The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-03

chine. have two men in the silo. Thus
| make the cost:
Five laborers at 81 cents. ..-.-........ . ) .
One mechanic at cutter. .--.-.-.- .---.. %
One engineer -. 49, -.
Coal, $50 D
~
Use of engine .....-....... .-....--.--.-. : ~
Csc Of feei-cutter. --.-...--.--...- --... l y
IncidentaIs -. -...... -. ..--... 40
IS 90
Ten bundles pass easily per minute,
making 225 lbs or 13, 800 lbs. per hour:
hut as there is time lost in oiling and ex-
aiming knives and removing them to shar-
pen, / only reckon 1900 lbs. per hour as
regular result This gives a net cost Of 20
cents per 1850 lbs. Cen'est rien | have
not tried with a horse power, but have 1t
from a neighbor that it costs so cents for
ESQ lbs. This is still endurable. | am
about to make an experiment to determine
the comparative nutritive value of hay and
ensilage. One Of my mich COWS has fed a
month on the latter. | believe that its nu-
tritive value is more than one third, and
shall not be surprised if go lbs. of maize
are worth at least 10 lbs. of hay, and
probably more.
Il have Just let IA farm on shares. and the
party stipulated that l should let to him my
steam-enoine and feed-cutter, because there
NdS q ciIO CIV - "ao I'LL y t'ib SpD1
that he took the place. | say frankly that
[ believe we have made a mistake in our
successive paintings of maize, in order to
feed it green. 1t would do better to harvest
it all at the same time, and ensilage it all.
There would be more economy, and the
maize that we should use. after being three
weeks in the silo, would be more nourish-
ing. / shall do it so next season. The
later planting often gives bad results, and
the ground is not 50 easily worked"
Monsieur Goffart remarks upon this letter:
s'My ensilages the past year reached more
than 1872, 900 lbs. per day, and the cost per
ton was 25 per cent. less than his figures,
which can be explained by the fact that my
machinery was more powerful than his.
II agree with NJ. de Beauquesne as to the
relative value of ensilaged maize and hay.
Ensilaged maize at Burtin is worth in nu-
tritive power one-half that Of hay but our
hay in SOlogne is poor, and in other coun-
tries the relative value of maize may decline
to one-third.
M. de Beaupuesne, after giving in de-
tail the different expenses of ensilage, adds,
1T is nothing l will go farther than he,
and l will say, this expense constitutes a
considerable saving. The expense Of cut
ting and ensilaging a million of kilogrammes
of maize is, at most, a thousand francs. In
stead of proceeding, from day to day, to
cut up the maize for the days sustenance Of
your animals, you prepare in Is days the
food for 200 days you have put your maize
in such a condition that the stable-man has
no other trouble but to fill his basket in the
silo and empty it in the manager. Here are
some figures in proof of this statement.
ION a farm in the valley of the Loire are
fattered each winter a certain number of
animals, with beets, hay. and oil meal.
Twelve animals OF this diet require the
steady work of a strong laborer, who
washes and cuts the beets and chops the
hay or straw. This laborer is paid 45 cents
per day. He receives, therefore, 81 cents
per head. At Burtin, with the ensilage at
three steps from the stable, two men, at the
same wages, take care of so animals, making
a daily expense of l cents per head. The
difference in favor of Burtin is more thar
10 francs per day, and this saving is more
than double the sum expended for ensilage.
The last paragraph Of the letter, relative
to the advantage of feeding only ensilaged
maize, even in summer, agrees perfectly
with my ideas. | wrote in 1915, in one Of
my pamphlets, 1T should never be lost sight
of that to cut, and to ensilage in a way to
obtain a good fermentation, is to increase
enormously the alimentary value of maize :;
and | ask if. even in autumn, when the
fresh maize is abundant, it would not be an
advantage to pass it through the silo.'
I'm order to settle this question careful
and intelligent experiments are necessary,
and no one IS better able to resolve it with
authority than VI. de ~Beauquesne.'