Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-07-14
AGRICULTURAL.
EnsiIage In Northern Vermont,

IS Ensiiage In Northern Vermont.
1t A correspondent of the Boston Cult
: taf0r. who lately visited the farm OF Co
= gressman w. w. Grout ut Barton, +
a ports i'll that paper the results of an il
# teryiew with the farm manager, Capt. {
!. q. Ford, who has general charge, thong
8 the proprietor himself is familiar vii
: the main points of the management On
when ut home enters with spirit into IL
: minor details. The farm contains 81
: acres-75 of which are covered wit
t forest and the remainder divided int
. tillage and pasture-and lies in til
r Moose River Valley, whose waters ski
1 the western line. The visitors reaue.
l Tor information about ensilage and tn
, results of feeding it, were answered @
, below:
"During the past two years our expe
rience with ensilage has been very salts
factory. During the year 1880 Geners
Grout gave the subject much attention
which finally resulted in the construction
OF two silos, one IL by 1S feet. and
depth of l4E feet, aud the other lii 4
feet, and Ia feet deep. The walls wer,
of concrete, those Of the smaller silo be
ing eight inches in thickness, and thos,
OF the larger ten inches thick. Abour
one-half the sllos were built unle
ground
"Twelve acres of land that would no
produce one-fourth Of a ton of hay to tn,
acre, were enriched with seven cords o
manure to the acre, and planted with
Western corn. We were late in getting
the corn in, and were late in finishing
the silos, and therefore the early frost in
September caught IFS, and portion ol
the corn was so badly injured that W.
were fearful of failure. There was
however, yield Of fifteen tons to the
acre. This was cut up into half.inch
lengths, well trodden down, covered with
inch boards and weighted with stone.
We stored our fodder in the large
silo.
December 25th the::silo was opened.
We found to our surprise that the fodder
had undergone a healthy change and
when fed was positive success. This
was deemed quite remarkable, rs it did
not seem possible that corn, frost bitten,
could be of much value in feeding cat
tie. Our rule with stock is to feed them
twice day, so we fed ensilage in the
morning and cmt hay at night. After
feeding in this manner for n month we
made change and mixed the ensiape
with the hay and fed the mixture twice n
day. We think this is the best method
of feeding. In this combination we Sc
cured food that was eaten eagerly. and
one that made marked Improvement in
the condition of our stock. One hundred
sheep also had their ration day of ensil.
age, and they relished it exceedingly
well"
"Did you test the feeding of ens,lage
as to its fattening properties ?'
I'VE did. Three cows were fed one
ration day of hay and one OF ensilage
aud meal: 1t was surprising to see how
RAPIDLY they took on flesh. They were
sold and taken to market, and the drover
SAID they sold the best Of any cattle he
had at market"
"iou also had forty cows which, l sup
pose, were fed upon ens.lage according to
the above method Did You observe
anything especially noteworthy in their
feeding?"
There was perceptible increase in
flesh our cows never looked better or
healthier their milk was more abundant
aud richer, and we are pleased to record
the fact that ensilage is productive of the
best results III milk and butter. We fed
farrow COW for while one ration of
hay AMI one of meal day, and then one
daily ration of ensilage and one of meal.
1t was conclusively demonstrated that
ensllage and meal was the superior feed
for the COW. We went on testing the
merits of ensilage in every conceivable
and consistent way, aud every step gave
Increased evidence that it was something
that the farmer could rely upon as Il per-
manent feed. We fed out the last MAY
l, 1881, and our enthusiasm had reached
that point that we were very sorry we
had no further supplies of ensilage to
feed The silos cost us 800, but We got
our pay back, and more, too, the first
year.
"What about your second years trial :?
Was it materially different from that of
the first %
"Only in this respect is it different !:
Our faith is still further increased in the
value and desirability of the ensilage.
We planted seven acres of the ensilage
corn for the large silo. For the smaller
one five acres were sown for soiling.
three and one-half acres Of field corn and
one acre of barley. This latter was all
put into the small silo. The barley when
cut was frozen hard rs rock, vet when
the silo was opened everything was all
right. We commenced feeding sixty cows
after our usual manner, and our past
years experience was merely n repetition
OF the success and satisfaction of the
previous year. Our cows continued to
give liberal supplies of milk, and pro-
duced quality of butter really superb
or Previous to filling the silo we fed
our cows on Sanford corn, cut up in the
machine. Their milk was quite profuse.
About the time the silo was filled we ran
out of this fodder, and then they were fed
ON hay and they shrunk greatly in milk,
although fed on meal Mt the same time.
This caused us to open the small silo
earlier than intended. Yet as soon us
the COWS were fed upon the ensilage "a
full flow of milk was obtained.
'We had eleven head of cattle that We
wished to fatten for market They were
fed on ensilage and meal from the middle
Of November to June !, 1882 We never
had cattle fatten faster; it was good fat,
too. They were all right for market at
the above date, and sold for price
much above our expectation. We had
200 tons of ensilage, and our stock was
fed upon it after our usual method to
the second week in April This closed
the second year, but it does not end the
feeding of ensilage with us. The de-
structive elements of ensilage have not
been discovered by us; no deterioration
has rs yet come to our mortal view, nor
will there be such thing, for the ele-
ments that we find are nutritious and are
in harmony with the law of growth. To
these facts our stock can bear witness,
inasmuch rs there is large percentage
of increase in value over that of two
years ago"
Butter Value of MIX.
A New Hampshire correspondent put
the following question to Prof. Willard
of Little Falls, n. Y: "Will you give