The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1916-10-05
LIVE WIRE SPARKS

I. LIVE WIRE SPARKS M 10,
4snuruIuuuMraiIIrlMu ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is the day Of the silo, and these
are the ensilage days. From the diff
ficulty everyone is having in getting
help one would suppose that every
farmer in the valley had silo to fill.
This is hardly true but they are COM
ing in fast enough. Five new silos
have been built near Finley this fall
and the fact surely indicates the pro-
gress the local farmers are making
along good, sound dairying lines. We
doubt if there is another spot within
q radius of fifty miles that can show
half as many silos in proportion to the
number of farmers as can the Finley
district. In fact, there are few places
in the whole Northwest that can sur
pass Finley in this respect.
The silo is no longer an experiment
and the local farmers have found that
by putting old alfalfa land into corn
every six or eight years they can not
only keep their alfalfa in better shape
but they can make nearly twice as
much per acre off the corn as off the
alfalfa. Usually the corn is grown
on the same piece two years in sue
cession, and then it is reseeded to al
falfa. Most local feeders figure that
the feeding value of ensilage is about
one-half the feeding value of alfalfa
hay, tho for the dairyman it is doubt
less worth more than this to have the
succulent feed during the winter. En-
silage containing the proper proper
ton of corn, j. e., just as much as the
cow will assimilate without waste, is
said to make balanced ration when
fed with alfalfa hay. Sixty per cent
of the virtue of such ensilage is in the
corn and forty per cent in the fodder.
Most Of the corn raised locally is rich
er than necessary and farmers often
find they can pick off from ten to forty
per cent of the corn to use for poultry
feed, hog feed, etc., and this often re-
suits in a yield of twenty to thirty
bushels per acre. - 81
The Sellicks probably had the best
corn in the neighborhood this year. It
yielded in excess Of twenty-three tons
per acre with no corn jerked. Figur-
ing on the value Of half the hay price,
this piece produced over $115.0O per
acre at less cost than putting up four
cuttings Of hay. While this was prob
ably the best piece around here, fields
that yield SIS and 500 per acre are
by no means uncommon. The combina-
ton Of alfalfa land and corn land is
hard to beat as a dairying proposition
and we are greatly pleased to see such
rapid strides along dairying lines. The
farmer who had his land properly lev
eled and flumed with good buildings
and silo can easily figure on making
q net profit Of $4,000 or more per acre
in this land of sunshine and water
where there are no crop failures.
Surely this valley is coming into it's
own.
Speaking of silos, Ernest Perry is
surely an enthusiast. He has built a
silo to feed one COW, horse and seven
chickens.
One smooth guy got the editor to
work tramping silage, and he came a
whole lot nearer earning his pay than
he does writing this stuff. When he
got up level with the ground (the pit
was five feet deep) he found that the
continual dancing had affected his
watch, for it indicated that he had
tramped just two hours. The curious
thing about it was that his partners
watch was affected the same way and
SO were Eddie Frauen's and Glen
Hitchcock's, who fed the cutter. They
therefore concluded that they were all
wrong for all normal signs infalibly
indicated that it was high noon in
tead of nine o'clock. Hard luck was
their lot, Tor the cooks clock stopped
and she set it by Glen's watch, so
they had to do full days work be-
fore dinner time. The editor got even
with them, however, for he ate about
$500 worth of ensilage. Glen Hitch
cock didn't have anything handy to-
fill up on so he drank quart of gaso-
line which stayed his appetite for
awhile.
While we're SLIDING we might men,
ton that August Huss is the prize en-
silage cutter of the valley. When he
runs out of corn he never stops, but
sends up oil cans, baling wire, monkey
wrenches or anything he can get his
hands on.
We said these were ensilage days.
We'll loo C.,oro rdc incf GnscboJ L.. 81.