The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-03-17

Without an abundance Of feed. The
ensilage system in my opinion is the
only method by which ae can pro
wide this necessary abundance Of
forage say we,because our lands
under the clean cultivation of cotton
and corn for so many years having
been largely depleted of their plant
food and further impoverished by
thee Inevitable washing associated
with such crops on rolling lands, are
too poor to make grass, not to say
anything about our long hot sum-
mers with their painfully .freqnent
droughts. But if we could make
grass easily T do not -fegard grazing
as. our best method Of keeping
stock-certainly not before our lands
have been brought up to q high
state Of fertility-if, ,then-Tbecause
of the waste of, manure ,Ioccasioned
by it although it undoubtedly. has
it's advantages-especially for a lazy
man. SO that[w must. depend up
on the coarser forage plants, such as
pea vines and todder-corn, and the
practical question for Us to decide is ::
Shall we save them in a silo, in a
small compass, in a green %succulent
state, IA fofmn"mostr1i agreeable
and appetizing to stock, and at
the minimum cost or shall weIsave
them by curing them lin the sun, in
a hard and u~ninviting condition, fire.
quently injured by bad weather,
sometimes entirely ruined-and at
greater expense and trouble-no one
who has ever jga,iivt,enh. both methods a
trial will hesitate 8. moment to de-
eide in favor Of the former. Ensilage
has only to be tried to win over any
other system Of preserving long for
age for stock-especially cattle and
sheep-according to my personal ex-
perience,l observation and reading.
Indeed, / am an enthusiastic advo-
cate of it, believing it to be destined
to revelutiopize, favorably u agri-
culture by rendering feasible the
probable introduction of the stock
raising and dairy features. As soon
as it comes more generally into use
men will doubtless go round with
ensilage' cutters as they now do
with threshers, and when. they do
this this admirable method wilf4be
within the reachHof all! 1t is now,
however, for that matter, as it has
been demonstrated especially that
cutting up before barned, is not es-
sential to, the proper, preservation
ofthe ensilage, though it is doubtless
best. And the cost of a, silo need
not stand in the way of any farmer,
be he ever SO poor, because he can
make one with his own hands with
out much trouble and without any
outlayuof cash. My last Isilo,j con
structed by hired labor, cost, com
.plete, including shelter and suffi cient
sawed lumber to extend the walls
above ground three feet, less than
IS cents per ton capacity.1}~ adf
fyou will permit me to digress' a
little from the general subject, |
would like to say before concluding,
that looked at with the eyes of an
amateur, it strikes me that the
cream Of North Carolina farm
ing remains unskimmed. II refer to
raising beef in the deep, rich soils
of the Albemarle section-feeding
and fattening the same on the corn
meal and ensilage produced on the
land, supplemented by cotton seed
meal, which can be~conveniently OBJ
tanned at Elizabeth City. Immense
amounts of ensilage can be made on
these lands, and the proximity
to market with cheap water trans
p%ortation, it seems t tome, renders it
almost a certain success-and those
who put in their spoons first will
get the best cream and the most Of it.
So much; has already been said on
the construction of silos that I have
not gone into the subject, but if you
think it worth while and wish it I
will describe them at another time.
: Wishing you much success in your
enterprise.
Yours truly,
! RICHD III. LEWIS.