1175 
Good Growth of Alsike Clover 
T HE picture at Fig. 351 shows a hay field on 
the farm of William Bassett of Yates County, 
N. Y. 
-It is Alsike clover and a small percentage of 
Timothy, and it was so heavy they could not use a 
rake on it, as two widths of the knife-bar cut would 
make a good windrow, and the track cleaver on the 
end of the knife-bar would not clear it. so a man had 
to go along ahead ot the machine and pitch it away 
with a fork. The haycocks were so close together 
one way they could not drive a wagon between them, 
and they were just so they could drive between them 
the other way." 
Mr. Bassett ^ays: 
• “The soil is not muck, hut is dark loam and clay. 
The field has not been treated with any fertilizer in 
Wie’past three years. Rotation of crop Alfalfa sod 
broken up, planted to corn, followed with wheat. 
Timothy seed sown with wheat in Fall—-about three 
quarts per acre. In Spring two quarts of Timothy 
and four quarts Alsike.” 
A Grange Hall in Wayne County, N. Y. 
O YK of tlie newest and most ornate Orange homes 
in New York is that of Williamson Grange, in 
Wayne County. Cnlike many Grange buildings, no 
other business is carried on. except that of public 
entertainments held in the auditorium, 
which is spacious and of most modern 
appointments. Besides turning away 
tempting offers for business places on 
the ground floor, the building was con¬ 
structed back from the street, giving 
a most pleasing little park in front of 
the edifice, graced by a liberty pole 
and concrete walks. The interior ar¬ 
rangement is all that can he asked for 
in a Grange home, there being every 
late idea incorporated in the plan. 
a. n. i\ 
Plowing Under Tall Rye 
I AM enclosing snapshot of a three- 
acre field of rye that stood from five 
to seven feet tall, being plowed under 
with a chain attached to the plow, as 
suggested on page 909. Ilad it not 
been for this timely suggestion and 
accompanying sketch, the rye would 
have had to stand and mature, for 
which purpose it was not wanted, as 
rye had been sown for cover crop, land 
to he used for growing silage corn. The 
corn, though planted late, is doing ex¬ 
tremely well. MISS. W. E. HOLCOMB. 
Connecticut. 
Silage For Beef; Quality of Corn 
EE DING W ITII O I' T (IAIN.— 
I Hiring the past few years we 
have had a number of questions asking 
the value of silage when the corn is 
cut at different stages of growth. Some 
remarkable figures have been given to 
show the difference between mature corn and green 
or frosted corn. The Experiment Station of South 
Dakota, at Brookings, has taken up this matter in 
Bulletin 1S2. They found that when cattle are taken 
from pasture in the late Fall many of them did not 
gain a pound during the next five months, unless 
fed on expensive feed. Some of them were in poorer 
condition the following Spring than they were in 
the Fall. As a cheap means of keeping the cattle 
growing it was proposed to use corn silage, so 
experiments were started with feeding cattle. Dur¬ 
ing the Winter these cattle had nothing but corn 
silage, water and salt, and they made reasonable 
gains on that feed. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH SILAGE.—Some years 
ago, when the silo was* first introduced, it was 
claimed by many that silage was a dangerous feed 
for cattle. Finally the dairymen demonstrated its 
value, and then it was claimed as unsuitable for 
beef cattle, especially when large quantities of it 
were to be fed. In order to settle this matter the 
South Dakota Station fed steers for two Winters. 
These steers had nothing except all the silage they 
would eat, free access to water, and what they 
wanted of salt. The chief object of the experiment 
was to find the feeding value of silage made from 
corn which was cut at different stages of growth. 
Four small silos wCre built. One of them was filled 
with corn cut in what is known as the blister or 
milk stage, that is. before the grain hardened iu the 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ear. Another silo was filled with corn in the dough 
stage, that means when the kernels have reached the 
point where they would squeeze in the hand into a 
soft milk or dough. Another silo was filled when 
the ears were fully glazed or dented in just about 
the stage the corn would he when cut for grain. The 
fourth silo held tills same kind of corn which had 
been cut by an early frost in about the condition of 
many cornfields each .-season in New England. Five 
steers were fed on each kind of silage, and careful 
weights were taken. A good many readers have 
asked for the analysis of silage when cut under these 
different conditions, and we give herewith a table 
showing how these different kinds of corn compared. 
This is the average of two seasons. 
POUXDS IX 100. 
Frosted . 
Protein 
3.74 
Carbohy’s 
22.30 
Fat 
1.34 
Moisture 
59.8 
Matured . 
2.5 
14.G2 
.85 
74.3 
Dough stage. 
2.39 
14.91 
.91 
7.'!.2 
Milk stage. 
2.32 
10.45 
.86 
79.14 
TESTS FOR ACIDITY.—As we see, the corn cut 
in the milk stage contained over 79 per cent of 
water, while in the frosted corn there was a little 
less than GO per cent. Of course the steers ate more 
of one kind than they did of another. One interest¬ 
ing thing about these samples-was a test made for 
their acidity. This test was worked out by finding 
the amount of alkali needed to neutralize the acid 
in one gram of the silage. The green corn cut in 
A IIearn Crop of Alsike and Timothy. Fir/. 351 
the milk stage was nearly twice as acid as the 
frosted corn, while the matured corn contained about 
GO per cent as much acid as was found in the green 
corn. All the steers fed on silage alone made a fair 
gain. The best gains were made on the silage made 
from the mature corn, or from that in the dough 
stage. The steers fed on the matured corn made a 
gain of 2.27 lbs. per day. while the silage or corn iu 
the dough stage made a little smaller gain. The 
steers fed on frosted silage averaged 2.09 lbs. per 
day. while the steers on the unripened corn averaged 
1.93 llis. The steers fed on the unripened corn 
averaged nearly 77 lbs. of silage for each day's 
feeding, while on the frosted corn they consumed a 
little more than 56 lbs. It seems evident from these 
experiments that cattle will make a fair gain 
through the Winter on silage alone, if they are kept 
Comfortable and well supplied with water and salt. 
Grain added to the silage would increase the gain, 
but silage alone will produce fair results. As for 
I lie quality of silage it seems evident that when the 
corn is about ready to he cut for grain it is at its 
best for cutting into the silo. A light frost on such 
corn does not spoil it for silo filling. The quality 
is a little reduced, but it still makes good feed. 
Some Questions About Buckwheat 
I would like information about raising buckwheat. 
My idea was a rotation, beginning with buckwheat the 
first year, coru or millet the second, seeding with oats 
and grass the third. I am told that.coru will not follow 
buckwheat. Is this so? I eaunot see why, but as I 
do not know, and would like to find out. My idea was 
to break up the buckwheat laud in the Fall and harrow 
thoroughly the next Spring until time to sow to see if 
I could not control the witch grass. I thought it would 
be easier to handle the corn crop, would not need so 
much hand hoeing. About how much fertilizer and what 
kind is necessary V I have also been told that buckwheat 
straw poisons some kinds of stock. Is this so? If so, 
what is done with the straw? F. E. w. 
Vermont. 
T is true that there is a prevalent belief that corn 
and oats do not do well after buckwheat, but I 
do not know of any experimental evidence that con¬ 
firms the belief. In my own locality they are not 
asked to;-buckwheat is raised either upon ground 
that is not considered good enough for more exacting 
crops, or upon the more rough and distant fields 
where hoed crops would not be practicable. Because 
of its dependence upon favorable weather conditions 
at the time of seed formation for a profitable crop, 
buckwheat raising is considered something more 
than the farmer’s ordinary gamble with nature, and 
there is little disposition to go to any unnecessary 
expense in preparing for it. Though early plowing 
for the crop is considered markedly beneficial, the 
buckwheat ground is usually the last fitted, and fre¬ 
quently seeding has to follow closely upon the heels 
of the plow. Commercial fertilizers are ordinarily 
used with this crop, both because it is ordinarily 
raised upon inferior land and because they have 
been found to pay in most instances. 
From 100 to 300 lbs. of a low-grade 
fertilizer per acre is generally used. 
Acid phosphate alone or a mixture con¬ 
taining phosphoric acid and a little 
potash are favorites. Much money has 
undoubtedly been wasted, however, on 
higher-priced, but still low grade fer¬ 
tilizers containing from one to two per 
cent of nitrogen, it now being recognized 
that such amounts of nitrogen add 
little to anything but the price of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers. 
One year with another, buckwheat 
is a profitable crop, though its uncer¬ 
tainty as to yield in any season is well 
illustrated by the story of the farmer 
who complained to his seedsman that 
he had sown four bushels and only har¬ 
vested three. lie explained that he 
did not care so much about the loss of 
the expected crop, but he did want to 
know what became of that other bushel 
of seed. It is not likely tliat'you would 
care to give buckwheat a permanent 
place in your rotation upon ground 
suited to the more valuable hoed crops. 
Buckwheat straw, also, has an undesir¬ 
able reputation. It is said to cause 
itch in animals bedded with it. and to 
be of so little value generally that a 
stack left in the barnyard in the Fall 
will show nothing but a hole in the 
ground by Spring. The value of this 
• straw is underestimated, however; it 
has tided many a fioek and herd over 
a period of scant haymows, and has a 
valuable place in the manure pile. The 
writer has used it for bedding, and has 
never observed any ill effects from its use. It cer¬ 
tainly should not he burned upon any farm where 
a large manure pile in the Spring is considered an 
asset of value. Everything considered, however, 
buckwheat is not a crop for the tilled fields close to 
the farm buildings, but rather one for the less acces¬ 
sible land where manure cannot be so well spread, 
and where the loss of a profitable return in any one 
season will not mean so much in that season’s 
operations. m. b. d. 
The Ohio Wool Situation 
The Ohio Wool Growers’ Association, through their 
warehouse at Columbus, O., has handled, at this date 
(August 1) quite a little over one millions pounds of 
wool for the members. Besides what went to the ware¬ 
house. over half a million was graded, weighed and 
sacked and shipped to nulls or large dealers. We hoped 
for two millions this year, and will pass that mark 
shortly. We would have had more than we could han¬ 
dle this year, only the desire to grab wool, as well as 
to try to discredit co-operation, started every local buyer 
in the last of June with figures up to 77c, when wool 
was quoted under 70c, delivered in Boston or Philadel¬ 
phia. The raised figures caught many of our members, 
but they are sad now, since there will be subsequent 
waves, and even normal prices must be higher than any 
yet paid. Everyone will know wool is scarce soon, and 
it is worth $3 a pound compared with the price of cloth¬ 
ing mad* from virgin wool. Wool will be as good prop¬ 
erty as now for years, and the man who has it is unwise 
to push it on a buyer. w. w. reyxolds. 
