1 Ava., 1898. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 145 
When Cut—Third week in November. This portion was not so tall as 
that of A, but had more leafage. It was cut, sheaved, stooked, 
and stacked in the same manner as A. 
Yield per Acre—2 tons. The second crop was eaten down. 
My knowledge of Panicum, based on experience both in North and South 
Queensland, is that it is one of the most valuable of fodder plants, being 
equally as much so in cool, moist districts, or in dry, hot ones. The abundance 
of green herbage it yields is remarkable, and no farm should be without a 
patch of it. As a green “stuff” it is an excellent “feed” for horses and 
cattle, and especially young stock. As chaff it is unsurpassed as horsefeed. 
he small seeds are also excellent food for fowls, and I have known laying 
fowls fed on it become prolific layers. 
SILOS. 
Tur great interest taken in the ensilage question by our farmers and graziers 
makes it incumbent on us to place before them all information at our disposal 
on the subject. In America the construction of silos has taken firm hold of 
the farmers of the United States. Mr. F. H. King, of the Agricultural 
Experiment Station of the Wisconsin University, gives the following practical 
remarks in a bulletin issued by that institution :-— 
In storing a portion of the coarse feed for farm animals, the silo has many 
adyantages over the ordinary methods. Not all coarse fodder should be made 
into silage, but a large share of it should be, especially on a dairy farm. 
Fresh, green herbage is the natural and_ best rough feed for cattle, sheep, 
and horses. Silage comes closer to this feed than any other. Besides being 
much cheaper than roots, it is a better general feed for cows, because it contains 
the rough fodder in addition to the succulence of roots. 
Silage deteriorates very slowly with age, if at all, after the first necessary 
losses have occurred, and may be fed when several years old; while dry 
fodders, even in dry climates and under the best of conditions, do lose in 
feeding value continuously with age until they may have lost 50 per cent. or 
more of their food value. 
Both clover and corn can be made into silage, and fed more cheaply than 
as hay or corn fodder. 
The storage space required for silage, per ton of dry matter, is only about 
one-third that required for hay. 
A silo makes it possible to keep a larger number of cows on a given area 
of land than is possible in any other way where rough feed is not purchased. 
The term ‘rough feed” is used to designate all kinds of dry forage, 
such as mealie stalks, hay, and silage, in contradistinction to grain, meal, or 
oil-cake. 
PUTTING THE SILAGE IN WHOLE OR CUT 
Corn and clover may be put into the silo either whole or cut, as seems best 
under the circumstances. In either case good silage can be made if proper 
care is taken, but more care and usually more time will be required to fill a 
silo with either whole corn or clover than to run it through the cutter first ; 
and it iy certain that more time will be required to take the silage out of the 
silo if put in whole. Great care must be exercised in putting materials into 
the silo whole to see that close packing is secured about the sides and especially 
in the corners of the silo, if rectangular in shape. 
DEPTH OF SILAGE IMPORTANT IN REDUCING NECESSARY LOSS. 
The depth of silage in the silo is the chief factor which determines the 
closeness with which it is packed, and consequently the completeness with 
which entangled air is expelled and outside air prevented from working down- 
ward from the top or towards the centre from. the walls in case there should 
be any leak there. . 
