Silo Has Great
Value for Corn
MILK COW NEEDS
PLENTY OF FEED
Grain feeding should always be tn
proportion to milk production. The
cow in milk, if a Holstein, says C. H.
Eckles, chief of the dairy division of
the Minnesota College of Agriculture,
should be given about one pound of
grain to every four pounds of milk
produced. A Guernsey or Jersey needs
one pound of feed to three of milk.
The dry cow in good condition needs
little, if any, grain.
“The cow is a milk machine,” says
Doctor Eckles, “and feed Is the raw
material. Like any factory or machine,
economical operation Is possible only
when plenty of raw material is avail
able. Turning a dairy cow loose in a
pasture does not insure that she will
get sufficient feed to hold up in milk
production as she should, especially
from now until the time when regular
housing and dry feed will be in order.
"Practically every real dairy farm
er will have silage available. Don't
wait too long before beginning to use
it. Within ten days after silo filling
is completed, the silage is ready to
use and unless pastures are unusually
good it is well to begin feeding it
“The experience! man knows that
it is easy to let cows drop down in
milk from poor feed, but very hard to
bring them back to the high level
again later even If good feed is given.
Good management means keeping the
conditions and feed right all the time
so there will be no drop in milk at any
time from lack of feed. The cow that
has what silage she will eat will be
well cared for so far as roughage Is
concerned so long as the pasture fur
nishes fuir grass. When the grass be
gins to fall, bring out the alfalfa and
clover."
Increasing Demand for
Higher Grade Products
The Increasing demand for high
grade milk and dairy products makes
it important that right method* of
handling be observed. M. J. Prucha
of the University of Illinois nrges pro
ducers to keep the utensils, the barn,
the cows and the milker clean. Don't
depend on the strainer to remove the
dirt, but keep dirt out of the milk in
the first place. Feed wholesome feeds
and don't expose milk to odors.
To Improve the keeping quality of
milk, keep down the number of bac
teria. This Is done first by keeping
the cows clean. Then watch the palls
and cans for they are the largest
source of bacteria. Wash well and
then steam or scald or sterilize with
a chemical sterilizer.
Cool milk promptly at 60 degrees
Fahrenheit. A-grade milk must be
cooled to 50 degrees. Prucha finds
that the man is the most Important
factor in the production of high-grade
milk.
Dairy Calves Need Some
Grain When Very Young
Calves under three months of age
should not be made to depend on pas
ture grass, for roughage; feed some
good alfalfa hay. As long as a rea
sonable amount of skim milk is fed,
12 to 15 pounds per head daily, on
pasture the grain may consist of a
combination of ground corn, oats, bar
ley or kafir grains. There is no need
for protein supplements from grain
sources. The skim milk and grass sup
ply plenty of good-quality protein and
also mineral substance. A calf three
months old getting skim milk and
grass needs about 1 pound of grain to
each 100 pounds live weight. Where
skim milk Is not available it Is advis
able to increase the protein content of
the grain mixture by Increasing the
proportions of high protein concen
trates. A good mixture may be made
from 200 pounds each of ground oats
and corn, 100 pounds bran, and 100
pounds of linseed oil meal.—Nebraska
College of Agriculture.
Labor Involved at Silo-
Filling Time Is Costly
One of the greatest objections which
Is raised against the silo Is the labor
involved at silo filling time. While it
is definitely proved that this Is labor
well spent, yet some dairymen still
continue to use It as an excuse. Two
or three of the leading implement
manufacturing concerns are now ac
tively engaged In efforts to overcome
this objection. One concern Is devel
oping a machine which will not only
grind and chop all the feed desired,
but which can also be transformed
quickly Into a silo filler which will do
the Job with the ordinary labor found
on the farm. Another machine Is cut
ting and chopping feed in the field,
leaving it all ready to blow into the
allo.
JOHN’S
STINGY
Poor Crop and Borer Point
Way to Proper Storage
of Feed.
This fall the silo provides the best
way to cope with the European corn
borer and to make the most of what
may be saved from the corn crop, says
the New York state college of agri
culture at Cornell university.
Unless all signs fall this will be
one of New York's poorest corn years,
the college points out. Planting was
late because of unfuvor.xle weather;
a shortage of good seed was responsi
ble for many a poor stand; corn fields
were disked and seeded to buckwheat.
A late fall may help some but can
not compensate for the cool summer
which has reduced yields In every
corn field.
Put Soft Corn In Silo.
Much corn grown for grain will
have to be put in the silo if it is to be
saved. Soft corn which will not keep
iu a crib is safe in a silo; and corn
stalks, cut up fine and put through
the fermentation of silage cannot
harbor live corn borers.
Corn properly stored In the silo re
tains more of Its feeding value than
by any other method. The college
suggests that the farmer allow his
corn to stand as long as possible, re
membering that each day’s growth
means hundreds of pounds of feed;
allow the ears to reach the glazed
stage. If possible; if he must cut corn
that Is very Immature, the bundles
should Ue on the ground a couple of
days to evaporate some of the excess
moisture. Extremely green silage is
watery and poor In quality.
Reduce Spoilage In Silo.
Reduce the spoilage In the silo by
having the walls air-tight; by cutting
the pieces small; and by packing firm
ly to exclude even small air pockets
where mold may start. In a year like
this a good part of the feeding value
is In the leaves of the corn plant,
so none of the leaves should be lost
Native Vegetables Are
Most Valuable Plants
In the American vegetable garden
eight principal food products had their
origin In the Indian crops existing
here before the. advent of the white
man. These include beans, corn, pep
pers, pumpkins, squash, tomato, potato
and sweet potato. Vegetables of Old
World origin are far more numer
ous. The United States Department
of Agriculture lists 24 of Importance,
cucumbers, eggplant, muskmelon, wa
termelon, okra, asparagus, beets, brus-
sels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauli
flower, celery, kale and collard, kohl
rabl, leek, lettuee, onion, parsley
parsnips, peas, radish, salsify, spinach
and turnip. Hut the value of the
crop of the eight native vegetables is
considered greater than the 24 of for
eign origin. Since the discovery of
America the white man has not
“tamed” an. native plants which the
Indians had not already brought from
warmer parts of America, but notable
improvements have bem made In the
quality and yield of most of these
vegetables.
Profitable Practice of
Hogging Down Com Crop
The practice of hogging down corn
has been growing very rapidly in the
corn belt states in recent years. It
Is a good practice because It saves
labor and Increases the rapidity o1
hog gains, provided the corn Is prop
erly supplemented. A few farmers
still make the mistake of turning their
spring pigs into corn without sup-
; lying a supplementary high protein
and the proper amount of mineral
matter. But the great majority of
farmers who follow the practice of
hogging down a portion of their corn
are placing self-feeders containing a
commercial high protein feed and a
mineral mixture In the field to allow
the pigs to balance their own ration.
It Is in this way that the most eco
nomical as well as the most rapid
gains are obtained.
Agricultural Items j
Sweet clover hay, properly cured.
Is practically equal to alfalfa.
• • •
Farmers seldom have trouble get
ting good prices for high-grade prod
uce.
• • •
After haying and harvest is a good
time to get at that concrete dairy-
stable floor.
• • •
Millet hay should not be fed to
h irses for any length of time lest if
'njure their kidneys.
WIFE
ff---------
-----------------
■
■—M
«B by D. J. Walsh )
FEED WORK HORSE
BALANCED RATION
ARAH POND win not n miser.
She did not love money for its
own sake. Fur from it. But h
pinched childhood and a half-
The horse Is no different from other
animals in that the ration should be starved girlhood hud made her clutch
reasonably balanced lu regard to pro eagerly each coin she hardly earned.
tein, carbohydrates, fats, oils and If one understood It wu* pitiful; but
fiber. It should be remembered that a If not, It was only sordid.
And there were many who did not
horse on heavy work requires twice
as much protein as the same horse understand.
When she hud married John Pond
when on light work. The more severe
the labor of the horse, the larger must and left her old home for a distant
be the supply of nutrients. The stom stale she left, too, all those old
ach of a horse has a capacity of 19 friends who had watched her make
quarts while the stomach of a cow her way from furm kitchen to well-
may hold 207 quarts, so It Is evident paid office work. John knew her
that a horse at hard work cannot well only us the valued secretary of the
derive most of Its nourishment from lawyer who had successfully taken
roughage. Since the ration must not cure of a little Inheritance for him.
have an undue amount of roughage, WJiut John liked about Surah was
this necessitates a large proportion of the economy of her dress- no loose
concentrates high In energy content ends, no flapping sleeves. All trim
When horses are severely worked, the and neat. Just the wife for him, he
roughage ration Is cut down and the was sure. His growing lumber busi
ness in the Northwest had taken too
concentrates increased.
The standard ration of concentrates much of his time to allow of woman
for the American horse consists of Interests. But now lie could settle
two-thirds oats and one-third ear corn down—have a home. Saraii whs the
by weight. Every Saturday nighL one to make that home—trim as one
wheat bran Is substituted for the oats. of his own pine boards.
So he had asked her about It. And
The horse Is allowed about twv
ounces of salt a day but this is never as she really thought she loved him,
though she had seen him but a hulf-
mixed with the feed.
Timothy hay Is the standard rough dozen times, she said yes, she would
age for the horse throughout the do her best to make him happy.
That wus all on either side. John
United States. The freedom from
dust of good timothy hay commends thought it was quite enough, since he
it as a horse feed and it Is an excel knew nothing of the amenities of
lent roughage for animals whose sus courtship from any source. John was
tenance comes mostly from concen a business man. A good chooser of a
trates. A reasonable allowance of bargain, he would Say, looking at his
timothy hay is one pound dally for wife-to-be.
He wus right.
100 pounds of animal.
Surah did not waste even senti
Properly cured legume hay Is usual
ly more palatable than other rough ment They were married and for
ages, so If horses are given an "xross three years lived happily enough, ex
amount of legume hay. there Is some cept that John could not get his wife
danger that they may consume loo to spend enough money. To be sure
much. Legume hays are suitable to he went ahead and siwnt it himself
balance corn or other concentrates on a handsome new house, with the
low In protein. Legume hays. If they furnishings ordered direct from the
are properly put up so that they nre factory. He had some favors coming
not dusty, may be fed advantageously. to him from the factory people, and
Sarah did not object very much to
the cost, since he assured her that a
Need of Proper Amount
great reduction had been made—espe
of Protein Supplements cially to him.
No matter what changes we may
Then, as John had more leisure,
make in the grain rations to fit the and was not as often away on those
feeds available and to produce the long woods trips to his timber tracts'
cheapest gains on Lugs, we should not trouble began to creep around the
lose sight of the neeo of the proper Pond home and snarl at the door.
amount of protein supplements and
John awoke to the fact that his
minerals. Many in planning their wife was stingy.
feeding assume that small grains will
He was sure of It one day when
greatly reduce the shortage of min they had paid a call on a sick friend
erals and protein found In the ration —a man who had done more than any
based on corn. In fact, many assume other to help John In Ids first hard
that a little oats or barley will make days. It was spring and John had In
unnecessary the use of tankage, or a sisted on taking half a dozen j>ots of
home or factory mixed protein supple plants for the garden of the ailing
mented. They don't. Both barley and man. Sarah finally agreed, but as
oats contain a little more protein than they were leaving the Invalid, she
corn but still lack much of providing said:
a balanced ration. The same Is true
•Til send over for the empty pots
of minerals. With gains costing more In the morning. You won't need
due to higher-priced grains we can’t them after the plants are set out.”
afford to pass by protein supplements
John felt his face burning. He
and mineral mixtures.
longed to hide—to crawl away out of
sight of the gently smiling friend
who eyed Sarah so amusedly. That
To Prevent Vermin on
lady was wholly unconscious of hav
Sheep During Winter ing
said anything wrong. Pots were
To prevent Dee from infesting sheep pots and had cost money once—even
in winter it is advisable to dip the If a small sum.
animals in autumn. A solution of any
Whey they reached home, however.
standard coal-tar dip will suffice for John told her what he thought of her
the purpose, If used strictly according speech—and of several "close" ways
to the instructions given by the man she had.
ufacturer. Then the dipped sheep
"It Isn’t as If we needed the pen
should be kept out of houses and pens nies you save, Sarah. We don’t. And
that have not been scrupulously besides—there Is a coinage so much
cleansed, disinfected and whitewashed more precious than gold. Don’t you
for their reception.
know that?”
Afterward be careful not to Intro
No. Sarah did not. How could
duce new sheep that have not been she—starving up as she had? And
treated for destruction of lice. Ticks somehow, she had never observed the
are even more annoying and the same ways of the world and Its ethics In
treatment gets rid of them. The dip later and easier days. Perhaps her
ping, however, should be done shortly eyes were holden.
after shearing, Including the lambs,
At any rate, sho resented her hus
when the ticks from the adult sheep band’s reproof, and a quarrel wus
have migrated to them, and should finally begun.
be repeated in autumn, liefore the
"If you can’t appreciate my care
weather becomes too cold.
for your money—we’d better go seje
arate ways—” she stormed.
Young Cattle Gain on
"I've never had any thought but
for your Interest—I’ve gone without
Silage, Hay and Meal almost everything for myself—you've
Young cattle which are being car spent so much on the house—you’re
ried along rather slowly on silage and always spending so much. It’s crim
straw, together, perhaps, with a little inal the way you waste money, John
hay and oil meal, will ordinarily make Pond. You can Just go to the poor
a hundred pounds of gain for one ton house—for all of me.”
Of silage, 100 pounds of oil meal, 100
Sarah's voice broke In a sob npd
pounds of hay, and a little straw. In she ran from the room. John was
other words, it would seem that when astounded. He had not known she
the rate of gain Is between one and a could cry. As for not having things
half to two pounds per head dally, the for herself—how should he know? He
feed cost of a hundred pounds of gain had no knowledge of women or their
would be somewhere around $!» or $10. wants. He was miserable. Perhaps
When the gains are from two to two he was a little reckless with money,
and a half pounds per head dally and hut spending always In a large way
the steers nre being fed heavily on had come to he a hlblt In these plen
corn, it would seem that the feed cost tiful years. H® would think It over
of a hundred pounds of gain would and he hunted for a cigar. Then de
be somewhere around $13 or $14.
cided he would smoke a pipe—It
would bo cheaper.
S
Smoking and thinking and Jotting
dow’ certain Items on a memoran
dum leaf occupied the rest of the
evening for John Pond.
At breakfast Sarah was Inclined to
be quiet, but John determinedly ig-
nored her attitude. He'd show her
that he could come more than half
way—and make amends, too. by
George I She’d see I
He left for his office without th*
usual goodly kin, and presently
Surah beard him driving noisily down
the street. He believed In getting all
the racket <ie could out of a motor
car, perhaps regarding It In the light
of an advertisement.
Late In the afternoon he returned,
more Jovial than Surah remembered
him.
She could scarcely see hl* smile,
though, for the stack of boxes In bls
arms.
"Here — Surah I Now I You can't
say you haven't anything. Went to
the best shops In town—got the calcs"
girls to help me. But 1 um some
buyer myself!
"Now, this Is the way to dress my
wife — look — the banker's wife's got
no better.
"And to think you've heen going
without all those pretties when they
belong to you—do look at them,
Sarah I"
Sarah looked. She did not faint,
have hysterics, nor yet cry. Training
Is something.
Rapidly she opened box after bog,
laying out filmy bits of silk and
crepe, airly creations of Ince, hand
some frocks whose every rustle whis
pered money.
“John Pond, what did nil this cost?
Tell the truth, now I”
John mopped his brow. He had
never considered n lie necessary. Not
yet, nnd It was now too late to be
gin.
"Why—er—er— Sarah—you know
—It's this wny.
I’d never have
dreamed of spending so much, only,
you know, I could tell after yesterday
—thnt you thought I hadn’t the
money for you to get things. Things
you ought to have. Everybody has a
standard, you see. And somehow
you’ve not grasped the weight of
ours.
"Those flower-pots—yesterday. Rn-
rnh—showed thnt there had to be n
change—or somebody would get terri
bly cheated—you. Sarah. And, yes—
I would, too. For thnt hurt, yon
know—asking for those js>ts back "
Sarah was no fool. She was n good
deal of a thoroughbred, too. She
didn’t shy when she saw what the
thing In the road was!
“You menn, John, thnt when I was
so nasty stingy about those 10-cent
floweV-pots It showed me up n lack
ing in—balance? Thnt one should—
that I should spend nnd use money ac
cording to our station? Is thnt It?”
John hummed a bit. He was afraid
he had gone too far.
Still, Sarah was the most sensible
women—In some ways—that ever
was-----
She proved hl* assertion true by
smiling over her finery with n delight
that was not assumed, nnd when she
gave him ten ulfely kisses for the
lovely things, nil she said about
money was:
"Ten cents or one dime—a bargain
sale was what you attended, John,
dear
Farm Good Training Ground
Are not most of us who have young
boys nowadays tempted to mnke life
too easy for them? A soft boyhood
often makes the going hard Inter on.
Nearly all men nl the top today nre
those who had to start nt the bottom
and do all their own climbing, create
all their own Influence and mnke nil
their own money. An analysis of the
careers of a thousand of America's
most notable men of affairs would re
ven! that a large percentage of them
started either ns farm boys who were
put to Work at an extremely early age
or grocery boys. Office boys would
rank next. There seems to have been
something about boyhood life on our
farms which developed Sturdiness, self,
reliance, energy nnd ambition. Farm
boys were taught that life means
work, that struggle nnd strenuoslty
are man’s lot.—Editorial In Forbes
Magnziqc.
“Golden” Wedding»
In days gone by, when people depend
ed more on themselves for entertain
ment than we do, every opportunity
was seized for making the most of
family gatherings. The anniversary
of a wedding day was an obvious op
portunity of the sort and would gen
erally
commemorated by a family
reunion, while the fiftieth anniversary
of a couple's marriage was sufficiently
rare to deserve of extra celebration.
So It became called n “golden" wed
ding simply as meaning a superlative
occasion of the type, gold being a
common symbolism, of course, for the
best.
Lt wns not till we came to want a
word for the celebration of a still
longer married life that we bit upon
the phrase of “diamond wedding,"
Just a* an exaggeration of the much
older “golden wedding."