63 o 
SEPT. 20 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
cows in his yard at a time. There was 110 stable, and 
though the fence of the cow-yard and the house that it 
flanked, were moved off 25 years ago, its exact site is in¬ 
dicated to day by the extra growth of whatever is sown 
there. That extra fertile spot has been noted, commented 
upon, and always accounted for by the fact that cows had 
been yarded there, even by the very men who have prated 
of the “leaching” of the soil. 
To me the cow-yard has been a fine object-lesson. For 10 
years I have used movable sheds for all the farm stock, 
and grown real “show ” crops of all sorts in places wheie 
they had stood. In the women’s potato contest I should have 
absolutely failed to raise a reportable yield were it not that 
a small part of the plot consisted of an old stable yard, as 
I could neither hoe nor cultivate my crop on account of 
illness. It goes quite against the grain with a woman 
bound to “ make farming pay,” if possible, to occupy the 
same half acre as a “ cow-yard ” year after year, meantime 
growing stunted crops on starved land with infinite 
labor. My sheds are all double-boarded, with sheathing 
between, roofed with marsh hay, and put together with as 
few nails as possible. My ideal is a long shed, with a feed 
alley running through the center, and about six animals 
that agree well with each other confined together in a com¬ 
partment, the alley being flan ked by as many such compart¬ 
ments as my herd may require. I grow a great deal of 
young stock, and no manure is removed until spring. As 
the animals are loose in their pens, they keep their bedding 
firmly trodden down, and there are no wet or filthy spots. 
Less bedding can be used where such economy is necessary, 
and the manure in spring comes out fine and of good 
quality. The animals thus kept do far better, so far as 
I have tested them, than if fastened up. More rails have 
to be added round the top of the pens, as the bedding 
accumulates under foot. Dishorned cows might do nicely 
in this way, but mine still carry their horns, as they are 
all quiet. As a crowning refutation of the belief that 
caused many farms here to be abandoned, I can point to 
half-a-dozen different fields of clover that yield all the 
way from a small to a good crop in this neighborhood, and 
one on the very ground that my predecessor’s old cow- 
yard adorns. MRS. E. 8. LINCOLN. 
La Crosse Co., Wis. 
R. N.-Y. On page 207, in an article, entitled, “ The In¬ 
dications of a Good Soil,” Professor Davenport described 
what is termed a “ leachy ” soil. This is really a soil 
without any bottom or sub-soil. In digging into a 
“ leachy ” soil, instead of finding a good foundation of 
hard clay, we find that the soil grows coarser as we de¬ 
scend, consequently water will carry soluble fertility down 
with it just as, in the old-fashioned “ leach,” water poured 
in at the top, washes the soluble potash out of the ashes. 
SILAGE AND ITS FUTURE. 
A Comprehensive Study of the Matter. 
PROF. E. F. LADD. 
I. 
1. Why is it that so many of our farmers in New York 
State are strongly in favor of silage instead of dry fodder, 
while nearly all the investigators seem to be more or less 
opposed to it ? 
2. Is it advisable for New York farmers to build silos 
and grow corn for silage ? 
3. Is silage a proper food for milch cows and will it affect 
the quality of the milk and butter ? 
The questions included in the above are among the most 
far-reaching and important of any receiving the attention 
of progressive farmers in our State. In the second question 
lies the principle which when fully understood and rightly 
practiced will, in my judgment, do very much to lead our 
farmers to a higher aud more advanced mode of agricul¬ 
ture, and will enable them and particularly our dairymen 
to successfully compete with the cheaper and more pro¬ 
ductive lauds of the newer West. In my opinion the silo 
and silage will play an important part in the future agri¬ 
culture of New York, but we have very much to learn in 
regard to methods and should make haste slowly until we 
have learned the principles underlying the system. In 
the future of the silo I have great faith. First, let me say 
that up to three years ago I could not have spoken very 
favorably, for the quality of the silage I had seen was not 
of a character to inspire confidence, and I am sorry to say, 
that far too much of the same class is seen at this late 
day. I found, however, here and there a farmer more en¬ 
thusiastic and giving more favorable reports than others, 
while the number of silos kept increasing among our best 
farmers. I asked myself: Why are these men more in 
favor of the silo than the others ? 
I soon found that the product that they were feeding, 
with so much apparent success, was quite different from 
what I had been accustomed to see. Almost without an 
exception those farmers most successful with silage had 
planted their corn crop in nearly or quite the same way 
as if they wanted to grow and harvest the most bushels 
of shelled corn per acre, and the corn was allowed to ad¬ 
vance nearly or quite to the glazing stage before it was 
cut for the silo. This put quite a different aspect on the 
whole question of the silo and its products, for the com¬ 
mon silage was made from corn thickly planted, or of 
such varieties as would not get beyond the milky stage of 
the kernel; more often the ears were just forming. 
So far as 1 am aware, this is the class of silage used in 
all previous investigations, and it seemed that here must 
be the reason for the difference of opinion regarding 
silage and its feeding value. Why should there not be as 
marked a difference between these two classes of silage as 
between the green apple and its mature companiou—the 
one a reminder of colic, the other of delicious and health¬ 
giving qualities. That such a relation exists I would not 
affirm. Whenusked if the two cases are not similar, I am 
not acquainted with data enough to deny the claim, 
although others may be able to do so upon facts already 
established. 
The more I pondered over the difference of opinion, the 
more it seemed there was need of an investigation to gain 
some information on this particular point that would be 
of value to the farmers, who certainly have evinced a 
desire for more accurate knowledge of the science of 
agriculture. With that object in view an investigation 
was undertaken by the writer at the Geneva Station, but 
circumstances did not permit him to carry out more 
than a part of the experiments planned, and as yet much 
of the data secured remain unpublished by the station. In 
discussing the question of silage at one of the institutes 
it was asked, why should there not be the same 
difference between silage and dried fodder as between dried 
apples and fresh fruit ? The amount of nutriment may 
not differ materially in the fresh apple and the same apple 
dried, but the difference in the effect of both kinds upon 
the system, particularly on the digestive organs, when 
taken into the stomach, can not be questioned by those 
who have made the experiment. On the other hand, it is 
ported out that many experiments have shown little or 
no difference in the feeding value of dry fodder and silage. 
The reply has been made that green (immature) apples 
produce colic, but when dried they are found to be more 
nearly like dried apples from ripe fruit, having lost much 
of their colic-producing qualities. So green, immature 
corn may be better dried than when made into silage with 
all its fermentable products that go to make a silage not 
inaptly called “sauer kraut,” from its high per cent, of 
acid. It is not an easy matter to refute this line of argu¬ 
ment unless we have been carefully over the whole ground 
and have at our command facts secured on well founded 
experiments, designed to answer these queries. I am free 
to confess, I was forced to modify considerably my views 
when I came critically to review what had been done by 
our investigators, for It seemed that the experiments thus 
far made did not give answers to the real questions at 
issue, at least, from the standpoint of the New York 
farmers. 
To meet the full issue we have to do with the following: 
1. Silage from immature corn. 2. Dry fodder from imma¬ 
ture corn. 3. Silage from corn glazed. 4. Dry fodder 
from corn glazed, as last. 
Our comparisons of the above foods must be made in at 
least four experiments. 1. How does silage from im¬ 
mature corn compare with that made from corn glazed ? 
2. How does silage from immature corn compare with dry 
fodder of the same ? 3. How does silage from glazed corn 
compare with dry fodder from the same ? 4. How does 
dry fodder from immature corn compare with that made 
from corn glazed ? All the experiments thus far reported 
and which have come under my observation, would seem 
to be properly classed under the second head. According 
to the arguments brought out at the institutes this would 
be analogous to comparing green apples and dried apples 
of the same kind, whereas the real issue, so far as the 
more progressive farmers of New York are concerned, 
would come under the third question, or the comparison 
would be like that between ripe apples and dried apples, 
or, perhaps better, between canned fruit and dried. Such 
is about the nature of the discussion as brought out at the 
institutes and which the speakers in opposition have been 
obliged to answer with facts and not theories. 
(To be continued.) 
Womans Work. 
HOW DOES YOUR MANUSCRIPT LOOK T 
T has just occurred to me, as I sat wondering what 
I could say that would best help along the aims 
of The Rural New-Yorker, that a few notes on writing 
for the press that have come to me by experience at various 
times, might be of as much benefit to others who are trying 
their hand a little, as they have been to me, besides helping 
the editors incidentally by leading toward better and 
more presentable manuscript. I do not wish to refer to the 
matter, but simply to the manner. 
Through the aid of a magazine for writers that fell into 
my hands, and also of a brief experience in the office of an 
editorial friend, I have found that among the ordinary run 
of writers for ordinary papers, not one in ten sends in what 
may be called really good manuscript. Some is fair, some 
pretty poor, some, indeed much, would disgrace a 10-year- 
old school-boy ! I remember seeing two manuscripts in my 
friend’s office, both of which were really bright in thought, 
both the work of women who aspired to become regular 
paid contributors, one of which had over 50 mistakes in 
eight written pages, the other 47 in three pages. In one of 
them periods occurred frequently-in the middle of sentences, 
semi-colons were sown broadcast over the whole, and sen¬ 
tences were almost hopelessly mixed. Who could wonder 
if the editor groaned audibly at the sight ? Yet, as I said, 
the ideas were good, and the writer evidently had no sense 
of the deficiencies of her work. 
Those who know by virtue of their business, say that 
more amateurs fail through ignorance or disregard of de¬ 
tails than from lack of talent; that hundreds meet discour¬ 
agement every year who have plenty of talent, but who 
forget that " style is a conveyance, to which small bolts 
are as essential as wheels,” in order to completeness. 
The correct paper to use for manuscripts is often inquired 
about. Paper of common size, in half sheets about 5>^ by 
eight inches, is most frequently used by good writers and 
is perhaps as well liked as any by the compositors. For 
books, however, this makes a too bulky package, and a 
paper about six by nine inches is really better, all things 
considered. Large paper like foolscap, is too inconvenient 
to make friends for the sender of it; but if a writer desires 
to make an enemy of every one in the office, from editor to 
compositor, let the manuscript be rolled. In order that it 
may make the best impression, (a very desirable thing) it 
should not be folded at all; if folded, once lengthwise is 
best, although if quite thin, it may be folded to fit a com¬ 
mon envelope. The editor of one well known woman’s 
paper, keeps standing at the head of the editorial page, 
this warning sentence: “ All rolled manuscripts will be 
burned, unopened.” 
That manuscript should be written upon one side of the 
paper only, has been so well drilled into would-be writers 
by every editor of every paper in the land, that this require¬ 
ment is reasonably well complied with. It goes without 
saying that there are many grades of manuscript sent in 
to every office. Some is written in pencil, some in ink; 
some on long paper, some on square, some on fool-cap, 
some on tea-paper, some even on odd scraps ; some are ill- 
spelled, some medium in this respect, a few good ; some are 
blotted, some rubbed and blurred because in soft pencil, 
some illegible because of careless writing, a very few well- 
written with the pen, and an occasional one type-written; 
many are interlined until it is scarcely possible to make 
out the meaning, some so hastily done that the meaning is 
like confusion worse confounded. Is it necessary to say 
that most of these writers do not find it necessary to re¬ 
write or to revise their manuscripts, and would it do to 
wonder if it is, as a rule, only the imperfectly educated 
who believe themselves fitted fora literary career ? Do we 
not know that the neat and the attractive in appearance 
finds place for itself by this very quality, no matter in 
what domain ? Does not common sense tell us that a 
manuscript that is neatly written, in black ink, on regular¬ 
sized, convenient paper, with words correctly spelled, and 
sent in convenient form to handle, will find a welcome 
above any that shows the reverse of these qualities, which 
are merely common civilities shown to the editor and his 
assistants ? Do we need to be told that a rolled or dirty 
manuscript puts the editor on the defensive at once ; that 
a mis-spelled word or a mis placed punctuation mark in 
the first sentence (a not uncommon thing) will take extra 
good sense or freshness in the matter itself to overcome its 
untoward effects ? 
Another point that needs to be touched upon is this : 
Scarcely a paper but prints some paid matter, and some 
which is not paid for. Many are glad to get their contri¬ 
butions in print without thought of payment. But how 
is the editor to know ? He has no other resource than to 
conclude that remuneration is not expected unless the 
writer states positively that it is. Then, if you expect 
pay, say so ? You need only to write “ regular rates,” at 
the head of the page, along with your name, which appears 
at the upper left-hand corner. If you say “I hope you 
can use this,” or “ I hope this will be found available for 
your periodical,” you are not likely to receive payment for 
it, no matter what you expect. Nor are you certain of re¬ 
ceiving your precious brain-child back if it is not wanted, 
unless you send stamps, and that, too, at the same time 
with the article; for if you neglect to send them then, 
your choice production may have found its way to the 
nearest “junk-shop” before your rescuing stamps appear 
on the scene. If your article comes back to you it is not 
absolutely certain that it is of no value, for you may have 
exercised so little common-sense as to send an article on 
house-cleaning to the organ of the bicycle clubs 1 You 
have more sense than that ? Better use it, then; plenty 
of would-be writers have not, or if they have, it is like 
some people’s manners: They “have all they ever had, 
because they never used any.” There is a famous saying 
which runs: “ If the coat fits, put it on.” Of course you 
who know all about these points which I have mentioned, 
aud who never transgress the few simple essential rules, 
will not be either vexed or helped by these few words. 
But to the rest of you I say : If the coat fits, I beg that 
you will put it on at once and profit by its wearing, 
aud I am sure the editors will second me. 
MYRA V. NORYS. 
£Uis.'ccUuncousi ^rtvcrti.oing. 
In writing to advertisers, please mentiou THE R. N.-Y. 
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