The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1881-02-24
Agricultural.



EEMsycr Williams o, Nashua. one 81
ihe raoss level beaded and successful husi'
ncss men 81 that city. ard Thoroughly re.
listils man eyu-way, hulii and hllcd aele
lssi year, and be fed ont Ia eoa,cnts this
winter NJ. Williams Who i Tho ovncr
o. large fouadFy, Is also quite farmer,
onltirssing uumhcr 81 fertile ACRES, and
keeping nine o. ten cows, several horses, a
drove Of hogs. and considerable ponltry
His barn Is situated On Temple street, near
The Concord depot, close BY hi. foundry
Las, summer be had large field a. corn
which was planted 70 thick and grew 50
rank tina, he thought IL would not ear and
ripen well. and be therefore determined 10
cut GU, large portion Of il for fodder A
little calculation showed him tina, be could
Gu, GU, al least scvcnty.hve tons Of green
corn; and still leave enough
As be could not use all this fodder green
how 10 preserve Il was the question. He
solved il by building silo. Going into a
shed which sdioins his barn be took up the
fleor and dug underneath hole like n
cellar; this hole he laid wall around, and
this wall be covered with cement In this
way he made a tight cement box or cellar,
twenty feet long, ten feet WIDE and 'hir-
teen fee. deep. The cost Of building the
wall and eemeniing the whole was about
500 He had in the shed fecd-cutter
made by Daniels OF Woodstock. VI which
he bad bought for about $40 and had pre-
yiously used TO cut dry fodder. Cutting
up his corn as be found leisure he drew II
to this shed direct from the field, run il
through the cutter which cut into pieces
about two inches long and these he dumped
into the hole, treading them down some
what compactly ~ one would tread hay
II was about five weeks from the time he
began to cut corn until be finished and
had the eilo filed He then procured
Some two-inch plank just as long as the pit
was wide and laid them on the fodder so
as to make cover for the whole mass and
upon these he piled heavy weights. Moth
ing more was done with it until the first Of
December. At that time Mr. Williams
had eight large cows in milk and three
calves. These cows had been fed for sew
eral months on the best OF English hay
and fvo or six quarts Of shorts each, per
day and were oil in good condition.
The stock was at once taken from hay
diet and fed with snsilage, the ration OF
shorts being continued as before, and for
the next month the cattle did not eat q
spear OF hay. In week the quantity of
milk had increased one-eighth and the |
stock took on fat so rapidly that heifers
not in milk are now almost fit for the |
butcher. Ensilage was also fed to six or
eight shotes that thrived famously on it,
and to hens that it caused to lay as no |
other food would. At the end Of the
month Mr.. Williams, finding that he had
not ensilage enough to last through the
season, stopped feeding it exclusively and
has since fed hay with it. While the cows
lte it as their only food except the shorts,
hey would not drink drop OF water The
laily allowance to each COW was from fifty
to sixty pounds which cost less than
cent. When taken from the silo the ensi-
age is quite damp and about the color OF
green tea grounds The perfume that
zones from it is not like that from new
nown hay by any manner OF means, but a
,ross between that Of Dutch cheese, half
often apple pomace and cider emptyings.
70 put it mildly,a more disagreeable smell
lever came from animal food Of any kind,
md so volatile and lasting is it that two
,unces OF ensilage when iudciously used
$ sufficient to scent whole block for at
east forty eight hours. In aword there is
lothing in the appearance or smell OF the
tuff to justify the supposition that any I
nimal with we'll regulated stomach
ould be starved into touching it; but we I
NOW for our eyes have seen it, that even
fter stock OF cattle has eaten their daily [
llowance, they will reach, and struggle ,
nd scramble for more, and that they eat
What is given them as clean as they would
neal.
With these facts before him it is not
TRANCE that Mr.. Williams has become an
nthusiast on the subject of ensilage and
hat he believes that it opens almost inf
lite possibilities to the New Epglane farm
re-. When asked for his opinion he said:I
ully indorsc the most extreme statements 4
1 DIR. Bailey whom regard the greatest .
enefactor the farmers of this country ever I
card Of. can raise fodder corn and put
| into aSIlo for 81 ton, md / am so con- i
inced OF iis value that wonlJ not change
wo tons OF it for one ton Of the best Eng
sh hay ever put into barn. Every farm
r in this part Of the country should build
silo for with one there is no reason why
be man who now WORKS hard to keep Just o
ven with the world should not mako
thousand or fifteen hundred dollars every
ear" That Mr.. Williams fully believes
hat he says. is certain enough; First be-
nuso he is not the man to state what he
oos not believe and secondly because lie
now making preparations to build an
Their silo with a capacity OF 200 tons; and
may be added that some Of his neigh
ors who have watched his experiments
lie further gone on the subject than he.
o his cattle he feeds the ensilage just as
comes from the pit. For his hogs he =
cams it. He believes that the quality Of