News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-09-24
FARM AND GARDEN.
A NEW YORK FARMER ON ENsnAeE.

Among the numerous testimonies
given in favor of silos or ensilage is that
of W. H. Gilbert, of Richland, N. y,
who made statements before the last
Ensilage Congress, which were In sub
stance as follows:
Fine butter, which brings good
price in New York city and Brooklyn,
is made from sixty-five cows fed on
nothing but ensilage and meal. Thirty
five pounds of ensilage alone and three
quarts of cornmeal and shipping stuff
mixed, per day, in two feeds, and two
| quarts of ship-stutf at noon. The but
ter is sailed one ounce to the pound.
With ensilage Mr.. Gilbert claims that
he can keep two cows to an acre, on
poor land, and that he cuts three hun
bred to five hundred tons of corn ensi-
lage when it is in the sticky state of the
juice, which is older than its milky
state; in word, he wants his corn to
be as old as possible without being
glazed. Mr.. Gilbert chaffs all his fod-
der, and gives as a reason the opinion
that the ensilage will stand sound
longer when being fed from, as it packs
closer, and the animals will eat it clean.
Ensilage alone does not color butter,
but oats and cornmeal give fine color,
especially yellow cornmeal. Mr.. Gilbert
reports that he can get twenty-five per
cent. more milk from the same cows
and at one-half the expense from corn
ensilage than from meadow hay.
WHEN TO DIG POTATOES.
Usually potatoes are the best off if
dug as soon as ripe; this is especially
the case in ''muggy' weather or hot
weather between showers They should
be stored in cool cellar, without too
much light, or they will turn green and
perhaps rot. To guard against rotting
be careful about bruising, it being
better to carry them down in baskets
than to allow them to fall through
cellar window, as is often practiced later
in the season. 1t is much cheaper to
dig before grass and weeds grow be-
tween the rows. Potatoes are ready
for digging as soon as the tops lie
down. 1t is best to dig them early in
the day, and allow them to remain on
the ground a few hours, when they
should be taken to the barn and stored
in cool, dark, dry place; but it is not
advisable to place too many in single
heap. All diseased or injured potatoes
should be removed from the lot.
CURING CORN FODDER.
When well cured corn fodder that
has been properly grown, is quite equal
in value to average hay. To secure the
full nutritive value of corn fodder, it
should be grown in rows sufficiently
wide apart to admit an abundance of |
fprhf iorbt nd DIR
necessary for the full development of |
sugar and other nutritious constituents of |
the stalk and leaf. The pale, yellow
leaves and stalks, that result from broad
cast sowing, are of little value, and |
when dried, become harsh, brittle and
tasteless, so that a horse or COW rejects
such food with disdain, unless starved
into eating it. But the dark-green,
well-grown fodder, is sweet, tender, and
as we have said, is equal to hay for
winter feeding. To save the fodder in
the best condition, it should be cut be-
fore frost has touched it, or the tassel
has dried. If it has been grown for
grain, the time to cut it is when the
kernel is glazed, but is yet soft enough
to be impressed by the thumb nail.
When the crop has been grown for
fodder alone, we cut it before the bios
som has quite faded, and when the ears
upon it are half grown. To cure a
uxuriant crop of fodder, weighing,
while green, twenty tons per acre, is not
IN easy matter, unless one goes the right
way about it. The stalks should be cut
lose to the surface of the ground, so as
% leave US stubble in the way of fitting
he ground at once for crop of rye.
For this purpose, we find the old
ashioned corn hook, made of piece of
N old scythe, attached to a short, stout
andle, to be the best and easiest tool.
| stout brush hook, at the end of a
Iandle four feet long, is also an ex- J
client implement for, cutting by hand,
across the rows, and the land 2
las been cultivated on the level. But
n whatever way the corn is cut, it
hould lie on the ground for twenty I
our hours, to become thoroughly wilted.
is then bound in small sheaves, weigh
ng about twenty-five pounds, which is l
convenient way to use it for feeding,
nd these sheaves are set up in shocks,
nd protected from the rain. In this I
-ay the fodder will cure perfectly well I
'ithout molding, and preserve its color {
nd sweetness, until it is ready to be 1
lken in, when the best way to dispose 1
1t is, to stack it in open barrels