ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
17 
the stones, &c., was S217, allowing full wages for our time. This two 
hundred tons is equal to seventy tons of hay, costing $3 per ton, or ten 
tons to the acre. We believe that by putting all the manure back 
onto the seven acres we can raise 40 to 50 tons to the acre. With 
fifteen acres of corn and twenty acres of pasture land they propose to 
carry fifty cows through the year, their plan being to feed ensilage in 
winter and to supplement the pasture in summer by a light feed of 
ensilage morning and evening. 
One of the most stirring advocates of the new system is Dr. John 
M. Bailey, of Bilerica, Mass., who built the first concrete silo in the 
U. S., in the summer of 1879. He received his inspiration from read¬ 
ing J* Brown’s translation of Goffart’s story. He has contributed 
very rnuch. to the public confidence of the system by his energy in 
practicing it, and his activity in writing about it. He has two silos— 
capacity of 400 tons—which cost $500, or $1.25 per ton of capacitv. 
He claims that under this system that milk can be produced for one 
cent per quart, butter for ten cents per pound, beef for four cents per 
pound, and mutton for nothing when wool is worth thirty cents per 
pound a statement strong enough to craze Illinois dairymen who are 
now getting 45 cents a pound for butter. 
Dr. Wm. H. Farmer, of South Amenia, Dutchess Co., N. Y., 
built one silo in 1880, capacity 250 tons, and has since been using 
ensilage for his winter feed. He carries a dairy of 86 cows, and is 
greatly pleased with his experiment. 
> James S. Chaffee, of the same town, built one silo in 1880, and I 
believe has since added another, his intention being to provide a varie¬ 
ty of food, by using one silo for corn and the other for clover and 
Hungarian grass jointly. The clover could be put into the silo in 
time and later when the Hungarian was ready to harvest ; the clover 
could be safely uncovered to receive it on top and again weighted. 
Jacob Pugsley, of Stafford, N. Y., built and filled a silo during 
the same summer. The quantity being limited, considering the num¬ 
ber of his herd, he fed only a part of a ration of ensilage during the 
first winter. He says : “ If it proves to be a lact that 60 pounds per 
day is a full ration for a cow, ensilage will be considered the most 
important discovery mankind has ever made since Adam found Eve.” 
O. B. Potter, of Sing Sing, N. Y., has been practicing a system 
peculiarly his own since 1877. He has been using underground brick 
silos. These are arched over and are provided with man-holes, or 
pecks, through which the cut fodder is thrown into the pit below. It 
is then tramped down and covered with earth or brewers’ grain. As 
it is not compressed with a continuous pressure of 50 to 100 pounds to 
the square foot the air is not entirely expelled and the ensilage is 
always sour. Mr. Potter sa}^s, however, that his cattle do well upon 
it. The silos are connected with each other by narrow openings, 
making a succession of chambers and also a passage to the stables, so 
that all the food and the labor of supplying it to the animals is under¬ 
ground and out of sight. He thinks well of his system, but is evi¬ 
dently behind the best light of the day on the new subject. 
