82 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Fes., 1900. © 
compete against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our business is, then, t0- 
make the best possible use of our opportunities; increase and maintain the | 
productiveness of our land; spend no time in vain regrets for what we did not | 
get out of the past, but get all we can out of the present; endeavour in every 
legitimate way to better our position, and make farm life as pleasant and | 
profitable as it ought to be; pay tribute where compelled to; be neighbourly — 
and obliging towards each other; helpful to those in need; slow to anger, 
especially with wheatbuyers ; respectful to all men, but taking sauce from none. 
FEEDING SILAGE. 
Ty feeding silage it should be borne in mind that it is a succulent forage, and — 
naturally seryes its best purposes when fed to animals most heavily during 
the earlier portion of the fattening period. It is cooling to the digestive tract, — 
while yielding nutrition and furnishing bulk. Silage containing the full 
complement of grain will furnish most of the food materials required at first, 
but as fattening progress more grain should be given and the supply of silage 
somewhat reduced, for the digestive tract should not handle too much food of — 
such large volume. The carcass of the animal under silage feeding will naturally 
be more or less watery, the same as it is when cattle are on grass. Feeders 
know that this is a condition particularly to be sought during the earlier stages 
of fattening where a high degree of finish is desired. Let more dry roughage 
be given and the supply of grain increased as the fattening period progresses, 
so as to build a firmer and drier flesh. . 
ENSILING POTATOES. A 
A xumeer of French agriculturists have recently studied the desirability of 
ensiling potatoes. A: considerable amount of heat is generated by the fermenta- 
tion of the green material in silos, and it was thought this could be utilised, and 
the potatoes could be cooked as well as preserved. 
In one test the potatoes were buried in a silo filled with crimson clover. 
They acquired the characteristic colour of that plant and the odour developed 10 
fermentation. ‘The tubes were flattened by the heavy pressure to which they 
had been subjected. When removed from the silo they were comparatively 
soft. They were examined microscopically and chemically, and it was found 
thati they had been cooked by the heat of fermentation, and that they were 
rendered more digestible by the process; that is, the percentage of soluble 
material was increased. i 
Another silo was filled by surrounding about 1 ton of potatoes with corn 
(whole plant). Upon opening, the corn and potatoes were both found in good 
condition, The tubers were somewhat flattened, as in the previous experiment, 
but were more cohesive. The potatoes were not as thoroughly cooked, since 
the temperature and pressure were less than in the previous case. 
As shown by analysis, the potatoes ensiled with crimson clover had lost 
less water than those ensiled with corn. he most striking difference, however; 
was the high percentage of cooked starch; or, in other words, the increased 
assimilability of the potatoes ensiled with clover. The crushed potatoes when 
removed from the silo lost weight very rapidly on exposure to the air, an 
formed a hard mass containing only 15 to 20 per cent. of water. In this 
condition they could be kept for a long time. When required for feeding 
purposes they were soaked in water, which they readily absorbed, and thus 
regained their softness and digestibility. 
Another investigator ensiled chopped raw potatoes with 2 lb. of salt per 
1,000 Ib. of potatoes under pressure of 2,500 i. per square yard. The total 
cost:of washing, chopping, putting in the silo, and weighing _50 tons of potatoes 
