Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-04-09
SINGERLY'S SiLO.
A GREAT MILk FARM IN the CoUxrY
or BUCKs.
The Place Whore Two-ycsr rOid Beifers Give
Unprecedented Yields Of MiIh-s Stable
and Bsrn-Thc silo--sheep Pens
and the Creamery.

IHuuueiPuid fthVtT TtpofttI iihs pttt
visiting the fine farms owned by Mr.. William
M. Singerly, Of the Philadelphis Record,
and situated in the bethlehem branch of the
Philadelphia Il Reading railroad, near
Gwyuedd station, nineteen miles from
Philadelphia. The farms comprise the Home
farm Of 1870 acres the Feeding farm for fat cat
tie OF over 200 acres, and the Spring House or
Sheep farm, consisting of more than 100 acres,
making about 600 acres in all.
Since Mr.. Singerly purchased these lands
some years ago he has made many valuable
improvements on them, through which they
have become widely known, especially
among those interested in agriculture. The
farms possess many interesting features
worthy Of inspection and study, and are
celelebrated for the dairy department and the
valuable herd of Holstein cattle which IL in
cludes. Mr.. Singerly has taken much in
terest In the raising and development of the
breed, and great attention has been given to
this branch of agricultural industry by Mr..
Jason Sexton, superintendent of the " Re
cord farms, who has planned many i'm
portant improvements made by Mr.. Sing
erly.
The home farm, where the dairy establish
ment is, lies over mile from Gwynedd sta
ton, in the midst OF country which has
been settled for years, and is of some histori-
cal interest. One of the structures on IL il
Mr.. Singerlys private summer residence a
quaint old building that once figured as the
Franklinville hotel, and which has been
kept as nearly unchanged as possible. This
house lies at the intersection of the state and
Morris roads, and in its immediate neighbor-
hood Is private stable and carriage house, a
large lawn and green house In the latter,
Mr.. Foulds, the head gardener, has under
cultivation many handsome plants and
flowers.
TIE STABLE AND BARN.
Several hundred yards from Mr.. Singer
ly's residence is the building used as the
barn and stable for the Holsten cattle, which
was planned by Mr.. Sexton and finished last
december, being nearly eight months i'm
building. The structure is pa feet long by
a ieet wide, with stone foundations, and a
brick wall nine feet high comprising the first
story, which is used as the stable, while the
second story the barn, is OF wood, painted
on the outside III French gray, relieved with
red, and surmounted by tin roof of the lat
ter color, on which are four cupolas Four
drivew8ys lead up to the level of the barn
from the front by gradual assent, and add
to the general appearance.
The stable is lighted by forty large windows
twenty ON each side, and the interior is very
handsome, great attention having been paid
in building toward keeping the cattle healthy
and comfortable. On each side Of the stable,
divided by an entry, 10 feet wide, are yellow
pine stalls numbering 100 i'm all. They are
so arranged that they are not depend ent for
support ON posts sunk in the ground, which
might be liable TO decay. They are filled
with HOlstein cows and heifers, mostly
thoroughbreds, at the head of each stall being
q white board, on which painted in black
letters the names and numbers of the animals
as they stand registered in the American
Holstein herd book Running the whole
length of the stalls on each side of the entry
and only separated by two other cross entries
I'm the middle of the building is long iron
water trough by which the cattle are watered.
hny tttns tit,sr fants.E s,.
automatic valves and four floats. One of each
is placed in the quarter sections OF trough
formed by the intersection of tn, entries
Each float is so arranged that as the level of
the water in the trough Is lowered by the
cattle drinking, il sinks, and in doing
opens the automatic valve which:s connected
with it. This action of the valve lets In
more water and the trough is thus kept full
all the time. 1t is cleaned at regular times,
and the waste water let off by underground
terra Gotta pipes, which carry it away some
distance. The water for the troughs is
pumped from an artesian well near by
MIR. Sexton calculates that this contrivance
saves the daily labor of two men.
The barn is divided OIL into number of
sections, the hay, straw, fodder, etc, being
kept there. An engine house has been built
next to the barn and it is purposed TO get a
stationary engine by which the feed can be
ground and the fodder cut in the barn, as a
shaft will be run through from the house to
one OF the barn rooms.
siE BLUE.
Connected with the stable is one of the
silos, in which the green corn ensilage for
the cattle is kept air-tight during the winter.
The silo is building principally of stone,
with cement interior, 45 feet by Is feet,
with depth of ten feet below the surface OF
the ground and OF 16 feet above it. The green
corn is cut in September and stored in this
place, being covered by boards and made
perfectly air tight The enslage is thus
much reduced in bulk and the requisite pres
sure is obtained by means of screw power
Over 800 tons of ensiiage can be stored away
at time, and at present the cattle in the
stable are being fed with nearly one ton of 1t
day. 1t is only uncovered as il is wanted
for use, the plan adopted being to remove "A
board now and then, and gradually slice it
down, that the alright pressure is still
exerted on the remainder. About forty
acres were 'ensilaged' last year, and 500
tons obtained, some of which were put in
twoother silos on the farms
Mr.. Sexton strongly advocates ensilage,
and says 1t only costs half much TO feed
with it as with any other kind of fodder. In
addition to the ensilage the cattle are fed
with mess of grain Mr.. Sexton says the
silo on the farm was the first built in Penn
sylvania, but that the French and Germans
have used them for the past 20 years.
The annex is two-story building connec-
ted with the stable and at right angles to
it, being l5Ox30 feet, and in which the calves
and their mothers are kept. Sick cattle are
also put there, to separate them from those
IN the stable. Tho annex IL provided Win
box stalls, aud like the latter has cement
floor. -Four strongly built stalls for the bulls
planked inside and out, are at one end of the
structure
THE HoLsTEIN CATTLE.
Some of Mr.. SiDgerly's Holstein cows are
especially deserving of mention, among
them being Katharn, No. $40, dam of the
famous Constance S. She was calved in
1873 and is expected to make great milk
record this year. Others are Dairy Maid, No
go Valley Queen, No. Sol Maria, No. l,2is,
dam of Joe S.; Isis Second, No. 337, and
Katinka Second, No 49l. At the head of the
two-year- old heifers Constance S., No. 3,057,
stands out conspcuously, she being the
animal that made the milk record of S3
ponnd in one day and the highest known. Mr..
Sexton says, for any o-year-Old.
Surrounding the stable is "A horse stable,
wagon shed, pens etc., and a corn crib with
holding capacity Of 1000 bushels of ears of
corn. A number of houses for the hands
and others are also in the noighborhood.
THE CREAMERY.
The creamery is under the supervision oi
Mr.. John ii. Bell, the buttermaker, and is
an interesting building. 1t is divided into
three compartments, one of which contains
two De la Vail separators worked by steam
power generated by an engine i'm another
room. BY the separators the cream is taken