Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-07-30
AGRICULTURAL.
ENSILAGE.


Mr.. Francis Morris, of Howard county
Maryland, said to be the first gentle
man in this country to undertake the pre-
servation of corn fodder in silos, writes
as follows to the Maryland Farmer;
made use of Indian corn as winter
food for stock as long ago as the winter
of 1876, and I have used it in each sue.
ceeding winter with great success. The
earlier it is sown the better its growth
is more rapid and luxuriant in May and
June than in July and August bushel
of corn to the acre in drills IL to Is inch
es apart. The crop should be worked
twice, and, when in tassel, should be cut
by a moving machine, carried from the
field in wagons to the feed-cutter, cut up
in pieces of about three quarters of an
inch, and put into the silo prepared for it.
The building of the silos is thoroughly
explained in T. B. Browns work on en-
silage, but any one who will make a
trench 10 feet wide and feet deep, and
cover it with earth Is inches deep, after
the cut-up maize Is put into the trench,
and then keep the earth carefully pressed
upon the maize, SO as to exclude the air,
will accomplish what is required. The
trench should have a shed over it, or q
shed matched with straw. Water should
be kept from the cut-up maize, as it
would doubtless injure its quality, if not
destroy it.
Maize or Indian corn requires from
forty-five to sixty days to ripen it into
tassel, and therefore it can be safely sown
up to the 18th of July. If thy land is in
good condition, it will yield twenty tons
to the acre it requires ton q month for
each COW, and all animals will improve
and do well upon it. By the use Of su-
perphosphates the crop can be doubled,
but this is matter subject to the will of
the farmer. Ten acres of maize will feed
thirty cows during the season that they
cannot feed out of doors, and will furnish
a quantity of manure to give a wheat or
corn crop. The advantage Of this crop is
SO great that it must change the agrioul-
ture of every corn-growing country.
Cattle and sheep will be raised on every
farm to an extent heretofore not thought
of. Wheat, to-day, by all our best farm
ers, is followed by clover, the clover is
cut and made into hay, and this is fed to
the stock. Maize will take the place of
clover hay, and the clover will be grazed
off the land, and the animals will return
it to the land better prepared to act as n
manure than if the clover was cut, made
into hay, carried to the barn, and then
fed to the stock The advantage of graz
ing clover off the land is very great, as it
at once returns to it all that clover takes
from the sod
We recommend every farmer who reads
these suggestions to SOW an acre of land
with corn or maize-if you have no drill,
SOW it broadcast, and when in tassel use
any old moving machine you may have
to cut it down, and then if you have no
feed-cutter, buy or borrow one and cut
up the fodder, as ordered-bury it in the
ground, and when winter comes feed your
stock upon it, and when you try it once
YOU will never be without it again. 1
have used it for four seasons, every time
with complete success, and know that it
multiplied the value of our land three or
four times over.