The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-04-14
agricultural.
ENSILAGE AT THE SOUTH.

III preserving forage IN S1lOS Is de-
sirable at the North, it seems to
me it is much more so at the South.
You can make hay; here we cannot
or do not, to any extent. [ have
tried clover, orchard grass, blue
grass, etc, at a cost OF about seven
hundred dollars, and. have nothing
to show for it but a ten-acre patch
of a poor stand Of clover These
grasses as far South cannot with
stand our long, dry summers. If
we had the climate for grasses, we
could not raise cotton.
But we can make Spring crops
wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn. fod-
der and pea vines, and hence can
have plenty material for filing silos.
Year before last, | built one in
which | put fifty tons Of fodder cut
in saccharine stage, or when in silk,
and ran it through large thresh-
ing machine with steam power !;
this shreaded it nicely for packing
in the silo. 1t was then put in in
two days, covered with few inches
of straw, then with one-inch planks,
and weighted with rocks. The
theory-trom my reading = was,
that the sooner it was put in and
weighted down the better 1t did
not get even warm from first to
last when opened it was found per-
fectly preserved, but very little
acid, or vinegar sour. The cat
tie, however, ate it all. | sent
samples to two chemists, who both
said it had been too long exposed
between being cut and weighted
down.
Since then quite number, in
giving their experience, say that
they made better ensilage by not
filling the silo too rapidly, but gave
no reason Then came the theory
of allowing the ensilage to heat to
destroy bacteria.
| have seen but little in the par
agraphs published in papers as to
proper stage of ripeness to cut corn
fodder. All the books | have read
on the subject say it should be cut
while in the tassel This thought
must be wrong, as nothing is so
good and wholesome when imma-
ture as when ripe.
Last year, before filling the silo
for the second time, | thought it
best to satisfy myself by expert
ment as to the two points, viz,
filling the silo quickly or slowly,
and the proper stage of ripeness to
cut the corn fodder. | procured
three good, tight barrels; one | filled
with corn fodder cut in tassel, and
weighted it down at once; another
with corn cut when in the sac
charine stage and weighted it down
at once; also, the third, with the
corn cut in saccharine stage, but
did not put on the weight for eight
days. They were opened month
afterward. The first had very
offensive smell, and was miserable
stuff, not fit to feed to anything,
much less to Jersey cow.
The second barrel was sour like
my ensilage the year before, but
the third was much better and
sweeter. The barrels were emptled
in the COW lot and in separate piles,
and four of theI cows turned IN;
they examined each pile, then ate
all the sweet ensilage, next the
sour, but that cut in tassel they
would not touch. May not this
fact of the corn fodder being cut in
tassel account for the objections
that have been made to milk and
butter when ensilage was fed?
Last year, | filled my silo with
corn fodder, cut in silk, two feet
per day, taking seven days to till.lt.
| weighted it down as usual; after 1T
settled, we opened it and filled to
the top again with pea vines (mak-
ing in all sixty-five tons) OF what
we call cow clay peas. This makes
decidedly the best and richest en-
silage and is greatly relished by the
cattle. They prefer it to anything
else you can put before them,
This variety of peas grows to
perfection here, making an enor-
mnpc oI col1n,, foilc No