The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1881-04-13
OUR FARM BUDGET.
More Interesting Experience in the
Preparation OF the New Winter
Fodder.
HORSES for Practical Purposes-American
J Butter In Foreign handspring
PIowfng-Farm and Work
shop Notes, Etc.
The New Winter Fodder.
New York Real Estate Guide. I


New York Real Estate Guide.l
No proposed change in time-honored
methods of agriculture has excited so deep
Ian interest among progressive farmers as the
recent experiments in preserving green for
ake crops in silOs and cement-lined pits. One
of the earliest adventures in this new field
zss our old friend Mr.. Clark w. Mills, OF
rareek Farm, near PomptOn, n. j.
I've have vivid remembrance of his dis
l5bointment with the first experiment,
(which was simply an excavation into which
the green corn stalks were placed and COW
cred with straw and earth, rs well as the
good-natured manner with which he &C
cepted and endured the unsparing ridicule
kef the natives of that section of New Jer-
NJ. Nothing daunted, however, the fol-
wing season he excavated pit in his barn,
walled up the sides, and subsequently ce-
meRted it. The result was so gratifying
! that he extended its size and added another,
until his silos are now as extensive as any in
4the country, and mis- success last year was so
Encouraging that he is now wlntering 10
sad of horned cattle and twelve horses
Without pound of hay, and he is conf
dent that he will bring his entire stock
| through until May weather furnishes graz
| ing His store of ensilage Tor ''cow kraut, y
Is faeetious farmers style the preserved fOd-
ier) was gathered from less than thirteen
acres of land, and it is simply the stalks of
| Indian corn, cut when green into half-inch
lengths, and packed in silOs under pressure
so tightly to exclude the air. Mr.. Mills
Estimates the entire cost of his supply OF
MONT eco tOns-incuding seed. tillage, gath
aIxy Il
|rfy-at less than $500. When it IL remem-
pered that sufficient amount of hay to
swer the same purpose would have cost as
sch as s., 500. the value of the new process
i'll be recognized.
Recently number OF gentlemen from va
pus parts of New Jersey visited Arrareek
arm to make a personal inspection of the
EhethOd of preparing the ensilage, and of its
results. In the party were Hon. James
Bishop, Chief of the State Bureau of Stats
tics; Professor George III. Cook. of the Agri-
cultural College, and State GeolOgist; Theo-
I dOre West, Superintendent, and A. L. Neale,
Chemist of the State Experimental Farm,
besides several prominent stock raisers. In
the barn there was not a wisp of hay. The
building is eighty feet long, and in it are
| two pits, each 40x13 feet and twenty feet
deep, with perpendicular walls of concrete.
| One silo has been emptied, and n part OF the
| cover had been removed from the other, and
. the ensilage cut down to the bottom, leay-
ing perpendicular wall OF the food for in
J spection.
Mr. Mills has found that the freshly-cut
corn stalks can be compressed in bulk near
One-half, and he therefore places a frame
plank, fifteen feet high, and of the same
length and width as the silo, on top of the
concrete wall, and this he fills also. Upon
the whole mass-with the plank addition
making depth a depth of thirty-five feet
-. ~ ~ 20 laid Nfc trch az 20
slide down within the huge box. This is
heavily loaded and in few days the cover
Twill have pressed the mass so that its top
kill be on the level with the floor of the
krn when the temporary frame is removed.
De cover is of two inch plank, made in sec
Ons, each four feet wide, of matched stuff,
al firmly battened, with the battens of each
%ction projecting and fitting into those of
the next one, so that, with the weight even
IL distributed, it all moves downward to-
kgether The sections are an inch shorter
than the width of the pit, leaving place for
| air and gases to escape the cover goes
down. The weight used is nearly fifty tons,
and in this case was composed of grain in
ksacks which is ground for feed as il il taken
Foff when needed. OF course the material of
the weight may be anything sufficiently
kponderous, but it should be of a nature that
can be readily handled, aud whose actual
Soirdupois can be known.
Mr. Mills ensilage was perfectly preserved
from the top layer to the bottom. When cut
from the solid mass it is of brownish-
green color, and has a slightly acid taste. II
has gone through no heating process" but
before feeding il is laid out in a heap for a
Lays to ferment slightly, when 1t emits a
leasant vinous aroma. The cattle devour ii
kerly, and their appearance seems to
bve its healthfulness, while the abundant
kn0Ik the COWS produce is of the best quality.
Mr. Mills feed less grain than farmers ordi-
narily use in hay-fed dairies. tallvariety
of Southern corn is planted closely I'm drills
and il is cut after the tassel appears and the
ears begin 10 set. Professor Cook, who has
kanalyzed ensIlage from n dozen localities
pronounced the Pompton product of the
rst quality, and he thinks the various de
ces here used have reduced the system tC
4tate approaching perfection. All the ex
perts present were convinced that the new
process would work sometimes like revolu
6H-in dairy farming and stock raising
which will be rapidly believed when it re
Eembered that more than 30,000,000 tons o
hay are now needed every year 10 feed tn,
horses and cattle of the country through ou
long and cold winter.