Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-02-21
ECONOMY OF ENsILAoE.
Filling Silo at an Actual Cost OF sixty
Three Cents per Ton.

Filling silo at an Actual Cost OF sixty
Three Cents per Ton.
The question OF the value OF ensi-
lage, and the system OF preserving
green fodder in air-tight vaults called
silos, has been the subject of spirited
controversy since the first employment
of the method in this country dozen
years ago. The advocates of the sys-
tenn, it must be admitted, have often
made the most extravaganza claims for
the silo. To them it was not merely a
convenient method OF storing and pre-
serving green fodder; by them the silo
was made to possess certain superior,
occult qualities, by virtue of which
the baser elements of vegetation were
transmitted into the pure gold of per-
feet cattle food.
The often wild claims of the cham
pions of ensilage for their favorite
method have provoked correspond
ing vehement opposition to the sys-
tenn. Nevertheless, the progress Of
the silo has been the agricultural
event of the decade. For every silo
that has been abandoned hundred
have been constructed, and to-day
thousands of farmers who, ten years
ago, had never heard of a silo, now
own silos and are using them with
profit and to their entire satisfaction.
Brushing aside all the extravagancies
OF statement that the advocates of new
measures OF every sort are pretty GER
tain to indulge in, it remains true that
the silo, wherever Indian corn can be
grown, has proved its great worth
with that constantly growing class of
farmers who estimate carefully the
cost Of every operation. The slip-shod
farmer, he who 'roughs" his cattle
through any way in stalk fields and
the climber" is not likely to favor
the more expensive method of the silo.
We are not of those who believe
that the silo can add any thing to the
value Of contained silage. On the con-
trary, the process of fermentation is
necessarily wasteful one; but this
seems clear to us: that this waste of
the silo is next to nothing compared
with the loss sustained by the COM
moner method of handling forage.
For example, we have found, as a re-
suit of careful and oft repeated tests,
that cattle will waste-refuse to eat-all
the way from twenty to sixty per cent.
of common corn fodder when cut in
half-inch lengths and fed in man.
ger. Good ensilage, on the contrary,
wastes next to nothing. The quite
uniform report of those having in
charge the college herd has been that
the uneaten portions of ensilage,
coarse butts, ETC., left daily by herd
of fifty cattle when on full allowance,
could be carried in half-bushel meas
ure. This practical utilization of all
of the feed recovered from the silo is
an argument for the system of ensilag'
ing not likely to be over-estimated.
The stock objection to the use of the
silo is the great cost of filling. Thai
the expensiveness of this operation il
greatly over-estimated by inexperi
enced persons we have no doubt. The
fact is, filling a silo is nothing like a,
serious an operation as threshing, OF
even husking, on an ordinary farm
In filling the silo we simply are com
PEELED to do a large amount of work
within quite limited time. Consider
ing that In filling the silo we, in effect
cut up the corn, shock it, husk 'tht
ears, stack the fodder, cut it into suit
able lengths for feeding and grind thu
grain, "cob and ALL the silo route il
the cheapest one that corn can TAXI
between the field and the animals
mouths. We, during the past season
filled an eighty-ton silo at an actua
cost of fraction less than sixty-thre
cents per ton.
, One fact is better than thousan,
theories, and we have in mind fac
which to us is argument enough. w
, have just finished feeding the content
Of a small silo, having a capacity o
thirty-fve tons. At the rate at whicl
this ensilage has been consumed ou
, crop of silage, obtained from less thai
! nine acres of ground, will carry her
, of fifty cattle of which only a SINAI
number are under one year from Dc
| tohar TX until March 1 without prain
except in limited number of specia
cases, and without hay or provende
o of any kind, except light mid-da,
feed of stalks or other rough fodde
4 fed in the yard. Prof Shelton, IN In
4 dustridliSt.