THIS RURAL NEW-YORKER 
113 
i UN¬ 
IMPORTANCE OF CORN SILAGE AND 
ALFALFA. 
t XTENSIVE DAIRYING.—Last May 
1 The R. N.-Y. had a discussion about 
dairying in Central New York. It ap¬ 
pears from the answers that they are 
given by “Conservative” farmers who be¬ 
lieve that it should take five acres per 
cow per year, as against the “new agri¬ 
culture” as taught by the agricultural 
stations throughout the United States. 
The New Jersey Agricultural Station in 
Bulletin No. 131. figures that 40 pounds 
of corn silage and 13 pounds of Alfalfa 
hay a day is a balanced ration for 1.000- 
pound cow giving up to 20 pounds of milk 
a day. Assuming that A. R., who asked 
the question about dairying, has 50 cows 
giving only 20 pounds of milk a day for 
300 days at $1.02 1 / 4 per hundred, on a 
good 200-aere farm that is good in tilth, 
said cow will bring in for milk $90.50 per 
year. (A large number of York State 
farmers are getting much more per cow 
for milk.) Land in good tilth and fairly 
good fertility should produce 15 tons of 
silage per acre. Thousands of acres of 
New York State land are now producing 
314 tons of Alfalfa per acre. It has been 
proved by several agricultural stations 
that 2.000 pounds of Alfalfa equals 1.S00 
pounds of bran. If such is the case, why, 
as farmers, should we produce clover or 
other hay which yields so much less in 
quantity and that does not leave nearly 
so much rootage (over 15 tons) in the 
ground to decay and produce humus, and 
positively leaves the soil much poorer ‘in 
nitrogen, instead of supplying enough for 
the three following crops, as Alfalfa will 
if grown? 
Farming With Brains. —Why does 
the mind grasp such important facts so 
slowly? Why can we not comprehend 
that every square foot of ground should 
produce a paying crop? Why are we so 
slow to learn? Some one has said “As 
a man thinketh. so is he,” another has 
said, “As a man readeth, so is he.” Then 
if reading make us think, let us first take 
TiieR. N.-Y., then exclusive dairy, fruit, 
vegetable, horse, swine, and poultry pa¬ 
pers. Get in touch with our agricultural 
colleges and our Department at Wash¬ 
ington, and go to reading and thinking. 
Tf we do. it must bring results, if we put 
into practice only one-half of what we 
learn. Then if we keep purebred stock 
of all kinds, out income will be increased 
at least 50 per cent, over the figures be¬ 
low, which are returns from only ordin¬ 
ary stock, only a little above the average 
on any farm, and are based on returns 
from Alpha Farm, and what we are try¬ 
ing to accomplish. “It is not all gold 
that glitters.” and we lost nearly one- 
half of our 52 acres of Alfalfa seeding 
last Winter, but we are still at it with a 
purpose and aim to bring results as esti¬ 
mated ; they are not visionary, for the 
different lines are already being success¬ 
fully accomplished -with even better re¬ 
sults than we hope for and more than we 
claim. 
Milking Machines. —We have had 
experience with the little foot power milk¬ 
ing machine, and after two years pro¬ 
nounce it a success. It was taking two 
men three hours to milk our cows twice 
a day (six hours in all). My tenant 
bought the milker, and he and his wife 
do the milking in 1% hours twice a day. 
It is no trouble for one man with the 
milker to milk 20 cows an hour that give 
only 20 pounds of milk a day or 6,000 
pounds a year. Two men and two ma¬ 
chines will milk 50 cows giving 20 pounds 
of milk a day in IV 2 hours each morning 
and night. If you own the machines, 
they save you enough so you can afford to 
pay the man who does the milking enough 
per month so he will stay with you. 
The Silo. —Yes, silos are essential, 
not only for dairy cows but for all kinds 
of stock; even 10 per cent, of silage if 
fed to hogs is profitable. Everything about 
the farm eats it. No crop grown pro¬ 
duces one-half as much desirable feed per 
acre. Then why should we grow some¬ 
thing that pays so much less? There 
are not half the silos there should be. 
Why will we insist on five acres per cow 
when with two silos, one for Winter and 
one for Summer (no pasture), and Al¬ 
falfa, when three-sixths of an acre of 
silage will feed a 1.000-pound cow 365 
days and four-sixths of an acre of Alfalfa 
will feed the same 1,000-pound cow 365 
days (1 1-6 acres iu all) the protein in 
the Alfalfa will balance the silage to 
6,000 pounds of milk during the year 
with no other feed at all, except on the 
days when the cow will give over 20 
pounds of milk a day, or the fore part of 
her lactation period? 
Combination Feed. —When a cow 
gives over 20 pounds of milk a day, grind 
corn and cob together, take a like amount 
in weight of cottonseed meal or flakes, the 
protein in each costs about .044 per 
pound, and for each 3% pounds of milk 
over the 20 pounds balanced by the Al¬ 
falfa and silage, give one pound of the 
combination. No other combination is as 
cheap, and you produce all except the cot¬ 
tonseed meal or flakes on your own farm 
and save the 65 cents on a dollar that is 
estimated to go to the railroads, commis¬ 
sion men and dealers. Remember that 
all stock and fowls require a balanced 
ration and all they will consume to make 
you the most profit. (You should send 
to the University of St. Paul farm for 
“Feeding Dairy Cows,” a heavy board- 
bound bulletin issued by the Minnesota 
station. It teaches you how to figure a 
balanced ration). Remember that Alfal¬ 
fa cuts your concentrated feed right in 
the middle. Why not grow Alfalfa? Re¬ 
member that silage and Alfalfa lets you 
more than double your stock on the same 
acreage, or on one-half of the land you 
can keep as much stock as you now have 
if you are carrying at present all your 
farm will maintain. This is no guess. 
A large number have proved it, and any 
agricultural college will substantiate my 
claim. 
Profit in Hogs. —Hogs? Yes. He 
should have on 200 acres 50 cows, 25 
calves, 25 yearlings comUng two-year- 
olds, eight mares, and six two-year-olds 
and sell six coming three-year-olds every 
year. He should have seven sows and one 
male and have two litters a year of 63 
pigs each, or 125 pigs a year. (Be sure 
to get the Nebraska Agricultural College, 
Lincoln. Neb., bulletin on feeding whole 
cut and ground Alfalfa to hogs. Also the 
Missouri Agricultural College bulletin 
No. 95, on pasturing hogs on Alfalfa. 
Not only do they teach that you grow 
hogs on Alfalfa pastures, but cut nearly 
three tons of Alfalfa per acre besides.) 
Now cut your work for caring for hogs 
in the middle. Arrange a large hopper 
feeder the same as a small continuous 
poultry feeder, only one that will feed 
from both sides eight to 16 feet long, ac¬ 
cording to the number of hogs you feed, 
fill it with one-third ground corn, oats, 
and rye; put this before the sows on the 
pasture, Alfalfa, if possible, if that is not 
possible, clover or rape; and in the Win¬ 
ter, near a rack filled with No. 1 Alfalfa 
hay. The Nebraska bulletin will ex¬ 
plain. The pigs will learn to eat as soon 
as they ought. Don’t mix slop, stoop 
and break your back carrying it. Dry 
feeding has been tested out and produces 
as much pork and no work except filling 
the self feeder a wagonload at a time. 
Have an automatic waterer and you do 
not have to touch the hogs till the load 
of feed is consumed. 
Calf Feeding. —He should sell 25 
veals at $15 each. He should grow 25 
calves, after two weeks old without milk, 
but fed on Alfalfa hay tea. Write Il¬ 
linois Agricultural Station for bulletin 
on calf feeding by Prof. Fraser. He used 
150 pounds whole milk and 400 pounds 
skim-milk and produced good calves. Sev¬ 
eral farmers here are growing calves on 
hay tea. After six months old, on a pas¬ 
ture, they cannot be told from the full 
milk calves. Notice contents of the fol¬ 
lowing calf feed: 
Proto! n Carbo-Hy Fat 
1 gal colostrum contains.. .1.408 .216 .288 
1 pal. whole milk contains.. .288 .392 .296 
1 gal. skim milk contains.. .232 .416 .024 
Compare hay tea with whole milk. 
1 lb. Alfalfa and % lb. flax- .117 .41 .01 
seed meal, In 1 gal. water .1545 .012 .2175 
Pried blood meal % ounce.. .0163 .00 .0008 
Linseed oil, one dram (tea¬ 
spoon) .0001 .00 .067 
.2879 .422 .2953 
Michigan. a. o. h. 
Wife : Oh, George, do order a rat- 
trap to be sent home to-day.” George: 
“But you bought one last week.” Wife: 
“Yes, dear; but there’s a rat in that.”— 
Universalist Leader. 
Hen Manure and Alfalfa. 
I N your issue of Dec. 26. J. A. C. asked 
about hen manure for Alfalfa. Your 
reply would lead anyone to think that 
hen manure was worth but little on Al¬ 
falfa. The writer has grown Alfalfa for 
a good many years, and can say that 
there is no place on the farm where hen 
manure will pay the dividends that it 
will on young Alfalfa, and that there is 
no other manure on the farm or in the 
fertilizer bag that will pay as big divi¬ 
dend for the money invested. Y'ou speak 
of Alfalfa being able to secure its nitro¬ 
gen from the air but you should have 
added “after the inoculation has formed 
the little nodules on the roots.” On land 
that is not fully inoculated with the bac¬ 
teria Alfalfa will live for a long time, 
but fail to make a satisfactory growth, 
and nitrogen supplied in some kind of 
fertilizer will help wonderfully. We 
make a practice of harrowing our Al¬ 
falfa fields and then drilling in some fer¬ 
tilizer in case we do not have hen ma¬ 
nure, and we find that no amount of high- 
grade fertilizer will give the growth that 
a good application of hen manure will. 
You state that the value of hen manure 
is mostly in the nitrogen which it con¬ 
tains. Analysis shows from 16 to 40 
pounds of nitrogen, 16 to 40 pounds 
phosphoric acid (the variation being 
caused by the different feeds fed) and 16 
pounds potash per ton. If that analysis 
is correct it shows that the prosphoric 
acid and potash value is more than one- 
third of the total: it also shows an ap¬ 
plication of the suggested two tons to the 
acre to be a very heavy one for most 
soils. J. A. C. is indeed fortunate if he 
can secure four or five tons of the ma¬ 
nure every week, and should not only be 
independent of the fertilizer trust, but 
should raise bumper crops of Alfalfa. 
New Y'ork. c. i. hunt. 
R. N.-l r .—You must remember that the 
question came from Kansas—not from 
New York. The Alfalfa soil was fully 
inoculated and giving very large yields 
already. No one can question the value 
of hen manure, but in the case men¬ 
tioned we think it would pay better on 
corn. 
Silage for Pigs. 
A N inquirer asks: “Is silage safe to 
feed pigs? How much should be fed, 
how begin to feed, the best grain 
to go with it, and the dangers in feed¬ 
ing it?” 
Although Henry says: “The high fiber 
content of corn silage plainly indicates 
that it cannot be successfully used to any 
extent in swine feeding,” he says: “The 
digestive organs of the pig with the con¬ 
tents, comprise but 7.5 per cent., and those 
of the ox over 14 per cent, of the body. 
Because of the limited capacity of the 
stomach and the nature of its digestive 
apparatus, the pig requires food that is 
more concentrated, and digestible, and 
less woody than that of the other large 
farm animals.” However, many farmers 
have fed silage successfully, particularly 
that which has a large quantity of ma¬ 
ture corn in it. Opinion vax-ies as to the 
efficiency of silage as feed, but this is 
due largely to the differences in the qual¬ 
ity of silage, and the methods of feeding 
it. A leading swine authority says that 
silage is valuable to add to the Winter 
rations of our swine. An Indiana farm¬ 
er says: “We have fed our sows for four 
Winters equal parts of silage and corn- 
meal put into a cooker, and brought up 
to a steaming state. It has proved very 
beneficial to them. It maintains the 
flow of milk of the sows that are nurs¬ 
ing the young, equal to. when they are 
running on clover. 
Only very little silage should be fed 
to start with, a pound or so, mixing it 
with cprnmeal, shorts, or other concen¬ 
trated feeds. The ration should be made 
up of easily digested grain food. It can 
be fed to advantage in small quantities, 
not to exceed three or four pounds daily, 
is the opinion of some users. w. j. 
The National | 
Government 
and many 
State Governments 
„ Jill 
— I ft 
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