Tfe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
505 
Asparagus Tops for Bedding 
Mr. Kille in his articles on “Problems 
of Asparagus Culture, page 288, asks 
for the experience of others in solving 
some of the numerousi problems that con¬ 
front the grower. The question of hu¬ 
mus and getting rid of the old brush was 
a bugbear to me for several seasons. I 
tried breaking them down and disking 
them in, but this proved unsatisfactory, 
so I finally resorted to burning them, with 
a feeling that I was robbing myself as I 
watched that humus going up in smoke, 
well knowing that this was the very stuff 
that would be the hardest to replace. 
The last three years I have cut the tops 
with a grain binder, to use in the stable 
for bedding. I made the mistake the first 
year of waiting until the tops were dead, 
and many of them were broken over so 
that it was a tangled mess, and we had 
some difficulty in getting the binder to 
elevate it, and to separate the bundles 
when tied. Since then we have cut it 
just as the tops began to ripen and turn 
yellow. 
We set it up in shocks, the same as 
wheat, and leave as long as weather 
conditions will permit, and so far have 
been able to get it to the barn well cured 
and dry. We cut it into 2-in. lengths 
with an 11-in. cutting box and three- 
horse gasoline engine, and can cut enough 
to bed five horses and 11 cows a week 
in an hour’s time (and we bed them 
deep, too). It makes a fine absorbent 
and is in prime condition to put back on 
the asparagus patch, or on auy ground 
that will be in cultivated crops to keep 
down the young asparagus plants that 
will come up from the seeds. 
We have also discovered that by throw¬ 
ing the manure in the yard where the 
pigs can get at it, they will root it over 
and pick out a great many of the red ber¬ 
ries, and seem to relish them. Cattle also 
seem to relish a certain amount of the 
cut tops; even the horses don’t disdain 
to take a few bites. On the whole, we 
now consider the asparagus to be an as¬ 
set instead of a liability. The worst job 
is cutting it with a binder. Only one 
row can be taken at a time, and even 
then, if the tops are luxuriant the ele¬ 
vator will clog and it may be necessary to 
pull the bundles away from the binder 
to keep the next bundle from getting 
mixed up with it, but we consider that 
it pays just the same. 
The pigs that are rooting out the red 
berries this Winter will be finished off 
next June with cornmeal and the butts 
cut off in .bunching the asparagus for 
market. Another problem that has been 
solved satisfactorily in this section is 
disposing of the crooked and broken 
shoots. The sprouts are broken off about 
an inch below the tips, and sold in quart 
baskets locally. The supply of these 
never equals the demand. 
Erie Co., Pa. archie d. Phillips. 
Corn for the Silo 
I would like to have a discussion on 
corn for the silo. Through observing re¬ 
sults on my own farm and through talks 
with a neighbor, I have nearly made up 
my mind that it is wasting good, valuable 
corn that is heavily grained to put it into 
the silo. I know of cases where cows are 
doing just as well on silage only partly 
eared as on very heavily-eared silage. 
This isn’t true to teaching. What is the 
matter? I cannot see why the results, as 
I see them, are this way, except that the 
cow does not assimilate the excess grain. 
She may, and probably does, partially 
digest the grain, but it does not show the 
results that it should. Can you put me 
right? It will soon be planting time and 
I am undecided. M. s. P. 
Sullivan Co., N. Y. 
This question has come up more than 
ever before this Winter. The high price 
of grain is partly responsible for it. It 
is evident to many dairymen that a large 
part of the corn in silage is passed un¬ 
digested by the animal. This makes 
many farmers think they would gain by 
husking out most of the ears and feeding 
cornmeal with the silage. There has al¬ 
ways been a group of dairymen who claim 
- thut it pays best to grow the big stalked 
corn aud get “'bulk,” feeding some strong 
protein feed along with it. This is op¬ 
posed to the general feeding theory us 
taught by our scientific men. but there 
are a good many dairymen who cannot 
convinced after watching their cows. 
Wbat do you say? 
Harvest Proves the Value 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
833 West 30th Street New Yorl 
