Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1913-06-06
The Cow, the Silo, and the Plains.

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The tin can has become q mark of
civilization. 1t represents the. mas
terry that the civilized man has &C.
quired over the ordinary laws of ma
ture. The yield of the vegetable
kingdom is ordinarily sufficient for
the sustenance of both man and
beast. 1t would always be so if there
were no perishables-if fruit and
vegetables and grain and meat could
be preserved in the days of plenty
against the days of want. Joseph.
during the seven years of plenty,
stored up sufficient amount of un-
perishable grains to carry the Egyp.
tians over a period of seven years
famine. But they must have become
NIGHTLY hungry for green stuff dur.
those seven long years.
The tin can has made it possible
for the modern Joseph to preserve
the green things that men like, dur
ing the years of plenty to be used
against the years Of famine, The tin
can has not only greatly extended the
market Of vegetable products as to
time, but it has greatly facilitated
the transportation of perishables
from one latitude to another. The
progress of the explorer, the surveyor
and the railroad builder is marked
by Il string of tin cans.
What the tin can is to civilized
humanity the silo is to livestock.
the progress of the dairy interests is
marked by the silo. The principal in
the preservation of fruits and garden
truck are the same as those involved
in the preservation of ensilage. 1t is
simply a question of keeping out the
air. The tin can is sealed while the
air is being driven off by heat, the OBJ
ject being to reduce the oxygen in the
can to a minimum. For the preser-
walton of ensilage, the object always
is to exclude the air. This is accom-
plished by cutting the silage in such a
way that it will pack itself, the inter-
spaces being occupied by the juice Of
| the green material or by the water
added. The silo in this country dates
back to about the year 1878. Since
then there has been much talk about
the various kinds of silos, the mater
ial to be employed in their construc-
ton, their filling, and the best way to
preserve it.
With the last few years the con-
struction of underground silos has
come into vogue. A pit from fifteen
to twenty-five feet is dug and the
walls cemented or bricked and plas-
tered. The advantages of the under
ground silo are; cheapness, and free
dom from frost and injuries from
wind and weather.
It is not absolutely necessary in
order to preserve ensilage to have al
especial building constructed after
model plans. An old house with
plastered walls makes fairly good
silo, or any enclosure into which
green material may be crowded to ex-
clude the air will preserve it reason
able time.
Any kind of forage crop may be
converted into ensilage. Corn by
reason of it's succulent nature, kaflir,
milo, and the whole sorghum family
make good ensilage. Alfalfa and
clover are easily preserved in this
way, and in fact any of the grasses
can be taken directly from the field
when damp and placed in storage
with much less trouble than curing
them in the field and hauling them to
the barn or stacking them.
In the vast region between the Tooth
meridian and the mountains where
the rainfall averages less than twenty
inches, the growing of corn and ordin-
airy farm crops is somewhat uncer-
tain, not because the rainfall is in
sufficient to mature Il crop, but be-
cause the farmers now occupying this
region are not sufficiently acquainted
with the methods necessary to con.
serve the moisture. TO be sure of re.
suits. Under these conditions the
dairy COW and the silo are veritablt
god.sends. There never was veal
SO dry, but by reasonable exercise
of care crops of corn, milo, katfir
and sorghum that would run from
three to six tons per acre could MOI
be raised. These crops properly silo
ed will furnish abundant feed for thu
dairy herd during the winter ant
the periods of drought, when the pas
turage is short. With the ready mar
ket for cream and the possibilities TO
abundant ensilage, there is no reason
why the entire plains country will
it's fifteen inches of rainfall canno