The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-31

feed and have continued it through ten and fifteen years of practical trial The silo Is a fixed institution on the progressive farm of the South. as 1t IS in the North and East. Good blood on the farm calls for a silo. A silo Is a guarantee of feed in time of need The crops put into the silo sour just enough to make them delicious to the stock during cold winter days and Tn time of very dry weather. Silage IS virtually sour kraut for the stock.
 Crops of corn. sorghum. alfalfa and peas are used generally for silage. Any succulent growing crop can be safely preserved. A silage system consists of silage crops, one or more silos. cut ting machinery and a well defined use for the feed thus prepared and pre- The farmer who attempts to build silos and put up silage out of a whim-a de- sire to be considered progressive" will usually fail in his efforts. The silage system demands that calcula- tions be made, figures used. arguments weighed. that some thinking be done The man who thinks will succeed with sflage. will find in 1t a method of saw ing or making cheap feed and high priced products.
 The silaEe system for dairy cattle.
 
 ton production. Is well understood by the experts of our stock farming world. More people would adopt the system If 1t were not so intensive and demand ing some special study Because it does require some knowledge. we find the silo removed from the path of the clod-hopper. thoughtless. improvident stockman. The silo on farm Is usual- ly sign of thrift.
 An ordinary corn crop makes silage of best quality. The large per cent. of grain adds strength to the ration and is especially desirable in feeding with cotton seed meal and similar feeds rich in protein. A larger yield will be made if corn is planted two or three times as thick as in ordinary planting. This yield ranges from 12 to 30 tons of grain feed per acre. Us- ually. silage crops are planted on the richest lands to be found on the farm. so that gross tonnage is favored. There Is no better early treatment for silage crop land than to run a crop of peas on the land before planting to corn or sorghum silage crops. Heavy doses of manure of any kind insure quick re- turns. The man with a silo soon learns the value of farm manure and contin- ues to save until every available ton of ShAS piouuCl 10 dpplSo " needy soils.
 On Southern lands yielding fifteen tons of corn silage. sorghum will cut one-half more. While corn is still the favorite silage crop in the North era and Eastern States. sorghum is growing stronger fin the confidence of Southern makers of silage every year. The treatment of the two crops is SO much alike that we may consider the system of cultivating, harvesting and preparing for the silo as practically the same Sorghum Is always seeded in drills for silage purposes. and cultivat- ed thoroughly with blows to encourage its rapid growth. This crop has one distinct advantage over corn for siiage purposes; .the second crop. or after math." is frequently nearly as large as the first crop this means an additional increase in tonnage over and above that expected from corn Still anoth- CT advantage Is found in our ability to plant sorghum Is almost any month from February to July. The drouth- resisting powers of sorghum tend to make the crop much more certain for silage purposes than is corn. The value of these feeds, ton for ton. (corn versus sorghum silage,) is practically the same If harvested at the same stage of maturity and preserved equally we'll Table Showing Feed Nutrients in SilaRe
 From Various Crops.