1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
7o7 
HOW SMALL A SILO IS PRACTICAL ? 
This question comes to me again as_ it 
lias many times before. Its answer, like 
many others of like nature, depends 
largely on the man. For some with one 
cow it would be a practical thing to sink 
a molasses hogshead in the ground and 
fill it with cut corn. Its practicability would 
depend on the amount of roughage avail¬ 
able, and the lack of other succulent foods, 
as well as the means at hand for grow¬ 
ing the corn, and putting it into the silo. 
Now these same principals obtain in 
every case up to 10 cows. After that in 
any case where corn will grow, and the 
silage milk can be sold (and the only 
place I know where it can’t, is to the Bor¬ 
dens), I believe it is not a question, 
“Can I afford a silo?” but “Can I afford 
not to have one?” The average feeding 
season is about five months,or 150 days. 
The ordinary cow will eat about 40 
pounds of silage daily, or three tons in 
this period; 10 cows mean 30 tons. A 
round silo 20 feet deep. (I do not believe 
it wise to have one above ground of less 
depth), and 12 feet across would hold 
38 tons, allowing for settling, would mean 
just about 30 tons actual. One the same 
height and 14 feet in diameter would 
hold 50 tons, about 40 actual after set¬ 
tling. This would cost but a trifle more 
to build, and would hold enough more 
for a longer season, more cows or Sum¬ 
mer feeding, either of these certainly a 
practical thing. edward van alstyne. 
ALFALFA IN MARYLAND. 
The enclosed clipping is from the Daily 
American of Baltimore, Md. I have been 
interested in the claims made for Alfalfa. 
If it can sustain these claims of its 
friends it is indeed a boon and might help 
solve the problem of poverty in the coun¬ 
try, of which there is a plenty. This 
“farmer of the fifties” may or may not be 
a “knocker,” but it does not appear in 
this article that he ever raised or even 
tried to feed Alfalfa. I believe it is ad¬ 
mitted that sometimes stock does not im¬ 
mediately show a preference for this feed, 
but will readily grow to relish it, and 
perhaps this old farmer got no further 
than this fact in his consideration of the 
subject. He appears to believe that the 
soil and climate of Maryland cause a 
change of characteristics in the plant as 
compared to the Kansas grown article. 
I doubt if this is true to much if any de¬ 
gree. I am pretty well acquainted in va¬ 
rious parts of Maryland, and am sure I 
have seen a good many horses and cows 
there which would have been glad if they 
could get all the Kansas corn they needed, 
and lots of people in that State relish 
Kansas—and even Chicago—beef and 
pork. He says it is common for Alfalfa 
roots to go down 20 feet. No doubt, but 
there is no farm implement in California 
which needs to bother about roots at that 
depth; besides, I have understood that the 
desire was to get the roots established, 
big and abundant, and let them stay per¬ 
ennially. But if he is afflicted by a heavy 
Alfalfa sod which he wishes to cut and 
turn under, and cannot find a plow that 
will do this to a depth of nine inches, it 
would seem an easy matter to import from 
Kansas a few that would do the work 
right. But perhaps our old friend refers 
to implements for cutting the crop, and 
believes that the great bunches of roots 
offer obstacles to the ordinary mower. 
Possibly; I do not know. This farmer 
writes well, and there may be some points 
in his article worth considering. I would 
like to read a few lines from his pen after 
he had visited the Alfalfa roots in the vi¬ 
cinity of Syracuse, N. Y. A. c. R. 
R. N.-Y.—In this article one who signs 
himself “A Farmer In the 50’s” says 
among other things: 
In Maryland the experiment of raising it 
"as made in one of the lower counties more 
limn 50 years ago by a most enlightened 
farmer, and is was not a success. It grew 
luxuriantly, but the stock refused to eat it. 
The climate and soil had divested it of the 
qualities which make it so attractive to 
stock iu the West. Horses and cattle pre¬ 
ferred the ordinal- y clover, which, though 
it may not contain as much nutriment, is 
sweeter and good enough for all practical 
purposes, the farmers familiar with the ex¬ 
periment considering it much better. But 
the worst feature of Alfalfa is the roots 
cast out by it and the depth to which they 
go. It is quite common in California for 
them to penetrate to a depth of more than 
20 feet and even further. This would very 
soon prove to lie a serious impediment to 
the kind of farming carried on in Maryland. 
None of the implements commonly used in 
this State would be able to work their way 
with facility through the great bunches of 
roots, and if Alfalfa is to be Introduced as 
a crop the farmers will have to alter their 
methods and adopt those in vogue in Alfalfa 
countries. This does not seem to be neces¬ 
sary. The common Red clover answers every 
purpose, aud it is a splendid fertilizer. 
We find our own stock eager for the 
Alfalfa—either green or as hay. In sev¬ 
eral places where at first Alfalfa hay 
could not be sold it is now preferred to 
clover. There is nothing in this objec¬ 
tion. As to the big roots, they are cer¬ 
tainly there, as anyone will find who tries 
to plow an Alfalfa sod. But is this an 
objection? Without those great roots the 
Alfalfa could not continue to grow year 
after year and give three or four cuttings 
each season. A cow to give a large flow 
of milk must have enormous milk veins, 
and Alfalfa must have big roots. They 
make little trouble, for no one expects to 
use Alfalfa in a rotation to be plowed 
every year like Crimson clover or cow 
peas. When we sow the seed we want it 
to stay for 10 years or more. This man’s 
trouble comes in regarding it as a rotation 
crop, when it should stand aside as a per¬ 
manent field. Prof. H. J. Patterson, of 
the Maryland Experiment Station, gives 
this sensible opinion: 
The success which has been attained in 
growing Alfalfa in almost every county In 
Maryland warrants us in encouraging 
farmers to attempt to grow this crop, and 
in making every effort possible to get at 
least a small area growing on their farms. 
There are many farmers who have succeeded 
in getting good stands of Alfalfa when the 
land has been properly prepared for thts 
crop. Many farmers are getting from four 
to six Ions of hay per acre each year. With 
Alfalfa seeded in the Fall it is usual to be 
able to cut at least four tons of hay the 
next year. One of our plots, which we had 
located on a farm between hero and Balti¬ 
more, yielded 4,800 pounds at the (irst cut¬ 
ting. With this sort of yields even one 
year’s cutting will warrant the putting in 
of this crop, for it will give more hay 
than can be obtained on the same land from 
the use of Timothy, clover or cow peas. 
Most of the failures iu growing Alfalfa can 
generally be traced to the selection of im¬ 
properly drained land, and failure to prepare 
and seed the ground properly. My own idea 
is that the growing of Alfalfa in Maryland 
is going to increase very rapidly, and where 
we have one acre now we will have hundreds 
of acres in the very near future. 
II. J. PATTERSON. 
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