SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 13 



quarters for stock in winter ; in tlie adoption of hotter methods for 

 saving and preserving numnres ; and, to a more uniform extent, in 

 tlie practice of tlie earlier cutting of the hay crop. These are all 

 innovations on the settled practices of former times — and man.y 

 others might be named — yet they are now admitted without ques- 

 tion to be improvements on the past. Should we not, then, in view 

 of the great importance of fodder crops in the economy of the farm, 

 and in view of the cost of present methods of preserving them, 

 consider carefully the question whether changes may not be intro- 

 duced which will reduce the cost of stock food and thereby increase 

 the profits. The margin of profit, at the present time, in all pro- 

 ducts obtained through the feeding of stock, is so small that any 

 successful experiments for the widening of this margin can but be 

 hailed with pleasure. 



The attention of farmers has of late been called to the subject of 

 Silos and Ensilage. This is a method of preserving fodder in a 

 green state — without drying — in pits or cisterns. The pit is termed 

 a Silo, and the material preserved in the silo is termed Ensilage. 

 This method of preserving fodder has been introdiiced to public 

 notice through the experiments of a farmer bj' the name of M. 

 Auguste Goffart. This gentleman has been experimenting on the 

 method for thirty years, and at last has perfected arrangements by 

 which fodder may be preserved in a perfectly green state for an 

 indefinite length of time. The results of his experiments were 

 given to the public through the publication of a book at Paris, in 

 1877, under the title of "• Ensilage of Maize." This book was 

 translated by J. B. Brown, and published in English at New Y^ork 

 in 1879. Previous to the publication, however, of M. Goffart's 

 book in this country, this method of preserving fodder had been 

 tried with incomplete success by Mr. P^rancis Morris, of Oakland 

 Manor, Howard county, Maryland ; and also in a small way by 

 other parties. The appearance of the book gave greater publicity 

 to the matter here, and soon attracted the attention of farmers. 

 To Dr. John M. Bailey, of Billerica, Mass., we are indebted for 

 the first complete successful attempt to put in practice in this 

 countr}^ this method of preserving fodder. In the summer of 1879 

 Dr. Bailey constructed, in the most thorough manner, two large 

 silos, and in the autumn of the same year put down one hundred 

 and twentj'-five tons of green corn fodder. The silo was opened 

 December third, and from it stock was fed through the winter and 



