638 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 9 
SUMMER FEEDING OF ENSILAGE. 
The Si/o as a Pasture. 
LESSON FROM DROUGHT.—The extreme drought 
of the present season has led farmers to consider seri¬ 
ously the means by which pastures may be supple¬ 
mented during the Summer. Over the entire State, 
the pastures have been cut short, and in many places, 
farmers are now feeding from the stores of hay which 
have been put in the barn for Winter feed. As a 
means of supplementing the pasture, no method yet 
produced compares in value with the use of ensilage 
for Summer feeding. It has come to be very generally 
recognized that the silo is important as a means of 
storing Winter food for cattle, but up to the present 
time, the Summer feeding of ensilage has not attract¬ 
ed general attention. A few farmers of the State have 
provided ensilage capacity for Summer feeding, and 
at the present time, instead of allowing the cows to 
roam over the dried and parched pastures, they are 
brought up into the yard each day, and given en¬ 
silage. From the experience of those who have prac¬ 
ticed the Summer feeding of ensilage, we know that it 
is relished by the animals, and they will even leave 
fairly good pasture when the ensilage is thrown out 
to them. 
CORN IS KING.—There is no other crop grown 
which will produce so much food on one acre as corn. 
In from 90 to 100 days, there can be produced on an 
acre where corn is grown, from 12 to 20 tons of 
valuable forage. This is greatly in excess of what 
would be produced on the same land if devoted to 
pasture. Dairy farmers, who expect to compete in 
the production of milk, must provide some means for 
furnishing succulent feed during the Summer as 
well as during the Winter, and the silo furnishes the 
means by which this Summer food may be provided. 
There is no longer any reason for objection to the 
silo because of loss owing to the spoiling of the en¬ 
silage. The stave or tub silo, which is now coming 
into almost general use, furnishes a means by which 
ensilage may be kept almost perfectly. It is easily 
and cheaply built, and furnishes a means by which 
• succulent feed may be provided for either Winter 
or Summer feeding. 
FROZEN ENSILAGE.—It has been generally sup¬ 
posed that the freezing of the ensilage in Winter 
would injure it for Summer feeding. During the past 
Winter, we had occasion to examine ensilage which 
was stored in a stave silo erected out of doors, with 
no protection whatever to keep the ensilage from 
freezing, except that afforded by the staves, which 
were two inches thick. The ensilage was frozen 
around the outside of the silo to a depth of about six 
inches. This ensilage was not fed out until June, 
and that which had been frozen, kept just as well 
as that which had not been frozen, and was appar¬ 
ently not injured in the least by the freezing. It 
thaws out slowly away from the air, and without the 
presence of oxygen, there is no possible chance for 
it to decay or spoil. So with the construction of 
these stave silos, we are led to believe that no protec¬ 
tion whatever is needed to keep the ensilage from 
freezing. 
For Winter feeding, of course the ensilage would 
not be fed while frozen, but each day when the 
material is thrown from the silo, if that which is 
frozen is mixed with the warm ensilage from the 
center of the silo, in a few hours, the whole mass 
will be in good condition for feeding. The silo should 
have a place on every dairy farm, and ensilage should 
be provided for both Winter and Summer feeding. 
_ L. A. CLINTON. 
PARTITIONS IN THE SILO. 
I have recently built a 200-ton silo with the expectation 
of doing away with Summer pasturing. I have intended 
to put partitions inside, and divide the 16xl6-foot space 
into three spaces, one 8x16 and two 8x8 feet, in order 
that, when I get to the Summer feeding, a smaller sur¬ 
face will be exposed. Would it not be practicable to feed 
from the 16xl6-foot surface during the Winter, and when 
Spring comes, cut down one side of the remaining en¬ 
silage and feed a portion at a time? Will the hard- 
packed ensilage spoil if the edge is exposed as it would 
be if cut down in that way with a hay knife? c. d. w. 
Lansing, Mich. 
Ans. —Where a silo is so large that, 'in feeding 
ensilage, a layer cannot be removed each day to the 
depth of about three inches, it will be the best plan 
to feed from a portion of the silo each day, instead 
of attempting to feed from the entire surface. Dur¬ 
ing the Winter, it 'is probable that you would be able 
to feed from the entire surface without danger of 
having any of the ensilage spoiled; but for Summer 
feeding, a thicker layer should be removed from the 
surface each day than in Winter. In order to secure 
this smaller surface from which to feed, it is not 
necessary to divide the silo into portions. It would 
be an unnecessary expense to put in the partitions in 
the manner mentioned. A practicable way, and a 
way which has been followed with complete success, 
is to cut down a portion of the ensilage with a hay 
knife, just as one would cut down a portion of the 
hay mow. The knife used for this purpose should 
be one with a serrated edge, and care should be 
taken that the knife is well sharpened. If the en¬ 
silage is cut down so that a smooth edge is left ex¬ 
posed, it will be impossible for the air to penetrate 
to any considerable extent, and it has been found in 
actual practice that there is no waste whatever when 
ensilage is fed in the manner above described. I 
know of one case where the man, instead of using a 
sharp hay knife for cutting down the ensilage, pull¬ 
ed it out with a fork, leaving a rough edge exposed to 
the action of the atmosphere. This rough edge al¬ 
lowed the air to penetrate, and the ensilage was 
spoiled for a considerable distance. Th'is trouble 
would have been entirely avoided had he used a 
sharp knife as above described. l. a. c. 
FIBER CASES FOR MILK BOTTLES. 
Cold in Summer, Warm in Winter. 
The R. N.-Y. of August 12 referred to our method 
of handling milk in “felt cases.” The fact is, they 
are not felt cases, but wood-fiber cases, made by the 
New York Fiber Conduit Company. We tried them 
in a small way two years ago, found they were just 
what we wanted, and of course, discarded our old 
boxes at once, and had new ones made to hold fiber 
cases in such numbers as would be most economical 
in utilizing space in our wagons, and be easily 
handled by the drivers. We put them into the cold 
room as soon as the wagons return, where they re¬ 
main until next morning, when they are filled with 
the milk bottles, loaded on the wagons and covered 
with felt, cases and milk being thoroughly chilled 
to start with. 
The fiber cases being non-conductors and no cir¬ 
culation of air around the bottles, our milk is de- 
A FIELD OF OATS AND PEAS. Fig. 239. 
livered on the hottest day so cold that the drivers 
are often asked if they carry it on ice. During all 
this Summer, we have not had a solitary complaint 
of sour milk, and our patrons tell us they have no 
trouble to boil our milk the second day. 
Another great advantage is that the bottles come 
out of the fiber cases as clean and dry as when they 
leave the dairy, so much so that they are often 
handed into a carriage to a woman who has stop¬ 
ped one of our wagons to get a bottle of milk to 
take to a sick friend or friend’s child; and we rarely 
fail to have that friend as a patron after he has 
tried our milk. 
Then in Winter the fiber case is just as valuable 
in keeping the milk from freezing. We put the boxes 
of cases into a warm room over night, and so have 
them warm enough to carry the milk around in good 
shape, even in zero weather. In short, we would 
not know how to get along without them, and they 
are so very much more economical than using ice, 
that I am sure dairymen have only to give them a 
fair trial to realize that there is no cleaner or more 
economical method of delivering bottled milk. 
WHITE FARM. 
ATTRACTIONS AT COUNTY FAIRS. 
We have been interviewing the managers of the 
county fairs in New York State, and the result gives 
some interesting information. Thirty-four of the 
secretaries replied to the questions, and talked freely 
about their prospects. When asked whether they sell 
privileges to fakirs, 16 say “yes” without reserve. 
One man says that they sell them to the “right kind,” 
although that leaves a wide margin as to what the 
“right kind” is. Three say that they sell such priv¬ 
ileges “to some extent,” two say “not many,” and 
11 say outright that they will not sell fakir 
privileges at all. When asked whether, in their 
opinion, these fake shows add to or detract from the 
general attendance, 13 secretaries say that they add; 
seven think they detract; seven are doubtful; four 
are indifferent, and one man says they are absolutely 
necessary to a successful fair. 
There has been quite a question in the minds of 
fa'ir managers as to whether bicycle races at such 
fairs really pay. Twenty of these men declare up 
and down that they do not pay; seven are doubtful, 
and three think they do. That seems to settle the 
question pretty well with regard to the bicycles. 
When asked whether the general interest in the 
county fair seems to increase or decrease among the 
farmers, 19 men say there is a fair increase. One 
man says there is a large increase, while two say the 
increase is very slow; siix men say that the inter¬ 
est remains about the same, while two observe a de¬ 
crease in attendance. 
Another interesting thing about these shows is the 
statement as to the attractions provided for the 
amusement of the crowd. Seven fairs provided a 
balloon ascension which cost, on the average, $100; 
six found a Japanese troupe of jugglers quite satis¬ 
factory, and six others provided jugglers and acro¬ 
bats. At three fairs, educated donkeys were a great 
attraction. The “Guideless Wonder,” or a horse that 
trots without sulky or driver, performed at three 
fairs. At one, there was a Punch and Judy show. 
Cake-walkers and singers displayed their antics at 
three fairs. Baseball does not seem to prove much 
of an attraction, as only one fair reported a match 
game. Something startling, like a balloon ascension 
or an acrobatic performance, seems to take better. 
Most managers seem to believe that something in the 
way of a free show is quite necessary to call the 
crowd together. 
THE OLD COW OUTDONE. 
How Man Improves Her Milk. 
Part II. 
I wrote last week of modified milk, and how, start¬ 
ing with skim-milk, cream, milk sugar or lime water 
was added to make milk of any desired composition. 
The lime water is added for two purposes—to make 
the milk more acceptable to some of the little stom¬ 
achs, and also, to provide bone-forming food. No 
effort has yet been made to add phosphoric acid to 
the milk, although that will probably come later. A 
substance called pancreatin 'is sometimes called for, 
as well as a small quantity of soda. These are added 
as physicians call for them. In one corner of the lab¬ 
oratory, I noticed a little apparatus for boiling or 
stewing the various grains. In some cases, phy¬ 
sicians want jelly of oatmeal, barley or wheat put into 
the milk, and these grains are thoroughly cooked and 
added as desired. The barley jelly seems to be very 
popular, and probably many older readers will re¬ 
member that, in their youth, boiled barley was con¬ 
sidered an excellent food for children. The bottles 
or tubes are stoppered with absorbent cotton, each 
tube holding one meal for the child. They are kept in 
wicker baskets, surrounded by cold water, and ship¬ 
ped in little wooden boxes. These boxes contain a 
metal frame so arranged that the inside can be filled 
with ice, while little compartments around it contain 
the bottles or tubes. 
One feature of the Walker-Gordon Laboratory is 
that every bottle is sterilized as soon as it is returned. 
It may be perfectly clean, but the idea is to sterilize 
it so as to avoid any danger of bringing disease from 
a sick-room. After sterilizing, the bottles are washed, 
dried and sterilized again. Several weeks ago, while 
visiting the company’s barn at Plainsboro, N. J., I 
spoke of what they call “steamer milk.” This milk is 
sold to people who go abroad, and want fresh milk 
every day of the trip. In order to have the milk per¬ 
fectly pure, it is milked directly from the cow into 
the bottles or tubes. The fore milk is milked out; 
then the milker takes the tube in his hands, and milks 
directly into it. As quickly as possible, the bottle is 
stoppered with absorbent cotton, cooled, then cov¬ 
ered and sealed with paraffin over the stopper. In 
this way, practically no germs pass into the bottle, 
and when kept on ice, the milk will remain sweet for 
weeks. 
Most of the milk mixed at the Laboratory is de¬ 
signed for children, the specialty being the feeding of 
babies less than one year old. The trade in prepared 
milk for adults is also growing. Many people trou¬ 
bled with kidney disease have been experimenting 
with milk of varied composition, and the chances are 
that this trade will greatly increase in the future. Of 
course there is a vast difference between the milk that 
is milked in a small stable, not very clean, by the 
hired man, after a long day’s work, and peddled out 
with a dipper from the can, and this modified milk, 
where every precaution is taken to head off the 
germs, and drive out the dirt. It is only in large 
cities that such milk would find a sale; yet, this prob¬ 
ably shows as clearly as anything, the tendency of the 
milk business. People are coming to understand that 
milk is the only animal food that, is not washed or 
cleaned in some way by the housewife, before eating. 
As people understand this more and more, they will 
demand cleaner and purer milk, and will be ready to 
pay a fair price for it. H- w. c * 
