The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-05-22
WHAT OF ENSILAGE :.'

Professor Stelle, agricultural editor of
the Mobile Register and a practical
farmer, is not an advocate of ensilage-
in fact he gives it as his opinion that
"enslage in the South is humbug."
Replying to an article in the Southern
Lire Stock Journal, he says:
Prof. +. a. Gulley, of Starkville, Miss,
gentleman who deservedly ranks first
class among the finest of our writers and
deepest of thinkers, has in recent issue
of the Southern Lire Stock Journal,
long article on the subject of ensiage.
Some one has kindly sent us copy of
the paper, with a heavy ink mark drawn
around the following paragraph in Prof
Gulley's article:
well known agricultural writer in
prominent Southern paper classes en-
silage in the South as one of the humbugs,
because our shiftless laborers cannot be
made to handle such crops. As we'll say
that we cannot use the mower, or any
improved implement or advanced system
Some men will fail in any attempt The
successful farmer of the near future will
be careful, systematic man, and lack Of
skill or system is no argument against the
practice of any system"
1t is 10 be presumed that the person
who sent the paper, lit may have been
the Professor himself,) either knew, or
thought he knew, that this paragraph re-
ferred to us, for we think we haze given
it our candid opinion that " ensilage in
the South " is humbug. If not, we are
willing to put that opinion to record
against us now. There is no guess-work
in the matter, on our part-we have tried
the thing on thoroughly, doing our own
handling, or experimenting it in person.
In our case it was not the fault of "sbift-
less laborers" And more than this, we
did not content ourself with a single trial
we tried it three years, applying every
thing which the books on ensilage had
suggested as being advantageous
Now, we don't pretend to take the po-
sition that ensilage at the North is
humbug-we think it will do very we'll
in cold climate, where the crops to be
put up are ready just when frost is to be
expected, but we are sure it won't do in
the lower South, where it must be put up
at so early day in the season that it will
be exposed, in bulk, to two or three
months of our hottest summer weather.
weather which warns the ground entirely
below the foor-level of any silo.
Corn seems to be the principal article
put up as ensilage. Now, any lower
South farmer knows that we can't have
late crop of green corn to pack away in
a silo We must plant our corn early
to get it through before the summer
droughts set init would have to come
off in July later, it would be fierd y
and "burned up" by the hot and dry
weather So if we are going to make
corn ensilage we must pack it away in
.Iuly-what kind of fix do you think it
would be in when the first frosts came on
in November We know from three
years Of costly experience: on the morn
ing of the first frost, if our stock had felt
that they wanted any ensilage, we might
have dished it out to them with a soup
ladel, almost, it was so rotten. And yet
it had been put up in a well-made, ce-
mented silo, and in strict accord with the
processes recommended for the North.
Of course it is but natural to suppose
that, after all this actual experience, we
should come to regard ensilage in the
South " as humbug. 1t might be pos
sible that peas, coming on late in the fall,
and also sweet potato vines, and possibly
peanut vines, could be put up and sue
cessfully kept as ensilage, 1--WE have never
tried them,) but we are sure it won't do
to depend on making ensilage of corn, as
they claim to be doing at the North.
The main drift of Prof. Gulley's article,
as published in the Southern Live Stock
Journal, seems to set strongly towards
an encouragement of ensilage; and that
feature in it we don't much like, but we
do like the following, appearing in it As
! reply to the question a. to whether or