The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-09-20
siIos and silace in the South.

The following question by Nfissis-
slpplan, answered by Mr.. Andrew NJ.
Soule, of the Tennessee Experiment
Station, may be Of interest to readers:
IL am contemplating building silo.
Will it prove paying Investment 10
the South. where We can Craze catue
in the winter except when too wet, ana
where large crops of turnips and ruta-
ba-as can be grown? l want to feed
silage to young mules, colts. cows,
calves and work stock when not in use.
During about onethird Of the winter
the ground is too wet 70 Craze. au
raising beef cattle. but do not fatten
them for market" -F ""
1t will certainly pay TO have silo in
the South, as II cannot only be used to
advantage in the winter when the
ground is too wet to permit pasturing.
but Il can also be used to advantage i'll
the summer when droutl1 prevails and
when it would otherwise be necessary
to use soiling crops, which are expel-
sive unless they can be utilized in the
form of pasture. Silage has been fed
at the Tennessee Experiment Station
throughout the entire summer. and
when fed in comparison with such soil
ing crops as COW peas. corn and sOr'
ghum, has given better results with
cows than the freshly cut sOiling crops.
BY means of the silo your correspond
ent can preserve a large quantity of
food in the most palatable form with
less labor than after any other fashion
1t costs to make ton of hay from
peas and corn fodder from S3 to So, de-
pending ON the crop yield. According
to the yields obtained at this station,
with those crops varying from three to
five tons of cured hay, the first cost OF
making the hay is greater than putting
an acre of the same crop in the silo
While the hay will lose about one-Quar
ter of its food value the same crop if
properly preserved in the silo will moi
lose more than five to ten per cent. OF
it's food value. When the crop Is put
in the sllo everything connected with
it is done. whereas the hay will need te
be handled over again and frequently
cut in order to get the cattle to con
sumo it to the best advantage, all OF
which entails good deal Of extra In
bor and expense. t. 49,. ..... .-s.,
For feeding beef cattle your CORE
spondent will find sorghum silage par
ticularly valuable, and with certain va
rieties, as the Red Head. he can obtaiI
a yield of from fifteen to twenty tons
According to some experiments made
the green weight Of corn fodder, peas
and turnips was respectively 1854.
pounds. 17.G45 pounds and 2S,50(
pounds; the dry matter furnished b,
these crops was $3.50 POUNDS. 259(
pounds and 2559 pounds respectively
At the Pennsylvania Station tie cos
Of placing an acre Of sugar beets in the
nit was $56.O7, and an acre Of corn il
! the silo, S21.12. AT the Tennessee Sta
tion in 1901 one acre of corn In the silt
| cost $3.50, and one acre Of cow pea:
and sorghum In the silo cost $lO.4o.
| Your correspondent will make no mis-
take in building q silo for use in TIL
South. These figures make it eyideB
| that the silo viii prove an Invaluable
aid to the Southern farmer, whether b,
| contemplates feeding beef or dairy cat
| tie or other farm stock. One can feet
| silage with advantage to horses ant
mules. OF course it must be fed Judi
ciously, and animals cannot be expect
ed to do as hard and continuous labo
as where lhey Eare receiving a. big
grain ration and plenty Of hay. bdt 70
a maintenance ration and for ligh
work during the winter months 1t will
prove excellent for horses and mule
and other farm stock .l