Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-06-29

make portable or movable roof, which
could be removed while filing the silo,
and covered easily when full and
weighted
My stable is built on the north side
of the silo, and holds $50 head of cattle,
fastened in stancheons. In feeding, the
ensllage is loaded into small cars hold
ing about one thousand pounds. The
track of the car is suspended from the
floor above the car, so as to be out of
the way Of any litter that might fall upon
the floor. am feeding now about
twenty-five pounds of ensilage twice
day to each grown animal, ard about
fifteen pounds to each young animal 1
am we'll satisfied that it is the best and
cheapest food in Kansas.
Corn is the easiest grown, and the
best thing / know of to fill a silo. So far
L have used the common field corn.
Next year l shall try the mammoth sweet
corn. One part of my field was listed
last year about the 1st of April, and
again the same way, splitting the ridges,
about the 1st of May. We dropped the
corn very thickly-I should say the ker-
nels were about two or three inches
apart-intending to cut the crop for the
sllo. The drought came, and this par
ticular field Of corn was quickly withered,
on account of the stalks being close to-
gether. I concluded to cut up this
piece for fodder, and for the silo we
used corn which had been planted about
the usual distance of planting corn. I
had listed this ground twice, and some
of it three times. This corn was heavy,
averaging about fifty bushels to the
acre, and weighing green about twenty
tons to the acre. 1 judge by
weighing average loads. We commenced
cutting about the 1st of September. The
ears were in the milk or dough, and the
stalks green clear down to the ground
and about twelve feet high. The corn
was cut and thrown in piles. Four teams
were used to haul corn to the cutting
machine. Some of it we cut half an inch
and some an inch long. This made no
difference in its keeping. l used four
horse power, and some of the time used
six upon it. The elevator is about thirty
feet long, one end attached to the cut
ter, and the other resting upon the top
of the wall of the silo. [ think with a
good force of nine men that about forty
tons of feed can be cut and put IN silo in
one day. Corn can be grown, cut, and
weighted down in a silo for less than one
dollar per to1, not counting the rent of
the ground.
MIR. Pierce finds ensllage to be the best
food for ''skim-milk' calves. They
thrive op it better than on any kind of
hay, even when they have meal in addi-
ton. His cows give the most milk when
they are supplied with ensilage. For
making feed, corn or other grains should
be fed in connection with it. 1t is much
easier to feed cattle from silo than from
a hay stack. At the last a man is exposed
to the cold and to storms of snow and
rain, in the first he is sheltered by warm
building. Much of the hay in a stack is
blown away while feeding it out, and
more is injured by snow and rains. En-
silage does not blow away and snow and
rain cannot reach it. A silo, if filed of
suitable material, cannot be blown down,
and it is not liable to be burned. The
most successful cattle raisers in the state
are those who have silos.