Arizona republican., 1914-12-22
THE DEMONSTRATION TRAIN

In spite of hard rains at both McNea
ana Douglas, the agricultural demon.
stratlon train, running under the man.
aGement of the agricultural experiment
station and the University of Arizona
cooperating with the railroads of the
state has been attended in good mum
bers.
The train has been accompanied over
the f. P. & S. W. lines bv Mr.. r s
Trumbull, agricultural agent for the FL
Paso x Southwestern for more than
i've years. Mr. Trumbull spends his
entire time travelling over New Mexico
and Arizona studying agricultural con-
dltons and observing the relative sue
cess ana failure of various crops. He
is therefore we'll conversant with the
needs of this southwestern country.
Ills lecture on silos should be especially
profitable to Sulphur Spring valley and
southeastern Arizona.
In arid and semi-arid soils, humus
ana nitrogen are lost by being burned
out. In order to keep up the supply
of these substances, farmers should
Iced up their crops so as to keep the
system of agriculture has ever been es-
tabllshed without the use of livestock
The forage crops which are grown to
best advantage in this section are corn
alfalfa and the grain sorghums. The
only satisfactory way to market these
crops is to feed them. The farmer
should aim to sell only concentrated
products SIIph hnt
meat poultry, eggs, livestock. yege
tables, fruits, etc. dollars worth of
which represents but small weight
ana minimum amount of soil fertil-
lily. Where forage crops are grown and
LED to livestock a farmer cannot af-
iord to, be without silo. There are at
present perhaps 100000 sios in use in
the United States. Numerous feeding
experiments conducted by experiment
stations show that on an average so
per cent of the feeding value of our for
age crops is lost when the crop is cured
dry; the loss often exceeds SIS per cent |
The leaves shatter, dirt blows in and |
the part actually eaten by stock is |
much less palatable than green forage |
and consequently not as easily digested- |
The silo preserves the forage in a green |
succulent condition whereby it is high |
ly relished by the livestock. 1t is the |
most perfect substitute for green pas
ture The total loss of feeding value of |
the forage crop when handled through +
The silo should not exceed to 10 per
cent
In brief the advantages of the silo
may be summed up as follows: ID |
Waste is eliminated: 90 the crop is
preserved in its most nutritious and
condition; (3) the crop is
stored in convenient and compact
IS an economical way of harvesting and
feeding it, the field being at once
cleared for other farming operations:
t31 the silo furnishes the only salts
factory method for carrying over the
excess of plentiful years to be used in
Years OF scarcity; 90 silage is the best
supplement for short pastures in dry
spells IN mid summer; Cd silage makes
winter dairying very profitable; 80 +;
me cost of the ration is reduced wher-
7Ner siage Is introduced: 90 the slo [
WI put our southwestern agriculture
III lifmer financial basis: 40 by us
ING the silo. livestock farming is en-
outraged; the stock carrying capacity
II the farm is increased: farmers mar
Net only concentrated products and the {
eftiil'y OF the land in conserved
Corn and any Of the grain sorghums I
iuch as kaffir, milo, feterita and cane Z