Vol. L1X. No. 2623. 
NEW YORK, MAY 5, 1900. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
SOUTHERN NOTES ON SILAGE. 
COW PEA, ALFALFA AND SOY REAN. 
Fed to Horses and Mules. 
SILAGE AND HORSES.—The learned opinions of 
the State veterinarians on page 252, regarding silage 
for horses, have been very interesting reading for me. 
It 'is of interest to note, first, that by inference, at 
least, Dr. Peters would acquit silage of having pro¬ 
duced spinal meningitis by its fermentations, when 
the horse stalls are near by. Dr. Lovejoy has not 
known of any injurious effects to horses, mules, or 
cattle from the use of silage as food. We would like 
to know how many horses or mules the Doctor has 
ever fed, or seen fed, on this kind of food, and how 
generally it is fed in his State to colts, for instance. 
The next doctor, from Maryland, charges the improp¬ 
erly-constructed silo with having its horse Victims, 
with no warning to us poor farmers as to whether 
the proper construction should be round, or square, 
wood, or steel, or only an excavated clay-bank hole, 
or brick laid in cement. Dr. Archibald’s favorable 
opinion rests on a 15-years’ interested observation, 
and no serious results chargeable to the use of silage 
to man or beast has resulted. This seems to be a good 
record, but it is negative, and may be 
spoiled in a night by one unlucky call —- 
for colic. We cannot now shudder at 
what might have been the consequence 
to old Charlie, a horse that has served 
his 10 and more years as a public 
official in Raleigh. He is still hale and 
hearty, and has eaten his breakfast of 
silage as regularly as the milch cows 
for a period of about seven years. His 
dinners were also of silage for several 
years, until he found his condition 
maintained on two meals a day. For 
one Spring, while the cows regaled 
themselves on cow-pea silage, the 
flavor of 'too succulent vines did not 
suit Charlie’s esthetic taste, and his 
diet was changed. Until reduced to 
two feeds per day, Charlie ate silage at 
his midday meal. For a time Charlie 
and his stable companions were re¬ 
galed on silage three times per day, but 
while it will do well for 'the sluggish 
cow, for the animal of so much more 
active life, as the driving horse or 
work mule, silage is too loosening to the digestive 
tract. These friends were designed to grind coarse 
forage, and were given large and very active salivary 
glands to moisten rapidly a large quantity of dry 
food. Then, after this has been passed on to the large 
intestine, it is held for several days to yield up its 
soluble carbohydrates. To this end we have used 
mainly corn husks, “shucks” in our provincial pro¬ 
nunciation, and some “fodder” corn leaves pulled at 
the time the northern farmer cuts up his corn, or it 
has been hay of any grass at hand. 
Twice we have seen a light case of colic in a mule 
due to a too large feed of silage. This was when 
silage was fed to a pair of mules which were allowed 
to run loose in a large stall and eat together. At one 
of the first feeds after silo was opened, the horse 
mule must have crowded his lighter mate away, and 
taken the lion’s share of the agreeably-flavored food. 
He paid for his greed with a little pain. A halter and 
separate feeding prevented further attack. At an¬ 
other time a similar case occurred. Of course we be¬ 
lieve, with Dr. Archibald, that an improper use may 
be made of almost any food. How many times, in the 
remembrance of almost everyone, has some animal 
overeaten on some well-flavored food, usually grain, 
roots, or apples, or anything a greedy appetite craves, 
and which the animal can get at in quantity. 
COW-PEA SILAGE.—The record of milk being in¬ 
creased by this food, and dropping back when the 
change back to corn was made, is in the line one 
would expect from its composition and character, in 
the ration. Cow peas soaked also have a marked 
effect on the yield of milk, as many southern farmers 
and cow owners can testify. 
Digestible Matter. 
Fat. 
mnds. 
1.15 
1.24 
1.175 
1.60 
1.74 
.89 
The silage has not been subjected to actual diges¬ 
tion trials, I believe. The table shows the composi¬ 
tion of hay and meal in comparison with other foods 
of the same class, and which can be grown on same 
lands with it, but at different times. 
SOY-BEAN SILAGE.—I was glad to see the notes 
of J. M. E., on Soy Beans in Silo. The crop from 
which the silage was made, which gave the coeffi¬ 
cients of above table for Soy-bean silage, grew three 
feet tall or more. It was planted in rows about 40 
inches apart, and it grew bushy enough almost to 
touch across the rows, and was closely crowded in the 
Pro- 
Carbo- 
tein. 
hydrates, 
Alfalfa hay . 
.10.85 
37.16 
Cow-pea hay . 
. 9.31 
38.38 
Cow-pea meal . 
.18.25 
54.93 
Soy-bean silage . 
. 3.07 
8.92 
Soy-bean hay . 
.11.27 
42.31 
Crimson-clover hay .... 
.10.50 
41.31 
A GOOD JERSEY COW, REXELLA 69413. Fig. 94. See Page 331. 
rows. There were numerous pods. The weight, as I 
now remember it, was four to five tons per acre. I 
was not satisfied with the yield, but only recently 
have compared the digestible food yields per acre of 
the Soy beans and corn and Crimson-clover hay. The 
Soy bean takes the season for corn, and can be fol¬ 
lowed by small grain. The Crimson clover follows 
corn, and comes off before it. In case of this Soy-bean 
crop, clover was its successor. The following com¬ 
parison shows pounds of digestible food per acre from 
four and five tons of Soy beans, 10 tons of corn silage, 
and iy 2 ton of Crimson-clover hay. 
4 tons Soy beans per acre.. 
5 “ Soy beans per acre. 
10 “ corn silage .145.2 
l’A “ Crimson-clover *hay — 
These weights are normal for southern farms rich 
enough to grow either beans or clover, and the clover 
wins in the comparison, though perhaps harder to 
raise. 
ALFALFA HAY—As to the editorial on Prof. Cot¬ 
trell, “alfalfa richer in protein than bran,” page 214, 
we have added a line to the table showing Colorado 
and New York digestion results. They must raise 
richer legumes 'than elsewhere in Kansas, or the 
Kansas chemist should t.-y it over again. Alfalfa is a 
valuable plant, rich in digestible food, but that it is 
Pro- 
Carbo- 
tein. 
hydrate. 
Fat. 
.245.6 
713.6 
128. 
.307. 
892. 
160. 
.145.2 
2656. 
80. 
.315. 
1239.3 
26.7 
as rich as quoted is too sensational to be true. Prof. 
Cottrell must have used the “total protein” figures 
while writing about “digestible protein.” This ex¬ 
planation would about harmonize the Kansas composi¬ 
tion with the other results, and their coefficients 
should reduce the “digestible” to about two-thirds. 
Readers who have North Carolina Bulletin No. 163 
can find coefficients, compositions and digestible con¬ 
stituents of these articles, and while Alfalfa is very 
rich in digestible protein, it falls below that of wheat 
bran under the work of the Station quoted here. 
Raleigh, N. C. f. e. e. 
KAFFIR CORN IN KANSAS. 
When it is too late to plant common corn, the 
ground that has not been planted is plowed and 
planted to Kaffir corn, as it will not do to sow it as 
early as other crops. Generally, this late plowing 
kills all weeds, and the Kaffir is drilled in in rows 
slightly closer than corn, say 40 to 42 inches. When 
cultivating there is no danger of cutting the roots 
with the cultivator, as they go nearly straight down, 
and the working of the crop also gives the soil a 
deep Summer tillage. The enormous bunch of deep 
roots acts as a subsoiler on the land, 
- - the fertility beyond the reach of other 
crops being easily made available by 
Kaffir corn, hence wornout land that 
will not produce 25 bushels of corn per 
acre will easily produce 40 to 50 
bushels of Kaffir. It is an excuse for 
the careless farmer Still further to put 
off the day of building up his soil. 
Kaffir corn and the fodder are 10 per 
cent less in value than ordinary corn 
and corn fodder, but so much more 
grain and also fodder can be raised 
per acre, that it is really the more 
valuable crop. The closer the rows 
are, up to 32 inches, and the more seed 
in the row, the larger the crop up to 
175 bushels per acre. With such a 
crop, when cut, the row of stubble is 
four to six inches wide, and will bear 
up a man’s weight. The crop is in¬ 
creased in proportion to its thickness 
up to 32 inches between rows. 
Some stop up every other hole in a 
press wheat drill and drill it in. The 
proper harvesting of the crop Is very expensive. It 
costs $1.50 per acre to pay all expense of a twine 
binder and the shocking, four cents per bushel to 
thrash out, and three cents per bushel to grind it. 
Thus on 40 bushels per acre the expense for thrash¬ 
ing and grinding is $2.80 cash, and $1.50 more for cut¬ 
ting, making $4.30 per acre of 40 bushels, or over 10 
cents per bushel, without reckoning the labor of 
growing and hauling. It passes through all stock 
(except poultry) whole, just like so much shot, unless 
ground. Animals are very fond of it, as it seems to 
be a complete substitute for oats. For years our 
Kansas Experiment Station recommended the Red 
Kaffir, but the farmers dropped it in favor of the 
Black^hulled white variety, when the Station reluc¬ 
tantly followed suit. The common white has a boot 
that covers up a portion of the lower part of the head, 
and the enclosed seeds are always musty. The Black¬ 
hulled white variety stands up out of the boot, and 
does not have any of this objection. Kaflir stubble 
Should be Fall-plowed, and it is like grubbing stumps, 
but the elements of Winter seem to decay the butts, 
so they harrow down well the next Spring. A fair 
crop can be grown here without any rainfall. The 
birds eat about one-third of the seeds, and it is the 
paradise of the English sparrow. c. Norton. 
Kansas. 
