Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-03-05

The following article on this sub
Jet of ensilage, a subject which Il
commanding general and deserved
4 interest among the FARMERS or oul
state. was clipped from lhe "News
A antl f F,rmer," an excellent county
paper published at Louisa Court
4 House Va, and handed rs by Mr..
Chas. NJ. Barker OF our city, who IS
I a son-in-law OF Mr.. Watson. we
commend its careful reading to the
farmers ofour county;
Last falla number of gentlemen.
neighbOrs and others, witnessed, by
Invitation, my operation OF cutting
and packing away green cOrTi in
Silos; to be used as prOvender ia
winter. 1 think il probable that
most of those who saw the work QO-
ing on, considered il a wild notion,
and expected that the cut up corh
would make fair manue, and nOth-
ing better. To correct this idea and
to give our farmers an early opp0r-
tunity t. avail themselves Oh this
new plan for saving forage, is the
object of this communication, which
you will please place in your Agfi-
cultural column-if you see ht.
a ENsILAGE,
a French Agriculturalist, NJ.
GOtfart, has published Il little book
in which he describes the means by
which hs' succeeded ia preserving
green corn, say0ry and sound, as
winter food for stock. a second
edition Of the translation nf this
book, the title Of which Is, "The
Ensilage of maize" by j. h. BrOun,
N. Y, has been published in this
county; and the subject Of Ensil-
age il receiving general and deserv-
ed attention from Intelligent farm-
eis in many parts OF the Unitesl
States. ult
With view to testing the truth
of NJ. Goifart's statements, and those
Of Others, in this country, who nave
praetised his plan for several years,
/ dug two pits last year, and culti-
waited two pieces of corn. which 4
cut up and packed away in these
pits and | wish 10 give my coun-
Try men the benefit OF my expert
ence in the matter which is decids
edly favorable 10 the safe-keeping
OF the corn. That Clover Corn, and
other forage plants, put up and pre-
served in a green state, would be a
valuable addition TO Ourwinter feed
nobody seemed to at all doubt; but
most persons held the opinion that
it would not keep, you may cut il
uP and put it in de pits, out fore
Cod Sir, ii gwine mould" said
Ralph (eolcred). Now, my Sil0s
(the pits i'm which the stuff il packed
are called Siios) were designed 20
test this very question and | af-
firm that ii will not rot, but will
come out, after three or four months
sound and wholesome, snd will be
greedily eaten by the cattle. r..
have been feeding cattle upon it
for about month, and they look
strong and healthy.
aln l,ot prepared TO express an
opinion as to is nutritive value.
Most of those who have tried IL,
seem to think Hay worth doubtless
much as Ensilage; that l. so pounds
Of hay will keep an animal in as
good plight rs 100 pounds of l1iisi-
lage. If this is true, my judgement
Is that an acre Of land viii produce
three or four times as much forage
In Ensilage as i'm Hay. On one
piece OF my land from which Ensl-
age was cut, corn had grown for
six years In succession. IL wax
good land Of course, and yield 6f
was at the rate of about
Twelve or thirteen tons per acre
My opinion is that two tons of hay
Der acre would have been a good
:rop for this land under the cireuni.
stances in other words, the quan-
ity of forage obtained in Ensilage
vas three times that what il would
nave been in hay. A practical
leighbor, Mr.. M. Vest, after lookA
ng at the growing Ensilage, said to
ne, "lf this land had rested q few
ears, and you had theb turned un-
Ter good crop of clover, there
would have been double this guam
ity of corn on it.' M
My Silos being merely eXperi-
were moi constructed with
he accuracy and thOrUughness that,
: desirable.
They should bn, as nearly as pos
ible, air and lcdfer tight but my
rial has been 50 successful and SAT-
that 4 look forward to
larger and more perfect
ilos, and TO ensilaging large qtan-
tiles OF corn and clover. DU
This communication is intended
merely to draw attention To the
abject, Those Interested will DO
7ell 10 study M. Goffart's book, and
ltOrm themselves more accurately
han can be done by a newspaper
rticle.
THos. S. WATSON.