THE SILO IN NEBRASKA. E. H. CLARK, SECRETARY NATIONAL SILO MANUFACTURERS AND JOBBERS ASSOCIATION. The principle of the silo has been in operation for over a hundred years, first being used in the beet sugar works in Germany, where pits and trenches were dug in the ground for the preservation of roots. From this crude beginning the wood silo was developed and during the last twenty years great strides have been made in its construction. At first practically all of the wood silos were built after what is known as “Wisconsin Plan," that is, by setting up studding in a circle. About twenty years ago the stave silo made its first appearance. It was built on the same principle as the water tank with the staves running up and down. These staves were tongued, grooved and beveled to the circle and held in place by steel hoops, and had many advantages over the 'Wisconsin Plan." This form of construction is much cheaper, more easily erected, preserves the silage perfectly and has proven so satisfactory that it has almost entirely supplanted every other style of construction. Construction is an important element in the preservation of silage. There are three vital factors in the keeping of silage, viz., pressure, heat, and acid. The pressure packs the silage and excludes the air. The heat pasteurizes the silage and kills many of the mould spores. The acid is also detrimental to many of the spoiling moulds. Wood being a nonconductor of heat and cold, all parts of the silage, even the very outside, reach the highest degree of temperature and therefore keep well. where cement, brick or stone is used, the heat is drawn from the silage, because they are good conductors of heat and for this reason more silage spoils around the edge of such a silo. A cement or brick silo cost considerable more than a wood silo. It must be built by someone who knows how to construct such a building, for if it cracks it is a total loss. COST OF SILAGE. In the dairy districts of New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan the silo has been in use for twenty years and has become such an important part of the equipment of the dairy farmer that many have declared they would have to quit dairying if they had to dispense with the silo. Its general use has been delayed in Nebraska on account of an abundance of cheap roughage. The stock farmers, however, are learning of the valuable qualities of silage in addition to its cheapness and, as a result, more interest has been aroused in this important subject this year than any time in the history of the state. The two questions. which usually confront the farmer with stock in considering this subject are: What is the cost of prodcing silage, and what is its feeding value. Professor Haecker, of the Nebraska Experiment Station, figures the cost of production of silage, compiled from reports of silo users in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Wisconsin, as follows: Silage cut per day, 75 tons; cost to put in silo, per ton.. $0.75 INTEREST AND DEPRECIATION. Interest on money invested in silo...... Interest on money invested in machinery. Depreciation and repairs on silo and machinery, per year. For 150-ton silo.. Interest and depreciation, per ton. SUMMARY. Cost of growing, per ton.... Cost of putting in silo, per ton. Interest and depreciation, per ton. Total cost of corn silage per ton... $25.00 12.00 30.00 *6.00 $73.00 $0.48 $0.72 .75 .48 $1.95 The above figures are liberal. In many cases this cost can be reduced. VALUE OF SILAGE. It is difficult to give the value of silage in terms of money, for the reason that many of its properties which have an actual value cannot be so measured. For instance, while an analysis will show probably no more food units than many other feeds, silage has succulency, giving it much of the properties of grass. This means that the stock will eat more of it and assimilate it more readily, but one cannot express that value in figures. It takes far less storage space than hay or other feeds, pound for pound, a saving in the cost of buildings and their maintenance. Large herds can be fed in a short time with a little labor, clearly a saving. Another and far greater consideration to the dairy farmer is the increased production of milk from the feeding of silage. It has been proven beyond controversy that cows may be made to produce milk in a constant quantity the year around by the feeding of silage. Yet many of the creamery men will tell you that they are receiving more than half of their butter-fat in three months of the year. By the use of the silo the farmer is enabled to put butter-fat on the market when it is worth the most. SILOS FOR THE CATTLE FEEDER. The value of silage as part of the ration for the dairy cow has long been established, but its value for feeding fattening cattle has not been so universally recognized. Still the silo is rapidly coming into favor in sections of the country where beef production is made an important industry. A number of state experiment stations have conducted tests in which corn silage has been compared with field cured fodder and other farm foodstuffs. In practically all of these experiments, silage has had the effect of cheapening the ration and increasing the profits from feeding. In a Kansas test it was found that one lot of ten steers fed silage in connection with alfalfa nay, Kafir corn, corn chop and cottonseedmeal produced gains at a cost of $4.91 per hundred pounds, while the lot fed on corn rations without silage produced gains at a cost of $5.95 per hundred. In computing the profits and losses of this feeding, it was found that there was an average profit of $4.10 per head made on the silage steers and an average loss of $1.47 per head on the steers which were fed without silage. A part of this larger profit was due to the fact that the silage fed steers sold for $4.95, while the steers which were given nothing but dry feed sold for twenty-five cents per hundred less. The higher selling price of the silage fed steers was caused by the fact that they made larger gains and were in somewhat higher condition at the time marketed. The Missouri station found in a steer feeding experiment where corn silage was compared with hay $1.07 for every hundred pounds of beef was saved by the use of silage. Not only are the experiment stations getting satisfactory results in feeding silage, but practical feeders in the corn-belt are reducing the cost of production by the use of the silo. THE SUMMER SILO. The summer silo is fast becoming popular and even necessary, because of its splendid aid in supplementing summer pastures and tiding the herd over the period of drought heat and flies. Experiment stations that have studied the subject strongly advocate its use. Too much dependence is usually placed upon pasture for summer feeding. Pasturing high-priced land is unprofitable in these times. If sufficient silage is put up each year, part can well be used for summer feeding which will be found less laborious than the daily hauling of green crops for the herd. The dry pasture and burned-up hillsides following the drought of 1910 made a strong impression as to the importance of having good summer feeding. It was an eloquent, though severe, plea for the summer silo. The drought cut down the milk flow in most of the herds nearly 50 per cent. Not one farmer in a hunded had provided for this emergency by a good suuply of succulent food that would make milk. In all sections of the corn-belt where pasture grass is not abundant, the silo will be of particular value. Here in Nebraska we have a relatively small acreage in pasture and in consequence there is a marked shortage of grass in this state. On the other hand, we produce in Nebraska annually approximately five million tons of corn stover, of which about four-fifths is wasted. The more general introduction of the silo would make it possible to have a large part of this winter surplus offset the deficiency of summer feed and the capacity of our farms for keeping live stock would be increased enormously. It is to be hoped that our stock farmers will make use of the entire corn plant in this way as we have now reached a stage in our development which makes it necessary to utilize everything that is grown to the very best advantage. THE SILO COMING IN NEBRASKA. Previous to the year 1909 there were about fifty silos in the state. A careful canvass made by our State Experiment Station gives 480 at the end of 1910. After visiting all the factories which are selling silos in this state, I am convinced that 2,000 is a conservative estimate of the silos for 1911. This gives a fairly accurate idea of the way the silo is being adopted in the state, and the day is not far distant when every up-to-date farmer will have one or more silos as part of his farm equipment. A WOMANLY WOMAN. LOUISE SABINE, BEATRICE, NEB. We women, as we are living in an age of advancement, cannot help but observe from time to time, if we allow ourselves to do so, the constant progress that men in all lines and branches of work, and in all professions, are ever on the move, as we might say. We find a man in whatever line of work he cares to take up, must compete with a great many others in the same line, and in order to make a name for himself, or in order to draw recognition from the world, he must be competent, well-qualified, and also up-to-date. Are men meeting this demand? us see. Let We note that physicians all over the world find it necessary to take literature, magazines, journals, etc., from which they can glean helps, from observations and experiences of other men, who are also interested in the very same problems that they themselves are constantly confronting. We find some geniuses who spend their time in laboratories, where, with the aid of the various chemicals, they are ever performing experiments, from which often develop discoveries that are of untold value to all medical men. Can these men afford to pass by such opportunities of learning? No, indeed they can not. We find the various serums that are in common use today, and are so miraculous in their results, were almost unheard of a few years back. These physicians have their conventions, where they go and hear lectures given by experts, and thus benefit themselves in every way possible. Is a lawyer less progressive? We find that every time a State Legislature meets, or Congress is in session in Washington, that new laws are being enacted, that bear upon various matters, and so, in order to appear intelligent, and also in order to try his case to the best advantage, he must be familiar with these laws or be able to know where to find them. Let us look for a moment at the architects. We find the buildings that are being erected around us, if one cared to make a study of such things, represent different types of architecture. We find the old Egyptian, Roman styles, etc., each built upon an entirely different style, and if you yourself will notice the houses in your own neighborhood, you will see a decided difference between those that have been erected some twenty or twenty-five years, and those that are now in the process of construction. So these men find it constantly necessary to be studying the demands of the times. How about the farmers. Sometime ago a man was supposed to be fitted for a farmer, if he was considered incompetent for anything else. But we find this to be a very old-fashioned idea, and the farmer finds the |