The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-16
Ten Years Ago Were Ten in
the State.
Now There Are Thousands and
They VIII Multiply.
H. A. PUGH TELLS ABOUT THEM
How They Save All Forage for
Feeding.
Stock Like Silage-SOlves
Problem to Produce Cheaply.

EVERY dairynan and stock feeder IN
Kansas will inevitably purchase a silo,
is the prophecy Of Harry H Pugn, VINO
knows more about the past, present
and future of silos than anyone elss
in the state. Ten years ago We had
half a dozen. year before last We sold
1000. this year we doubled, and next
year we expect a corresponding in
crease Five per cent of the dairynen
in Kansas own silos- One reason the
farmers don't have them Is because
they don't know enough about them
Some of the questions they ask would
fill a book of funny stories
Last week" went on Mr. Pugh,
reminiscentIy, I'VE had a letter request
ing samples of silage seeds. The party
said he'd never had silo and didn't
know what TO plant To an attorney
or a newspaper man that might not
seem funny; to us 1t was the choicest
bit of humor we'd ever heard
Recently, Mr.. Pugh called on Ger
man and showed him a picture Of
silo. hoping to interest Herr Schmidt in
the same. The man examined the pho
tograph in an attitude of extreme at
northumberland wrinkled. feet wide
apart; he studied the cut for fifteen
minutes. why not lay dot silo down p
quoth he; you could then get more
cattle in it. not?''
The siIo business in the United States
represents $2O,000.000 a year; the silo
manufacturers are the largest users of
fir lumber in the country. Q
Mr.. Pugh declares that stories of the
first silos erected in Kansas would fill
a volume the size of Webster's diction-
airy.
Buff Jersey, of Washington county 4
established the first silo,'' said he
by packing his feed in hole in the
ground He came to Kansas in 1860,
and built the first ensilage plant about
&ez-1 Ia L.
afterwards he constructed a real silo,
built of 'two-by-fours' laid up and
down, and lined with tar paper. It was
not a success because it let in too much
air. man named Smith built another
crude silo in Rush Center. 26 years ago.
The first real silos, however. were
erected in Dickinson and Shawnee
counties by various progressive farm
ers- Mostly wood slaves. they were"
said Mr.. Pugh, lucidly, more like a
barrel than a hole
Mr. Pugh has written thousands of
letters on sflage and prepared brief
paper for the State Journals use. The
article is instructive to those who don't |
know about silos. interesting to those |
who do, and invaluable to those who /
own, or expect to own, one Of these up
to-date receptacles.
The Advantage of the SiIo.
Throughout this western country the |
tage great amount of forage that /
otherwise would be wasted 1t has /
been proven beyond any question of /
doubt that forage crop can be sliced |
with success and some of the most
worthless utilized to advantage-such
as beet pulp. wheat and oats that have
reached the dough stage. or through
heavy wind storms and hail have been
broken down. Swale hay, foxtaiI,
Russian Thistles, immature corn. KAT
al
makes sufficient growth, can be har-
vested, run through the cutter, then
properly packed in the silo. 1t is true
such crops do not produce the same
results as good corn or crops that are
green; ii is also true they would he
of no use whatever by our present
method of handling
You have on many occasions wit
messed farmer throw to the stock
armIoads of fodder, cane. Kaffir corn
or swale hay; the stock would muss
it over and back to the driedup straw
stack to try to exc out an existence.
Had the stock eaten this musty stuff.
II would have produced neither bone, !
muscle, fat nor milk. 1t would have
bluned the COW into thinking If had
been fed instead of filed up. What
II any difference is there between a
large amount of forage that is being
fed today and the straw stock that
mas been wasting away for year or
two? Nevertheless, this forage would
have been relished by the animal If
sliced at the proper time
Let me here venture the assertion
that there never was any COW that Z
would leave the silage and go to the
best alfalfa hay ever grown in this
or any other country. Neither did anv
man ever see the COW that was in bet
ter flesh from the feeding of the hest ]
mature corn crop. than is his neigh
boris COW that has been fed silape
made from the waste crops of the farm
together with one-half of the same
quality his neighbor is feeding to his !