832 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
September 1G, 
EXPERIENCE WITH A SILO. 
When the corn is about knee high we 
plant Soy beans with a common hand 
corn planter. A variety best adapted to 
our latitude is planted between the stalks 
of corn. This makes the beans about 
12 inches apart. Where the corn is 
missing the beans are planted closer. 
The corn binder gives the most success¬ 
ful way of harvesting the corn. The 
machine is set so that it will bind the 
bundles as small as possible. Two men 
go with each low-down wagon and lift 
the bundles on the wagon. Last year 
the men in the field said they would like 
to try cutting the corn by hand and 
loading on the wagon as they cut it, 
but after about two hours of that kind 
of work they unanimously appealed for 
the corn binder to be put to work 
again. Our silo is 12x26, with a five- 
foot cement pit. It is by experience 
that we secure knowledge, and now we 
see our silo is too large in diameter for 
the amount of cattle we feed. We feed 
from 18 to 23 head, but we eventually 
hope to have more cattle. The silo 
should have been blit 10 feet in diam¬ 
eter and the staves 30 feet. This size 
would permit feeding over the entire 
surface in one day. 
Several persons have inquired about 
the condition of the silage in the ce¬ 
ment portion. The cement part is 10 
inches thick and has no bottom save 
mother earth. It was constructed with 
a view to being air and waterproof, 
which it is. The silo stands on a slight 
elevation, and the bottom of the silo is 
higher than the surrounding earth, and 
from this fact we are not bothered with 
water in the silo. Since the cement wall 
is airtight little or no silage is ever 
spoiled. 
Too much cannot be said in favor of 
the silo. It is the only economical 
method of caring for the corn crop. By 
no other means will the cattle consume 
all the corn. When fodder is shredded 
stock leaves much of the stalk, which is 
wasted and must be worked into ma¬ 
nure, which is a slow process and makes 
the manure hard to handle. When the 
cob and corn are ground up together it 
makes a very dry feed, and not nearly 
so large a per cent is digestible as 
when cut up green and put in the silo. 
When through filling the silo if we do 
not intend to begin feeding at once we 
never place anything on top of the 
silage to prevent molding as the time 
consumed taking off does not pay for 
the small amount of silage saved. 
To get best results for Summer 
feeding the stock man should have twe 
silos, one for Summer feeding and the 
other for Winter feeding. We do not 
have our silo divided but feed half off 
one side down about 20 inches, then feed 
the other side off, alternating back ar.d 
forth. One farmer in our section who 
has two silos and feeds out a bunch 
of steers each Winter makes the asser¬ 
tion that by silaging his corn he gets 
$1.50 per bushel for it. Such assertions 
seem rather ridiculous and a great 
many times such things are guesswork 
and the farmer has kept no accounts 
and does not know definitely but as¬ 
sumes and compares and takes for 
granted, but there is no doubt the silo 
is an economical asset, though we are 
not quite sure that it pays any such 
handsome profits. When the value of 
the silo becomes more thoroughly un¬ 
derstood larger numbers of them will 
be erected, and the farmers and farm 
profited thereby, ira G. shellabarger. 
Miami Co., Ohio. 
Feeding Problems. 
Will you advise me which of these two 
rations * will be best for dairy cows, or 
better still, balance a ration for me? 
Ration No. 1. 
Corn and cob ground together 
Oats, ground . 
Wheat, ground . 
Cotton seed meal. 
Ration No. 2. 
50% 
20 % 
20 % 
10 % 
Corn shelled and ground. 60% 
Oats, ground . 15% 
Wheat, ground . 15% 
Cotton-seed meal . 10% 
100 % 
These rations are supplemented with pea 
hay, silage and all the stover they will 
eat. J. m. w. 
Virginia. 
Of the two rations you mention there 
is but little to choose between them, ex¬ 
cept that the first contains corn and cob 
meal, and I would prefer to omit the 
cob, as a cow’s digestive energy can be 
used to better advantage by feeding 
more nourishing food. I would suggest 
the following formula with which you 
can feed all the stover your cows will 
eat: 
Digestible 
Dry 
Pro- 
Carb. 
matter 
tein 
and fat 
35 
lbs. silage. 7.35 
.315 
4.515 
10 
lbs. pea hay.... 8.93 
1.079 
4.18 
2 
lbs. cottonseed meal 1.84 
.744 
.888 
2 
lbs. ground oats.. 1.78 
.184 
1.136 
2 
lbs. ground wheat. 1.80 
.204 
1.46 
3 
lbs. eornmeal. 2.67 
.237 
2.292 
24.37 
Nutritive ratio 1 :5.2. 
2.763 
14.471 
Of course the amounts given above 
are only approximate, and must be va¬ 
ried to suit the requirements of the dif¬ 
ferent cows to which the ration is fed. 
C. S. G. 
Unthrifty Pigs. 
I have a lot of pigs which are thriftless 
and do not grow. They eat heartily and 
are pot-bellied, as we say in these parts. 
What shall I do for them? I feed on a 
mixture of bran and middlings, and have 
recently added eornmeal. Can it be pos¬ 
sible that they have worms? s. G. 
Maryland. 
The lack of thrift in these pigs 
is due either to improper feeding or to 
worms of stomach or bowels. The pres¬ 
ent ration seems all right, so the pigs 
should be treated for worms and given 
a tonic for a time till they get thrifty. 
Wood ashes, salt and iron sulphate are 
mixed with the feed and given pigs 
with good results. One-third of a tea¬ 
spoonful of santonin morning and even¬ 
ing, followed by a dose of oil or salts, 
should prove effective. Watch these 
pigs closely and you may find exactly 
what their trouble is, enabling you to 
doctor them effectively. 
Ohio. W. E. DUCKWALL. 
Stock and Poison Ivy. 
In your issue of August 12 is a descrip¬ 
tion of how to destroy poison ivy by pastur¬ 
ing cows on it. In this section we do not 
notice that any kind of stock desire to eat 
it, and we are quite sure we have had 
lambs killed by it, not by eating it, but by 
it poisoning their faces so completely as 
eventually to cause death. The Ohio Ex¬ 
periment Station, Circular 3 02, recommends 
strong salt brine, three pounds to gallon of 
water, thoroughly sprayed on. They re¬ 
port poison vine failed to grow the next 
Spring after two good sprayings. They re¬ 
port salt has proved the best spray thus 
far tested for Canada thistle, poison ivy, 
yarrow and horse nettle. The spray used, 
viz., three pounds of salt to the gallon of 
water, and 50 to 75 gallons per acre, is not 
expensive. An application of this solution 
by a sprinkling pot to a bunch of ivy 
turned the leaves brown. This for general 
information. H. C. 
f'adiz, Ohio. 
Garget. 
My cow is five years old, came fresh in 
April, but had trouble with her udder cak¬ 
ing, and gave some bloody milk. I bathed 
it with warm water and got her over it. 
Every few days she will give a little bloody 
milk, and it seems to hurt her to be milked. 
I have to put a strap around her to milk 
her . She runs in the apple orchard, but 
does not get many apples, for they are 
scarce; has good water given her every day. 
She gives four gallons a day, is a Jersey 
grade. J. M. w. 
Ohio. 
Keep the cow out of the orchard until 
her udder is sound. Feed carefully and 
prevent chill and bruising of udder. At 
times of attack give half an ounce of salt¬ 
peter in the drinking water once daily. 
Foment the udder with hot water three 
times a day and then rub in melted lard. 
If trouble persists mix a dram each of fluid 
extracts of poke root and belladonna leaves 
to each ounce of lard used. A. s. A. 
Foot Rot. 
What do you recommend as a cure for 
hoof ail? T have had three cows troubled 
with it. I keep them apart from the dairy. 
They go down in the milk yield. The foot 
is sometimes feverish. What can I do for 
the cows and prevent the spread of it? I 
have heard that lime scattered in the barn¬ 
yard would prevent it. Is that so? c. F. 
New York. 
By “hoof ail” we take it that you mean 
“foul in the foot.” or “foot rot.” in which 
disease the cows are lame and there are 
sores and discharging cracks about the 
hoof-lmad and between the toes. Keep the 
cows out of filth, wet and grit. Cleanse 
the parts. Cut away loose or under-run 
horn of hoof, then swab with a saturated 
solution of sulphate of copper and cover 
sores with oakum saturated in full strength 
coal tar disinfectant. Repeat this treat¬ 
ment for three days, then cover sores with 
calomel, to be kept in place by a layer of 
oakum on which a little pine tar has been 
spread. Bandage on top of the oakum. 
Lime will not prevent the trouble. 
A. s. A. 
Cow with Cough. 
I have a cow in good condition as to 
flesh, good milker, but has a cough. 
New York. n. n. p. 
Cough is merely a symptom of irritation 
and may be induced by any one of a 
large number of different causes, so that we 
cannot give an opinion as to what is the 
matter. As tuberculosis is a common 
cause and the most serious cause of cough, 
better have the cow tested with tuberculin. 
A. s. A. 
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FORYOU-THE BEST 
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IfAN IHC MANURE SPREADER 
T O secure the best results, manure must be Spread with 
a machine, because fork-spreading wastes manure, 
wastes time, wastes energy, and wastes opportunities 
for increasing the income which a farm is capable of yielding. 
In progressive communities you will find that most of the 
manure spreaders in use bear the I H C trade-mark. Pro¬ 
gressive farmers take no chances on their crop insurance. 
They want absolute assurance before they decide. 
Before they bought I H C manure spreaders, they found 
thqt they were simple in design—unusual in strength—and 
remarkably efficient. *• 
They found the power transmitting mechanism the most 
durable used on any machine, because the beater gear was 
held in a single casting which prevented the gears from spring¬ 
ing out of alignment and cutting the teeth. They found that 
the long, square, chisel pointed teeth insured positive pulver¬ 
izing of all manure; that the teeth were long enough to tear 
the manure to pieces before it wedged against the bars; that 
the teeth did not rim the bars; that the beater was large enough 
in diameter so it did not wind. They found that the rollers 
which supported the apron were large, that the apron moved 
easily; and that self-aligning roller bearings on the main 
drive axle not only reduced the draft but prevented the axle 
from binding, and cutting the axle brackets, a fault not un¬ 
common to spreaders. 
IHC . 
Service Bureau 
The purpose of 
this Bureau is to 
furnish farmers 
with information 
on better farming. 
If you have any 
worthy question 
concerning soils, 
crops, pests, fer¬ 
tilizer, etc., write 
to the IHC Serv¬ 
ice Bureau, and 
learn what our 
experts and others 
have found out 
concerning these 
subjects. 
Kemp 20th Century 
Corn King Cloverleaf 
You have choice of these three styles. Each 
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Don’t plant another crop before you see the 
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one that suits you best. Get catalogues from 
him, or, if you prefer, write direct for any 
information you desire. 
International Harvester Company 
of America 
(Incorporated) 
Chicago -USA 
