The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-04


necting, are better than one large one, and
TIE depth should be considerably greater
than tue length, width or diameter.
D. A slio that will prove efficient may,
tnerctoie, be bpilt at a cost varying from
20 cents to 90 for every ton of ensi!age it
VIII hold. But, like an ice-house, a sub
stantlal, well-buiit structure, costing about
- per ton capacity, will probably prove il
the end the most economic H.
b. Silos may be filled slowly or quickly,
In all weathers, the forage plants cut or
pltted whole, and the cover may be heavily
weighted or not weighted at all; the ensi-
Iage produced will vary in condition and
quanty, but these variations of manage
ment do not materially affect the result. If
the silo is not alright on the sides, how
ever, it must be we'll covered and heavily
weighted.
Z. Any plant or vegetable product good
ior cattle food when green or fresh, may
De preserved as ensilsge, in an edible and
succulent condition, throughout the year or
Tor several years.
c. AS RUE, all horses, mules, neat cattle,
sheep, swine and poultry are fond of ens-
lage, II Its material is ever such as eaten by
them. Most farm animals prefer it TO the
best dry forage.
D. The best time at which to cut any grow
Ing plant to make good ensilage is when the
plant approaches maturity and has begun
to decrease in the per centage of its water
contents.
10. The cost of preserving q given crop,
as ensllaSe does not materially differ FROM
curing the same crop by drying in a suita-
Die season, but crops can be sliced and pre-
served in seasons when they would be lost
II drying was attempted.
IL. All considered, Indian corn makes the
IN st economical and satisfactory ensilage
III most parts Of the United States, and with
crop Of 20 to % tons to the acre when cut,
which is good average, the ensilage may
be made, ready for use, at @ total cost of 81
per ton, and for less under favorable cir
cumstances.
II. An acre of corn as ensilage will weigh
four times as much as the same crop dried
as fodder.
ID. An acre of corn, field cured, stored in
the most compact manner possible, will &C.
cupy space eight or ten times as great as
II IN the form of ensilage
IA. The chemistry of the silo is still some
what in the dark. The contents of any one
silo filled with crops from the same land,
apparently managed in the same way year
after year, will differ in condition and quail
lty in different yeals. knowledge of the
subject Is not yet accurate enough to pre-
scribe with certainly the procedure which
WILL insure the best ensllage. Yet any for
age crop can be preserved in a moist, fresh
form, substantially unimpaired as food, al
though there is generally a consider able loss
in the carbohydrate elements, and with
sometimes partially compensating gain in
the percentage of protein and an increase IN
the digestlbility of the material
10. Correct theory, reasoning on scion
titic principles, and the great preponderance
OF testimony resulting from the longest prac-
teal experience, agree i'll recommending this
process TO get the best ensllage: Cultivate
corn so every plant may have abundant air
and sunshine to perfect itself and bear ears
OF grain; harveS0 when the kernels OF the
ear begin to glaze, or even a little later,
when the plant leaves show some signs of
drying-harvest preferably in good drying
weather; run the corn through q machine
that will cut it into lengths less tnan one
inch. carry on the work as rapidly as posi-
BILE, keep the cut fodder leveled in the silo,
and when full level the top, cover at once
and weight with at least $50 pounds to the
square foot of surface.
10. As food for catJle, as well as any other
kind of farm stock, ensilage forms a good
and very cheap substitute for roots, and its
continental effects are especially apparent.
But the usual ensilage crops fad to fill the
place OF the root crop Ill judicious farm
rotation.
IL. III I6eulnR U06 DSSU results follow a
moderate ration of ensilage rather than its
entire substitution for dry, coarse fodder.
Except in the case of animals fed to main
tain their weight, ensilage cannot be recon-
mended as a substitute for more than half
the long forage consumed.
Is. Ensilage, and especially good corn en-
silage, when compared with dry corn fodder
or With other feeding stuffs, produces re-
suits so satisfactory as to surprise the chem
list, and which chemistry cannot explain.
As the result of practical feeding tests it is
very generally agreed that three tons of
corn ensilage will equal in is effects as food
ton of average hay. This means that a
farmer is as well off, If not better, with 80
tons of good corn ensilage and 20 tons of
hay as with 80 tons of hay. Bat it does not
mean that man can winter stock as we'll
with 80 tons of ensilage and no dry forage
as with 80 tons of hay and no ensilage.
10. A silo or two we'll built, but not too
large or too expensive, VIII be convenient
and economical on most farms to convert
waste products into edible forage and to
save crops which at other times might be
lost, if not to preserve some crop specially
grown for ensilage.
20. The silo system is best adapted to high
priced lands and so-called high farming,
and to farms not suited to profitable grass
growing.
81. The extensive use of ensilage upon any
farm is chiefly question of convenience
and economy, which local conditions must
decide.