Vol. LVIII. No. 2603 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 16, 1899. 
•1 PER YEAR. 
\ 
A NO TED INDIANA DAIRY. 
A CANNERY WITH A DAIRY FARM. 
Nothing But Ensilage and Grain. 
AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY.—The dairy interests 
of Indiana are year by year assuming more import¬ 
ance. While not generally regarded as a great dairy 
State, its dairy interests are none the less of consid¬ 
erable magnitude. The rapid increase in population 
of the Central West, and especially localities about 
Chicago, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, has stimulated 
the milk trade in a considerable degree. Along with 
this growth has come the establishment in the State 
of a number of dairies of very superior quality, sev¬ 
eral of which may be considered as among the most 
progressive in the details of the business, from the 
sanitary standpoint, of any in the United States. 
These are establishments owned and promoted by 
men who are chiefly directing their energies in other 
directions than the farm, but who are interested in 
the production of a superior class of milk. It is to one 
of these dairy farms that I wish to direct attention, 
for it may be considered the most ex¬ 
tensive high-class dairy in Indiana, and 
I think I am safe in saying that there 
is not another like it in the world. 
FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS.—About 12 
miles south of Indianapolis is the little 
village of Greenwood. Here, in 1873, 
J. T. Polk started a canning factory. 
This grew in extent, until to-day it is 
the largest cannery of its class in the 
United States. About 10 years ago, in 
order to make use of the corn husk and 
pea vine by-products of his factory, Mr. 
Polk bought some dairy cows, built a 
cheap barn, and began to feed this by¬ 
product to the cows. He employed, as 
superintendent of his cattle, May Har¬ 
mon, of Greenwood, an experienced 
handler of this kind of stock. Mr. Har¬ 
mon possessed plenty of common sense, 
Yankee shrewdness and progressiveness. 
With some experience, Mr. Polk and his 
manager became deeply interested in 
the dairy subject, the herd was in¬ 
creased in size, and what was 
then, and perhaps is now, the 
largest silo in the world, was con¬ 
structed, holding 2,800 tons. In this 
were placed the corn husks and 
pea vines the farmers brought to the canning factory, 
and from them was made a most superior, nutritious 
ensilage. It may not be inappropriate to state here 
that beginning with 1898, they began the process of 
rolling the ensilage in the silo with an iron roller, 
which, they estimate, weighs 1,200 pounds. Two 
horses hauled it back and forth over the newly en- 
WASHING THE MILK BOTTLES. Fig. 315. 
silaged feed. This new operation apparently yielded 
the best of results, as the ensilage was packed down 
very hard, and came out later on as bright as could be 
desired. For several years an immense quantity of 
pea vines have been piled up outside also, and these, 
when rolled, have kept most satisfactorily, and have 
been fed very largely. The stack on the place this 
year is about 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, and eight 
to 10 feet deep at its greatest depth, tapering nearly 
to the ground on the ends. Mr. Harmon says that he 
expects to get good ensilage there this year. 
FEEDING UNDER COVER.—Mr. Polk owned but a 
few acres of land, and so a new scheme in intensive 
farming was developed. A large covered shed was 
erected, in which feed racks were placed, and here the 
cows are kept, and fed all the year round, not having 
access to pasture at all. The shed at first was small, 
but it was constantly enlarged, until now it covers 
about 38,000 square feet of floor space, or nearly an 
acre. The general arrangement of the shed proper 
is much like the covered sheds at the Chicago Stock 
Yards. The shed is divided, by gates or fences, into 
several parts, in which cattle of different classes run 
loose. Extending nearly the entire length of the shed, 
at a height 10 feet or so above the ground, is an 
overhead walk, from which, at certain points, descend 
steps to the yards below. Visitors may go into the 
shed, walk along over the cattle and look them over 
from this vantage ground, or they may descend at 
convenient points and go among them. The shed is 
so constructed that in Winter it is all closed up, and 
the best of protection is given the stock from incle¬ 
ment weather. Connected with the shed, and in real¬ 
ity a part of it, is a large room with an L, which con¬ 
tains 167 stalls, where the cows are fed grain and 
milked. Except for milking and graining the cows are 
never in this barn, which is, strictly speaking, a 
milking barn. All the ensilage is fed in the feed boxes 
in the shed. The entire building is of cheap material, 
though fairly substantial in construction, and is 
whitewashed from top to bottom, inside and out, by 
spraying apparatus. The roof of the shed, however, is 
a tarred gravel one, and is not whitewashed. The 
sheds have been sprayed three times this year, and 
this is the whitest, cleanest stable one can imagine. Un¬ 
cleanliness in any form has little place here, and land 
plaster is used by the carload to purify the atmosphere 
MILK COOLER AND BOTTLE FILLER. Fig. 317. 
from contaminating influences as fully as possible. 
HOW THE COWS WASH THEIR FEET.—One of 
the unique schemes of the place is probably not found 
elsewhere. In order to reduce as much as possible the 
amount of dirt that may be tracked Into the milking 
room by the cows. Mr. Harmon con¬ 
structed a shallow basin, about 10 feet 
wide and 20 feet long, in which he 
placed water to a depth of six inches. 
This was constructed at the connecting 
point of the milking room and shed. 
All of the cows must wade through this 
pool to get to the stable, and thus they 
wash their feet in a surprising degree, 
as I can testify from observation, prac¬ 
tically tracking no dirt on the snowy 
floor. So white and clean is everything 
maintained, that one instinctively sees 
the motto of the establishment on the 
sign, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,*' 
which has for years hung over the main 
passageway between the stalls. 
FEEDING SYSTEM.—At the present 
time 82 cows are being milked, and the 
herd is to be increased o.ver this. All 
the cattle on the place are purebred Jer¬ 
seys, registered or eligible. The cows in 
milk are fed about six pounds of coarse 
bran and four pounds of hominy feed 
daily, besides all the ensilage that they 
will eat. It is estimated that the cows get 
about 65 pounds of ensilage a day each, 
and no other roughage. All the heifer 
calves are raised, and for years these 
were suckled by nurse cows, which perhaps will ac¬ 
count for the good size and robust appearance of the 
herd. A new policy, however, has been adopted, and 
now the calves are fed half skim and half whole milk 
till about six months old, together with a little bran 
and such ensilage as they will eat. The heifers are 
bred at 15 months of age, and each cow is expected to 
drop one calf a year. These cows have been pur¬ 
chased with great care, and only the very best of ser¬ 
vice bulls used. For years a son of the famous Exile 
of St. Lambert headed the herd, for which Mr. Polk 
paid ?400. They now have about 25 remarkably fine 
daughters of this bull in the herd, all having udders 
of superior merit. Four service bulls are at present 
in bull-pens in the shed, two being grandsons of old 
Exile of St. Lambert. 
HANDLING THE MILK.—Taking all classes of 
cows into account, last September the average daily 
milk yield was 134% gallons of 8% pounds to the gal¬ 
lon, and an average of 13.65 pounds per cow per day. 
In 1895 the cows averaged 5,210 pounds each; in 1896, 
4,779 pounds; in 1897, 4,850 pounds, and in 1898, 4,903 
pounds each. This is a milk farm, and the product is 
bottled and sent to Indianapolis, where it is delivered 
from wagon* to customers. Consequently no sys- 
FEEDING ENSILAGE IN THE FEEDING SUED.' - Fig. 316. 
