The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1881-05-20
From the american Farmer.
Experience with EnsiIage.


green. | was induced to make the expert
ment from reading book, purchased at your
office last spring, on the subject of Enslage
of Maize, written by NJ Auguste Goffart.-
My silo is simply pit dug in the ground
which it was my intention to have walled up
but seeing that | would not be able to get il
done in time, | thought / would try it with.
out. The dimensions of the pit are sixty
feet long, six feet deep, with sloping sides
twelve feet wide ut the top and ten feet al
the bottom
For the purpose of filling this pit | sowed
four and a-half acres of corn in rows, three
feet apart, at the rate ofthree pecks per acre
sowed about the middle of July, marked il
out with furrow pillow, and covered with q
cultiyator; did not use any fertilizers; cult
waited it twice and commenced cutting 1st OF
October. 1t was then in blossom and in the
right condition to make cnsilage. Cut il
with reaper and bound it in bundles with
rye straw hauled to the feed cutter ON hay
carriages; set cutter at the edge of the pit so
that it would throw the fodder when cut into
the pit Run the cutter with four-horse en-
| CINE, cutting in onequarter inch lengths ;
kept it well tramped down all the time put
horse on to tramp after we got it filled two
or three feet. Put about half ton of straw
on the bottom and about the same on top,
and covered it over with foot of earth, and
| built fodder house over it all
We opened it about the middle of Noyem-
| Der; found it spoilt about three inches on
| top and around the sides-lost about four or
| five tons in this way it is best to have il as
much in body as possible. The less surface
we have the less per cent. of loss, as some al
teratlon will always take place on the sur
| face. After taking three inches of the top
| found it looking pretty much the same as
when it was put init is slightly acid
Commenced feeding it to cows-they did
not eat it at first with much relish, but after
day or two they became very fond of it,,
and would cat it in preference to the best of
hay; none of them have ever yet left any in
their troughs. | give them twenty pounds
at feed twice day, and also about bushe
cut dry fodder and three quarts corn meal
and wheat bran mixed twice a day on the
ensilagc. The cows are thoroughbred and
grade Jerseys; they keep in thrifty condition,
and so do the calves; had several of them to
weigh over one hundred pounds at two
weeks old. My fresh cows make an average
OF six pounds of butter per week, making it
cost me for feed about twenty cents per
pound, leaving the manure and skim milk to
pay for labor. | don't think it affects the
quality of the butter any. Will test it next
winter by feeding half my cows on dry fod-
der and half on green fodder, giving them
the same values worth to each, keeping the
milk ana butter separate and sending to mar
ket in separate boxes.
If ensilage could be made without under
going any fermentation, that is if fodder
could be preserved without undergoing any
fermentation before or after ensilaging, |
think it would make better feed. This might
be accomplished by putting up perpendicu-
lar walls OF masonry, cementing them, and
COMPRISING the ensilage with boards and
heavy weights | will try both ways next
fall
1t cost me to produce my ensilage about
four dollars per ton; had about one-quarter
of mile to haul it to the pitt cost about one
dollar and twenty-five cents per ton to get
from the field and put it in the pit half of
this cost could have been saved by sowing
the fodder near the pit, and if had sowed
my corn about the LIST of June, and sowed
the largest variety of corn | could have got
ten, would have had at least double as much
fodder. The same kind of ground | grew
this fodder on, right by the side of il, made
me fourteen barrels of good sound corn,
worth one dollar and sixty cents per barrel
in the field, counting the fodder to- pay for
harvesting. Estimating the cost of growing
my green fodder by this have two dollars
anu 'NcHty Cclis per toH, anu twenty
cents for conveying it from the pit to the
barn. This could be saved by having the
pit adjoining the barn, with doorway en-
tering the bedroom, which | will have if,
after another years experience, | think it
will Justify me to continue it. This makes
three dollars and seventy cents per ton, and
what is spoilt will bring it up to four dollars
"A big per cent of this loss can be saved by
putting it more in body. BY remedying
all the mistakes | made this year, think /
can produce it next year for ne-haf the cost
or less. III. c. JENKINS,
Belle Farm, Hartford Co., Nd
L. 5. april 10.-When | wrote the above
statement there was one question could not
answer very satisfactorily, which consider
very important one. Not wanting to de-
pend too much on my own judgment as to
the effect ensilage fed to cows in slightly
acid state has on the quality of butter have
since then sent some of my butter to parties
in your city who are large dealers in choice
print butter, and are pronounced the best
judges of butter there, and they say the quail
ity of the butter is eXcellent and | think
where the enslage is well preserved Il supe-
rior quality of butter can be made to any
that is made from cows fed on all dry food
There are several little things may have
neglected to mention that | think are very
important to be observed in making good en-
siage: One is to have the fodder cut fine,
not more than halfinch III length. have
just visited pit filled with cnsilage that was
managed the same as mine, except the fod-
der was cut an inch or more in length and I
find the ensilage not nearly so well preserved
Still the stock eat it quite we'll Another
thing, it ought not to lie and wlter in the
field before putting up. About the half of
my fodder was badly bitten with frost before
| got it up. | did not feel much alarmed at
that, and find it as well preserved, if not
better, than what | put up without being
frosted.
Thinking the few facts might be of some
interest to those who expect to try ensilaging,
l remain. III. G. j.