1805. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
4o7 
SILOS AND SILAGE IN MARYLAND. 
Here in Maryland wherever stock is kept “corn is 
king,” and the question which confronts each farmer 
is the best and cheapest way to convert that corn into 
milk or cream. Ten years ago every dairyman cut and 
shocked his corn by hand at a cost of $1.25 per acre; 
husking and lifting cost $3 per acre. The fodder was 
hauled to the barn, put in a mow and then cut or shred¬ 
ded at a cost of $6 per acre. The corn was hauled from 
crib to mill and crushed at a cost of 50 cents per 
barrel or $5 per acre, making in all a cost of $15.25 to 
save an acre of corn and prepare it for feeding, often 
finding there were plenty of stalks left to bed the 
cattle. 
To-day we have the silo. By planting corn a little 
thicker, eight to 10 inches between each stalk and three 
feet eight inches between the rows, we can easily get 
12 tons of silage per acre. With a corn binder, cutting 
box and a good force of hands this corn can be put into 
the silo at a cost of 75 cents per ton, or $9 per acre, 
making a saving of $6.25 on each acre in favor of the 
silo. From the silo all stalks are eaten, and there is 
a very perceptible difference in the palatability and 
digestibility in favor of the silage. An acre of good 
corn put into a silo will feed a cow nine months, and 
as all stalks are eaten the balance between the grain and 
hay feed will be nearly right. The same acre cured 
in the old way will feed a cow about as long, but as all 
the stalks are wasted the balance between the grain 
and hay feed will be lost. You will have too much 
grain for your fodder, and will be throwing into your 
manure just half the feeding value of the fodder. 
As silage is so much more digestible and palatable 
than dry fodder, a cow will eat so much more of it. 
No correct comparison can be drawn between the tvVo 
feeds as to the amount of feed an acre will produce. 
But the milk pail will speak in favor of 
the silage every time. The silo of to-day 
is round, with iron hoops run through 
lugs fixed with nuts so it can be drawn 
up tight. It takes nearly twice as much 
lumber and five times as much labor to 
build a 100-ton silo square or oblong as 
it does to build it round and of staves. 
My silo is round, homemade and built 
inside the barn; just plain undressed 
two by six hemlock, hooped together 
with five-eighths round iron hoops, with 
nuts and lugs to tighten it. It has been 
standing eight years, and is just as sound 
as when built. It keeps silage perfectly. 
I used rough scantling two by Six, not 
beveled, simply because it is easier to 
make a tight joint with rough timber 
than with dressed, and the two inside 
corners of the staves coming together 
will match and make a tighter joint 
than they would if the whole two-inch 
surface touched. I consider the tongue 
and groove between the staves of bought 
silos entirely unnecessary to the keeping 
of the silage, and it will hold moisture and rot the 
staves; but it adds greatly to the standing up powers 
of the tub. Therefore should I build a silo out of doors 
where it would be exposed to sun and wind I would 
build a tongued and grooved silo. 
My silo holds about 70 tons; 2,000 feet picked stuff 
built it. This cost me $40. The hoops, cement, foun¬ 
dation, carpenter and mason work brought the cost up 
to $85 complete. It is 26 feet high and 12 l / 2 feet in 
diameter. The staves are cut 16 and 10 feet and set 
up, breaking joints each time. I have never seen a 
concrete silo, so do not know how they keep silage, but 
several inches of the silage at the bottom of my silo 
next the concrete floor always has a peculiar smell, and 
I always have thought the concrete was responsible for 
it. After eight years’ experience I can unhesitatingly 
advise all dairymen to build silos, and to build them big. 
When you have fed silage for one season you are sure 
either to begin buying or raising more corn the next. 
Montgomery Co., Md. john h. janney. 
BANDS FOR THE CODLING MOTH. 
“Orchardists in Tasmania are subject to a fine of from 
$2.50 to $5, with costs, if they fail to bandage their trees 
to keep down the Codling moth, or if they fail to gather and 
destroy any infested fruit. Wormy apples sent to market 
are destroyed.” 
The above is from a recent issue of American Fruits. 
What Is there in the use of this bandage? Does it do any 
good, and if so, what kind of bandage is used, and what 
has to be done in connection with its use? s. H. M. 
Berkeley Co., W. Va. 
It is true that in Tasmania the law requires that 
apple trees be bandaged during a certain portion of the 
year, for the purpose of helping to control the Codling 
moth. I have a copy of the law, which is a formidable 
document of 21 pages, consisting mostly of “red tape.” 
As early as 1746 it was discovered that the Codling 
moth caterpillars preferably sought the shelter of the 
crevices and loose bark of the trunk of the tree to spin 
their cocoons. About a half a century ago it was acci¬ 
dentally discovered that large numbers of the cater¬ 
pillars would crawl under cloth bands tied around the 
trees. In 1864 a famous “hay-rope” band was devised, 
and during the decade between 1870 and 1880 this 
“banding” method was the principal one pursued by 
apple growers in combating this pest. Many exper¬ 
iments have been made in different parts of the v/orld 
which have demonstrated that hundreds of the cater¬ 
pillars can be enticed to spin their cocoons in or under 
these bands. Any kind of coarse, thick cloth makes a 
good band if it is arranged to present one or more folds 
in which the worms like to spin their cocoons. Two 
bands should be. placed on each tree, one near the 
crotch and the other near the base, thus offering con¬ 
venient places for the worms which may come down 
from the apples on the trees, and also for those which 
may go up from the “windfalls.” The bands are easily 
made and can be quickly applied by placing them around 
the tree and driving a tack or nail through the over¬ 
lapping ends, or by simply tying a cord around the 
middle of the band. The bands should be put on about 
June 15, and should be kept on until the fruit is gath¬ 
ered. They must be removed and examined every ten 
days until the latter part of August, when it will not 
be necessary to examine them again until late in the 
Fall. The frequent examinations are necessary in the 
Summer to prevent the caterpillars from transforming 
into moths for another brood of the pest. But all those 
which go under the bands after the middle of August 
do not transform until the next Spring. On removing 
the bands, the insects in the cocoons are killed by either 
dipping the bands in hot water, running them through a 
wringer, or by any other method which will crush the 
cocoon. It is said that the expense of banding for the 
season need not exceed four cents per tree. Exper¬ 
iments have shown, however, that under the most favor¬ 
able circumstances not more than half of the cater¬ 
pillars spin up under the bands, and then not until they 
have done all of their destructive work in the fruit. 
The bands thus simply help to reduce the numbers of 
the next generation of the insect, and are, at best, only 
a partial remedy. All who have tried it thoroughly, 
however, claim that it is a profitable supplementary 
measure, but it is not nearly so effective as a poison 
spray. Since the advent of spraying, the band treatment 
has largely gone out of use because the spraying is 
cheaper and more effective, and where very thoroughly 
done, following with the “banding” treatment, would 
involve unnecessary expense. Where there are two cr 
more Fall broods of the Codling moth each season, I 
think it would pay to supplement the poison spray 
with the “banding” method, for the spray is effective 
largely against the first brood only. 
M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
SULPHUR AND FORMALIN ON POTATOES. 
I raise potatoes very largely, but of late years have been 
greatly troubled with scab. Do you know about this sulphur 
treatment? It seems to me it should be used before cut¬ 
ting, as it is the skin and not inside that contains scab 
germs. I once used corrosive sublimate, but could not sec 
that it did much good, if I should use corrosive sublimate, 
could I use the same solution right through, or after several 
times using should I put in more sublimate, or make entire 
new solution? Does this in any way injure the vitality 
of the potatoes? If sulphur is good, how much would I need 
for 200 bushels seed? c. n. r. 
Pennsylvania. 
We foave used sulphur for some years, both alone and 
in connection with soaking. For preventing scab we do 
not find it equal to soaking, but we are satisfied that 
it sometimes prevents rotting of the seed, especially in 
wet soils or cold, damp seasons. Formalin is better 
than corrosive sublimate for soaking the seed. You can 
use one pint of formalin in 30 gallons of water. We would 
rinse off the potatoes before soaking and let them stay 
in the liquid two hours. They will not be hurt unless 
the sprouts are very far advanced. The same liquid 
can be used again and again. After taking out the pota¬ 
toes dry them and cut. We use peach baskets for this 
purpose, scattering sulphur over the seed from time to 
time and shaking the basket so that the sulphur sifts 
down through. The basket should be put on a paper 
or cloth so that the sulphur which sifts through can be 
used the second time. The true scab is a skin disease 
which spreads by means of tiny germs. The object of 
soaking or using sulphur is to destroy the germs on 
the seed without hurting the sprouts. Of course a 
liquid would be more likely to destroy all these germs 
than a powder would. There may be germs in the soil. 
In such case the crop might be scabby even though all 
the germs on the seed were killed. This will explain 
the matter to some who cannot understand how there 
could be scab on the crop if the seed is thoroughly 
soaked. In some cases sulphur has been scattered in 
the hill or drill with the seed, and this has given clean 
tubers even when it was known that a scabby crop grew 
there the year before! We have found that the sul¬ 
phur preserves the seed. In some cases we have found 
the piece of seed with sulphur still on it at digging time. 
CULTURE OF ASPARAGUS. 
I would like to know how to cultivate asparagus. What 
I have read in your paper does not tell how to cultivate 
after it is several years old. Does it need salt? I have 
been told to use salt on the bed, but was afraid to exper¬ 
iment too much with it. M. n. 
There are no mysteries in the culture of asparagus. 
If well planted in rich, light soil it should yield profit¬ 
able crops for 12 to 15 years with sufficient cultivation to 
keep the soil mellow and free from weeds during the 
growing season. If white or bleached asparagus is 
grown, as is usually the case when intended for market, 
the soil is ridged with the plow or other tool over the 
rows as early in Spring as the land can 
be worked. After the cutting reason is 
over the ridges are leveled by plowing 
a furrow from each side to the center and 
harrowing the field crosswise until the 
whole surface is level. If not manured 
earlier this is a good time to apply fer¬ 
tilizers, which should contain three to 
five per cent ammonia and about eight 
per cent each potash and phosphoric 
acid, put on broadcast at the rate of 600 
to 1,000 pounds an acre. Keep up cul¬ 
tivation, especially after rains, until the 
tops get too large to allow passage be¬ 
tween the rows, after which they will 
shade the ground sufficiently to keep 
down further weed growth. Salt as a 
fertilizer still has its advocates. The 
Arkansas Experiment Station in Bulle¬ 
tin 86 reports an increase in yield from 
applications at the rate of nearly five 
tons of salt to the acre; 1,000 pounds to 
the acre did not appreciably increase 
yield nor diminish the usual number of 
weeds. From this it will be seen that 
salt as a fertilizer is not likely to be profitable. Ten to 
20 tons of stable manure to the acre plowed in at the 
first Spring working or 1,000 pounds high grade chem¬ 
ical fertilizer after cutting ceases has proved most 
nrofitable. 
BUY ONLY THE BEST WIRE . 
A question found in the box at our institute is very 
suggestive of the feeling of many farmers, especially 
since The R. N.-Y. has made clearer the condition of 
much of the wire fencing that has been placed on the 
market. It read: “How can we get satisfaction from 
the manufacturers of galvanized wire fencing?” After 
some discussion it was advised to buy only from reliable 
manufacturers, buy under a guarantee and get iron wire 
instead of steel; also pay a little better price, if nec¬ 
essary, for a good article. To-day I have been in a 
large manufacturing establishment where galvanized 
goods are largely used. The foreman said that he 
bought from persons whom he knew to be reliable, and 
made personal inspection of the galvanizing process. 
Electrically galvanized goods in the present stage of 
the process he does not consider it advisable to buy. 
Steel is too fine grained to allow the zinc to penetrate, 
hence iron, which is more porous, is preferable. This 
is shown also in the sheet iron and sheet steel, both of 
which are used for galvanized and tinned plates, the 
iron holding the galvanizing and tinning much better. 
There is a process of galvanizing by which the zinc, to 
be used for the coating, is finely divided into particles 
and is forced into the porous iron, making, with the 
outside finish an enduring galvanized iron. Get only 
the best grade of galvanized iron goods is his advice. 
H. H. L. 
R. N.-Y.—But how are we to know what the “best 
grade” is? On eveiy side of this question the need 
of a government test and standard for pipe, wire and 
nails comes up. 
FIRST LESSON IN CULTIVATING. Fig. 170. 
