesome 
milk, and boards of health are beginning 
to take notice of this fact. 
CPAUDE D. MORRIS, V. 8. 
Binghamton, N. Y. 
/I Good White Strawberry Wanted. 
Mr. Hendricks, page 621, waxes eloquent 
ov6r an old favorite of mine, Lennig’s 
White strawberry, and, having lost it, 
would like to know where to obtain It true 
to name. It has disappeared out of all 
the catalogues that come to me, except that 
of Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester. With 
me the variety was never a vigorous 
grower, but made healthy compact plants 
with few runners. It is deep blush in 
color with exquisite flavor, but with me 
it was really a i)oor bearer. About 20 
years ago my father found, in Montgom¬ 
ery County. N. Y., a patch of pure white 
wild strawberries, and I removed a num¬ 
ber to my grounds for testing. The plants 
were vigorous and fruitful. The berries 
were yellowish white and of good flavor 
with no acidity—but were undersized. 
Thinking that a large white strawberry of 
high flavor would be a desirable and profit¬ 
able novelty for contrast with the reds, I 
set a plant of Lennig’s While in the midst 
of the wild sort for a mother, and select¬ 
ing the best berry shaved off the seed and 
planted carefully. Ninety per cent of the 
offspring were exactly like the wild Frag- 
aria in plant, habit and foliage with not 
the slightest Improvement in size or fiavor 
of fruit, while the remainder were Lennig’s 
White without the least loss of color or 
increase of productiveness. I sent a num¬ 
ber of plants of the wild sort to a then 
noted grower of new varieties, who prom¬ 
ised to try to work up something new and 
good in the large white strawberry line, 
but never heard that anything came of 
it. There is no doubt but that a large 
prolific white strawberry would be appre¬ 
ciated and if, in it, the high flavor of the 
old Lennig’s White could be preserved, the 
production would certainly ‘‘take the 
cake,” or more likely half the bakery. In 
working to produce new varieties Anna 
Kennedy, a rather old sort, still offered by 
Black & Son, has attractive possibili¬ 
ties. For beauty and health of plant I 
know of nothing to equal it. The fruit Is 
regular in form and of brilliant color as 
if varnished. The flavor is well-nigh per¬ 
fection. It is not a prolific bearer. If it 
could be made to yield like the Clyde, 
all strawberry lovers the world over would 
rise up and shout for joy. Let the breeders 
get to work and produce a Clyde-Kennedy 
combination and win a prize. J. r. p. 
A woman^s Pragcr 
It is notable that in tbe despondency 
caused by womanly diseases, there seems 
to many a suffering woman no way of 
escape from pain except at the price of 
life itself. It would be sad to record 
such a story of struggle and suffering ex¬ 
cept for the fact 
that in such dire 
distress many a 
woman has 
found a way 
back to health 
and happiness 
by the use of Dr. 
Pierce’s Favor¬ 
ite Prescription. 
The one and 
only remedy for 
leucorrhea, 
female weak¬ 
ness, prolapsus, 
or falling of the 
womb, so abso¬ 
lutely specific and sure in curing theee 
common ailments of women, as to war¬ 
rant its makers in offering to pay, as 
they hereby do, the sum of ^500 reward 
for a case of the above maladies which 
they cannot cure. 
"Your medicine almost raised me from the 
dead,” writes Mrs. Rdwin H. Gardner, of Egypt, 
Plymouth Co., Ma.ss,, Box 14. «My urine was 
like brick dust, and I had pain all over me, and 
such a dragging feeling it seemed I could not 
do my house work. One day I found a little 
book. I read it and wrote to Dr. Pierce, and in 
a few days received an answer. I decided to try 
his medicine, and to-day 1 am a well woman. I 
have no backache, no headache, no pain at all. 
I used always to have headaches previously to 
the monthly period and such pain that I would 
roll on the floor in agony. I took three bottles 
of Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription and three 
of ‘ Golden Medical Discovery ’ and three vials 
of Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets, and was com¬ 
pletely cured. ” 
Accept no substitute for ” Favorite Pre- 
•cription.” There is nothing just as good. 
Dr. Pierce’s Common Sense Medical 
Adviser—sent on receipt of stamps 
to cover expense of mailing Send 
ai one-cent stamps for the book in paper 
covers ; or 31 stamps for the cloth bound 
volume. Address Dr. R. V. Pierce, Buf¬ 
falo, N. Y 
GURK’S Si ii! CROPS 
s Reversible Bush 
Plow and Harrow. 
Cuts .T, track 5 ft. wide, 1 
ft. deep. Connects the 
sub-sol 1 water. It is an 
excellent machine for 
covering in sugar cane, 
strength guaranteed. 
Can plow a newly cut 
fore.st. stump, bush or bog land, leaves the land true, 
clean foi any crop. 
Clark’s Dbl. Action 
Cutaway Harrow. 
Moves 15,000 tons of 
Karth in a Day. 
Clark’s 8 Foot 
Smoothing Harrow 
Wll! smooth an acre as 
true as a mill pond in 
twenty minutes. 
Clark’s Rev. Sulky Disk Plow. 
Made single or double. One or 
two furrows, five to ten Inches 
deep, 14 inches wide. For 
e two or four horses. Light 
draft. No side draft No 
similar plow made. When 
Clark’s grass tools are used 
as directed In his grass cir- 
ular. we, the 0. H. Co. guarantee 
them to kill wild mustard, char¬ 
lock, hard hack, sun flower, milk weed, morning 
glory, Hussion thistle or any other foul plant that 
grows, or money refunded. Now Is the time to com¬ 
mence work for next year’s seeding to grass. 
Clark’s GiderMill 
Horse, Hand or Steam Power. 
From five gallons to eight barrels. 
PERFECT GRIND. 
will grind 75 bushels per hour 
easily. 
Send for Circulars. 
I PUTAWAY Uarrow Go. 
E ^Kigganum, "Ci. U. S. A. 
GUTTERS 
and 
Thay Throw and Blow" 
BLOWERS 
■ 
They require les.s power than any other blower because the 
wheel containing the knives also contains paddles which throw 
and fans which blow. A two-horse tread power will cutand cl^ 
vatc i tons of ensilajje per hour,and a lOn.p. engine 20 tons per 
hour. No chains, belts or cogs to slip and waste power. Also 
silos, horse powers, engines, carriers, saw machines, ctCo 
HARDER MFG. CO., COBLESKILL, N. Y, 
Poultry 
Fencing 
Hao boon fully loat- 
od and found aupo- 
rlor lo all othora. 
Will fit uneven 
ground without 
cutting. 
Every Part Stretches Perfectly. 
Made of high grade galvanized steel wire. All 
horizontal lines are cables, making it stronger. 
Hols fine mesh at bottom for small chicks. 
We also make extra heavy for gardens, lawns, 
etc. The largest poultry farms are using this fence— 
oTer 700 rods by Lakewood (N. J.) Farm Co. We pay 
freight and satisfy every one or no sale. Can ship from 
New York, Philadelphia or Pittsburg. 
Write for free catalog of Farm, Lawn and Poultry Fencing. 
CASE BROS., Colohester, Conn. 
Straight Straw, Rye aadWheatThrasher 
Combined with Spike-Tooth Oat 
and Wheat Thrasher. 
Our Machine will 
thrash Kye or Wheat 
without bruising or 
breaking the straw, and 
tie it again in perfect 
bundles.Can be changed 
in fifteen minntes to a 
spike-tooth Oat, Wheat, 
Bnekwheat, Barley and Corn Thrasher with stacker 
attached. Will thrash more grain with less power 
than any Thrasher built. Send for catalogue B to 
the QBANT-FBKBI8 COMPANY, Troy, N. Y. 
HORSE POWERS, 
THRASHERS Wood 
and CLEANERS Saws 
One & two-horse Thrashing Outfits. Level niiTTCDC 
Tread,Pat.Governor,Feed and Ensilage uU I I kllO 
ELLISKEr$TONEA6R’LWORKS,Pottstowil,Pa 
SiKwln 
C^irb 
Spm 
Core These Blemlahcf 
Also Ringbone, hard or soft 
■nlargements. Sweeny, Knee- 
Sprnng,Fistula and Poll Kvll. 
Slight coet and certain onree. j 
Two big booklets telling how | 
to do it sent free.Write today. 
rLKBING BROS., Ck«Bl.U, 
333 rolon 8to«kTardi,Clileago,r 
STEEL ROOFING. 
strictly new, perfect, Semi-Hardened 
Steel Sheets, two feet wide, six feet long. 
The best Hoofing, Siding or Ceiling 
y oil cun UHC. We furnish nails free ana 
paint rooting, two sides. Comes either 
flat corrugated or“V” crimped. Uellv- 
eredfreeof allcharges to all points in U. 
S. east of Ml.'-slssippl River and north of 
Ohio River at .*.25 PEK SqUARE. 
Price, to other points on application. 
A square means 'on squat c feet. 
Write for Free Catalogue No. 67 on mateilal bought 
from SherilTs’and Receivers’Sales. CHICAGO HOUSE 
WKECKING CO., W. 85th and Iron 8 t.., Chicago. 
