The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-24

all those who make their living from
the soil. The statements are relative and
not absolute. as 1T would be manife5lly
impossible to make them so. Only q
few examples are given OF the very many
that constantly come to the attention
of those in charge OF the work.
Virginia has large and growing In
tcrest in animal industries. and the econ
8omc maintenance Of beef and dairy cat-
tie Is, therefore, q subject of great i'm
portance. In a recent feeding test with
sixty head OF beef cattle It was found
that the twenty head Of cattle receiving
silagc gained 500 pounds In 40 days or
1.46 pounds per heau per day; the twenty
receiving hay, gained $4,000 pounds, or ITO
pounds per head per dayi and the twenty
receiving stover. gained 3.4o0 pounds. or
81 pounds per head per day. AL these
cattle received the same kind OF meal,
yet the difference was considerable, due
to the effect of the rougl1ness used The
silage fed cattle, for instance, gained
1900 pounds more than the cattle fed hay,
and 100 pounds more than tho cattle
fed slower. OF course. sllage cannot be
fed for ill purposes, and Under all cir
#cumstnnces, but thousands OF silos could
be built and profitably utilized In ylr-
ginia, where there are now none. M
THE FINANCIAL SIDE.
Then, the financial side OF the ques-
ton is worth considering, for sllage can
be made at a cost OF 81 per ton, whereas,
the timothy hay used in these expert
ments was valued on the farm Mt 80, and
the stoyer at S. Under the conditions
outlined there arc thousands OF cattle
that could be annually fed in Virginia on
eIlage, made fat and OF superior quality
for slaughter, and the timothy hay now
SO generally fed, sold for $40 to $lb a ton.
The cotton seed meal fed with the sllage
ana corn would more than replace the
fertility contained in tho hay and the
farmer would be ahead in every respect.
f}s,rhe twelfth census shows that 943,079
tons OF hay were produced In the State
at a value Of s7,69o,Oa2. Replacing the 40
to SIS a ton hay with 81 silage and cot
ton sed meal would effect n saving OF
several million dollars annually to the
farmers OF Virginia. II the station had
done nothing else since Its organization
and conducted no further experiments,
It would have paid for itself a thousand
times over by this single demonstration,
sijIn an experiment conducted with 81
dairy COWS during tho past winter timothy
hay was fed against corn slower as q
Eroughness In conjunction with sllage
The results indicate that the stover, while
not quite equal to timothy hay. could
BIO used fairly we'll TO replace It " a.
ration for dairy cows This Is another
fact OF vast Importance. In this trial
ii was further shown that concentrates
are chiefly valuable Tor dairy COWS IN
proportion to the digestible protein they
contain In other words, that cotton
seed meal containing s7.2 per cent, OF d.
ygestible protein and costing about $3.50
to tS27. 90 "a ton, was worth about three
times as much as wheat BRAIN con-
tanning Ia per cent, OF digestible protein
and costing from 323. 90 to rs. 90 o ton. It
has been a common practice In the past
for farmers to use wheat bran In prefer
ence to cotton seed meal and other
concentrated. protein bearing foods, be-
cause they did not understand the basis
on whioh the value Of foods should be
estimated,
YIELD OF CORN.
Is The average Yield Of corn In Virginia
As about % bushels per acre, II corn
were planted In hills 1913 inches apart
zach way, there would be 1000 hills per
aero. II two stalks were allowed to.
grow In each hill there would be 5000
stalks per acre. II each stalk Yields al
ear 1T would mean that It only weighed
2.5 ounces. AS q matter Of fact the
ears OF corn produced arc much larger
than this. but III Is still sSsdent that
the stand Is very imperfect that the de-s
yelopment OF the ears yla below a sulta-f
bio standard. In other words, the se-