Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1910. ENSILAGE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10138, 8 November 1910, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1910. ENSILAGE.

Farmers in the Wairarapa. district, particularly those who are engaged in the dairying; industry, have not been in the habit of providing winter feed for their stock in a systematic manner. The time is coming, however, when ensilage will be regarded as essential to the economical working of the farm. Already the Department of Agriculture is paying some attention to this fodder, and in the monthly journal just published it gives details concerning experiments made. According to the experts, the first consideration is, what can he used for ensilage? There may be the surplus grass in spring. Tn many seasons grass is wasted. A field may be closed for haymaking; then, if the season prove unfavourable and unsettled, the grass may be converted into silage. Grass may be abundant on the farm in a wet season ; it can be cut and stacked a most without removing stock from the enclosure. All roughage tliat would otherwise: bo wasted can be used. Then conies the' question, Should crops be specially grown for ensiling? The answer is, on dairy farms, Yes. The maintenance of the milk-yield during the summer is allimportant. The provision of silago is an assurance for this control. Crops that ensile and will only occu-

py the land for a short time arc oats, Italian rye-grass, tares, peas, and clovers. The ..leguminous plants should be grown mixed with a large proportion of oats or Italian rye to avoid the heavy strong flavour that leguminous plants are liable to impart to the milk. But, as already mentioned, pasteurization disposes of this. Then, sorghum, millets, and, most useful of all, maize. Of these crops some will probably be fed green to the cows; all that may be not so used will provide excellent silage. These crops can be well recommended. They have been proved by many progressive farmers, and tested on the experimental farms of the Dominion 1 . Grasses should be used when the principal varieties are flowering, and clovers at the same stage. The actual periods will vary, with locality and season, from early in November to late in December. It is an advantage to mow the grass early. Early-mown pastures recover quickly—the exposed roots of grass are allowed to recover and grow before the heat c.f summer parches the soil. Clover naturally varies its flowering-time with variety, date of sowing, and season, and so also with other crops mentioned. Tares and peas should be harvested as the flowers arc l full and pods begin to form ; oats as the milk in the grain is thickening, or so early that all is stacked before the straw loses its succulence; maize when the corn in the cob is well formed. Sorghum, millets, and maize provide but comparatively poor quality until the commencement of ripening is present ; at that stage maize provides the best of silage. Where to make silage: In districts where...the weather in* spring and early summer is unsettled; where haymaking from that cause io uncertain; where later in summer pastures do not supply succulent grass; and where for winter feeding roots are not readily grown.