Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-05-01
THE S|lO
A Valuable Asset to the Farmers
Equipment.
BY R. r. ROSA,

BY r. r. ROSA,
Assistant in Agricultural Extension
Department, A. and NJ. College.
The time has come when people are
able to produce enough upon their
farms to keep them in good circum-
stances if they knew how to save it.
1t is an every day occurrence to travel
along the road in rural districts and
see acre after acre of fine large for
age crops either rotting down in the
field or stacked away in long ricks
which are gradually decaying. This
scene is deplorable to the man that
can figure ahead and see where this
valuable feedstuff could have been
made of good use.
Not so many years ago the lower
portion of the cornstalk, that is, the
part below the ear was thought to be
worthless for feeding purposes; some
people continue to think so little of
the value of the stalks that they rake
them up and burn them. However,
we have learned by experiment that
the above is untrue. 1t is fact that
the lower portion of the cornstalk is
worth just as much as the tassel for
feeding purposes if cut at the proper
time. If every farmer in the State
had had a silo on his farm during the
year 1910 they would have saved hun
dreds of thousands of dollars. Along
in May and June things looked as
though we were going to have
bumper crop of corn, but something
happened about this time; that dry
spell that has such a habit of coming
around most every year struck it, and
our corn wilted and died in the field.
Thousands and thousands of farms did
not produce a bushel to the acre. Had
these stalks been cut down and placed
in a silo they would have been worth
from S. to IS per ton for feeding pur
poses. If we will allow ourselves a
nominal wage for growing a crop it
will cost us in the neighborhood o.
IS per acre. This value of the corn
stalk for feeding purposes and the
labor necessary to produce that crop
We're entirely lost because people did
not realize the necessity of saving
what they were able to produce.
The best crops to be grown for fill
ing silos are Indian corn, milo maize,
kaffir corn, federita and sorghum. In
dian corn has been found to be more
easily cured than sorghum, due to the
fact that it contains less sugar and
more starches. However, if sorghum
is cut at the proper stage it will pre-
serve well and make equally as good
silage as Indian corn. 1t is recon-
mended by the agricultural extension
department of the A. and NJ. College
that cowpeas be planted in the corn
field, especially in sandy lands, in
time SO they will be about ripe by the
time the corn is ready for harvesting.
By doing this you improve your land
by growing leguminous plants, and
also add protein to your silage. The
cowpeas will save a great expense in
purchasing concentrated protein feeds
to be added to the silage to give a
balanced ration.
The best thing about silage is that
it takes the place of green grass with
most all kinds of animals. In the dry
summer months and winter when
grass is short we can open up the silo
and furnish our animals with that
green succulent feed which is so nee
essary for farm animals. Silage can
be fed to most all kinds of farm ami
mails, as horses, mules, cattle of all
kinds, sheep and hogs. We know that