My home, as most of you know, is in the White Mountain country, a section of almost perpetual frosts. We have frosts in the spring till June usually, and as early as September 1, or nearly that, in the fall, therefore we cannot depend upon quite three months of good corn weather. While for several years I was a firm believer in ensilage in sections adapted to raising corn, I did not believe it to be applicable to my section, but finally, seeing others so rapidly outstripping me in cost of production of their butter, I mustered up courage to try it in a small way, and planted fifteen acres, which proved so well that I planted twentytwo acres the next year, the next year fifty, and last year I planted sixty-four, from forty-four of which I put in 889 tons of ensilage; the balance I fed green till frost, then cut, stooked, and dried, cutting as I wanted it to feed. You will see by this that I got from this sixty-four acres feeding value equal to fully four hundred tons of hay. Among the advantages of ensilage are the immense crops raised, enabling one to keep much more stock than he otherwise could, and as he continues, the extra amount of manure obtained will enable him to raise more and more each year, increasing the fertility of his farm from year to year, till, as I have looked forward and asked myself, What can be the limit of production continued in this way? I have had to exclaim, There is no limit, when we realize that a man in Massachusetts is keeping thirty-five cows on less than seven acres, buying only the grain. By the comparison we can form some idea of what we can do if we will go and do likewise. After hearing what this man was doing, I took my pencil and figured what, under like circumstances, I could do on an island of 105 I have found I could keep through the year 525 cows. I tell you it has scared me to realize what I could do if I tried. I have made several experiments in feeding, and have found that my herd of Jerseys with the grain feed I give them will average to eat nineteen pounds of hay or fifty of ensilage, and with the ensilage feed my butter yield will be about twelve per cent more than on hay feed with some grain; and one year when I had not ensilage enough, I found when it was gone so that I had to feed dry hay that I had to add one quart of mixed corn and oats to hold my butter up to where it was on one half

acres.

ensilage feed. Some may and do say that as good butter cannot be made from ensilage as from hay. That may be true in part, and may not be true. There is no doubt but that good clover hay cut in first blow, well dried without rain, will make better butter than ensilage or any other feed except green grass; but we cannot have all good clover, and do not have half what we might or what would be for our interest to have, and I am fully satisfied that we can make better butter and more of it with ensilage than we can with the average hay of New Hampshire. But I have seen ensilage from which good butter could not be made. We have one silo in our town, the corn for which was planted thick, cut quite green, and put in the silo whole, which scents so that the neighbors living within a radius of fifty to one hundred rods are talking about complaining of him as having a nuisance. But this is unnecessary; with all the light that has been given us upon the subject, it is one's own fault if he does not have good ensilage.

I have one silo that holds about nine hundred tons; it is divided into six pits. I this year in filling cut into two of them about one fourth dry oat straw, thinking it possible that it might soak up and absorb the juice that pressed out of the corn and make it as valuable as the corn itself. I had fitted to do the cutting for this silo by steam, and thought I could get all of it into this one, but found I could not. I had two more that figured to hold 175 tons each, or 350 tons; these were in my barn. The barn was piled so full of oats that I could not get my horse-power in to cut with that, neither could I then fix to use my engine, so I thought I would fill these with whole corn, and went at it, expecting, from the testimony of some who had used whole ensilage, that I should have something extra. But it was a series of disappointments from the day we began to fill till it was emptied. First, it took one more man each day to put in forty tons than it did fifty when we cut it, and instead of three hundred and fifty tons in the two silos we only got in about two hundred. But I kept up good courage, in anticipation of the splendid feed to come, and my courage kept good till we opened them; then we found a mass of it, I don't know what to call it. It did not look bad, and it did not smell very sour, neither

did it smell good to me. I fed it to the cattle, and they seemed to like it, but I saw it affected the milk, cream, and butter. I stopped feeding it to my cows in milk, and fed to my young things and dry cows, without any serious results. I opened one of my cut silos and found it as sweet as a new-blown rose compared with the other. I had, in feeding the ensilage from the whole corn, an additional expense of about thirty days' work cutting it as I fed. All of these experiences satisfied me that while a rich man might feed whole ensilage I could not afford it.

Ensilage, as a feed for store stock, is a big feed. It will grow young things fully as fast as grass, and, while it may be fed as a whole feed, I think it is better to use other feed with it. I like roast turkey, I can also eat my portion from a dish of beans, but to put me into a straight diet of any of the luxuries of life for six months, I think I should get sick of them; but to have one at one meal and another the next, I get along very well. It is the same with stock. They like a change, and, while I believe that cows will give more milk and make more butter on all ensilage than on part hay, I think it better for the stock to eat part hay, except in particular cases. I have for four years put in about forty farrow cows, which I have fed nothing but corn meal and ensilage; have milked them till fat, and then, as we wanted them to eat, have killed them. Nearly all of them would be fat before spring, except an occasional one that run to milk rather than fat. Such a one we would have to dry off before fattening, and such beef is not often seen in winter. It will invariably be very tender and juicy. Our cooks in the woods have repeatedly spoken of the remarkably tender, rich, juicy nature of all of the beef that went to the camp from here.

Since writing my paper, I have accidentally made quite an important experiment. On Thursday afternoon, January 5, my foreman in the barn told me they had emptied the pit that they were at work on. I immediately put some men on to clean off another, but too late to get it done, and they had to feed hay the next morning. I am weighing in the barn each cow's milk, and recording it individually, and to be sure that it is done correctly, I have it weighed in bulk in the creamery. In looking at the weight in the creamery on Friday night, I saw that there

was a big drop, and told my man that he must have made a mistake. He was sure he had not, and I went to the barn and found he was right with their weights. I then began to look for the cause, but could not see any reason for it till one man suggested the hay fed that morning instead of ensilage, and the result proved it to be the fact. To show it to you I will give weights a day before that day and a day after: Thursday night, 601; Friday morning, 621; Friday night, 544; Saturday morning, 572; Saturday night, 619; Sunday morning, 662; which has convinced us that the morning's feed of ensilage makes a difference of about two pounds a day to a cow. I have heard it made more difference in quantity of milk than in the quantity of butter, but we found a corresponding falling off in the butter, equal to eight and one fourth pounds, for the milkings of Friday night and Saturday morning, for the average of three days before and the day after.

I also beg leave to introduce further the testimonies of several who have responded to inquiries sent out by the "New England Farmer." These replies I take from the "Farmer" of January 7th issue. John Q. Evans, after giving his experience, says: "I believe that the introduction of ensilage into New England has been the greatest factor of recent times in awakening the farmers to a more progressive agriculture. It has shown them the capabilities of their farms of New England to compete successfully with their Western rival in supplying the market of our cities with necessaries of life." M. I. Wheeler, of Great Barrington, says he is personally acquainted with only six silos in his town; the owners all like them, and none have been abandoned. Hon. James L. Grinnell, of Greenfield, says: "I know of seven silos in this vicinity; none have been abandoned, all are liked." Sylvanus Sears says: "I have helped build three silos, and have fed their contents six years with entire satisfaction. There are twenty silos in Worcester and about as many more in the immediate towns adjoining. With but one exception, all think very highly of them, and would not willingly return to the old method of feeding. The exception is an amateur farmer, who has not time to spare from his regular business to superintend the raising of the corn and filling his silo."

DAIRYING.

BY J. M. CONNOR.

We are living in an age of rapid change. Our whole industrial system is putting on many new and important features. Agriculture, though slow to imbibe this spirit, has nevertheless undergone wonderful changes during the past quarter of a century. Perhaps the most important among its varied specialties and the most marked in improvement is that of dairying.

I apprehend we little realize how much we owe, in this march of improvement in dairying, to the inventive genius and mechanical skill of many persons not engaged in practical dairying. They are devoting their energies and capital to seeking out and perfecting dairy implements of such a character as is completely revolutionizing the whole system of dairying, lifting its burdens from the shoulders of women as well as also lightening the labors of men. They are compelled in the testing and perfection of this array of dairy implements to bring to their aid science, as well as the good judgment of experienced and progressive dairymen. While we may consider mainly the claims and importance of private dairying, we would by no means antagonize associated dairying, but rather accord to it a prominent place in the recognized march of improvement.

To make associated dairying a success financially, to compete for the trade in our larger centers of business, will develop a spirit of improvement which the private dairy will do well to emulate. When associated capital enters the field of labor it must employ as its managers men of recognized ability, who will