ENSILAGE. 409 



make the grass into hay during a wet season, for hay frequently 

 wetted and much knocked about loses more feeding quality than 

 grass allowed to ferment and become sour in a pit. On the 

 other hand, if grass can be made rapidly into hay, and preserved 

 in good condition, it must retain more of its feeding quality than 

 sour hay which has been subjected to a prolonged fermentation. 

 In the West Highlands, and in hilly parts of the country, where 

 the rainfall is great, and hay is difficult to secure, the making 

 of sour hay in dry pits, like potato pits, only much deeper, about 6 

 or 8 feet deep, would no doubt be economical. A three feet 

 covering of earth is sufficient to keep the fermentation from 

 going too far, if it is occasionally beaten smooth with a spade, 

 to fill up all cracks and crevices that may occur during the 

 sinking of the heap. 



We now come to the question, of the suitability of ensilage 

 as a means of preserving our more valuable fodder crops. 

 That is a large question — a many-sided one, and one that can- 

 not be answered by laboratory experiments alone. It cannot 

 b(; answered satisfactorily, until feeding experiments have 

 been made with ensilage in a most careful manner. The 

 plants which are suitable for ensilage in this country are 

 very valuable feeding materials, and are produced at much 

 expense. It is also well known — though perhaps not so well 

 known as it should be — that they cannot be preserved without 

 some loss, and in many cases the loss is very considerable, 

 so that any means that can be employed to diminish that 

 loss is of importance. The composition of the plants grown 

 in this country which might be suitable for ensiling, is given 

 in the Table No. I.; they are the analyses of Dr Eniil Wolff 

 of Hohenheim. There is a considerable range in the rich- 

 ness of these crops. Maize has not one-half of the feeding 

 value of grass, and turnips has only about one-third of the 

 value of the average grasses. Thus, in making grass into 

 ensilage, we are operating with a very valuable material, and 

 umst be very careful to avoid deterioration as much as 

 possible. 



The figures in this table of chief interest are those indicating 

 the percentage of albuminoids, for it is upon the proportion of 

 these that the feeding value of the fodder chielly turns. The 

 column next to it, showing the total nitrogen reckoned into 

 albuminoid nuitter, contains mucli higher iigures, and shows that 

 much that was formerly considered albumen is not really so, but 

 some otlier form of nitrogenous matter ; on an average, the true 

 albumen is just about two-thirds of that calculated from the 

 total nitrogen. On Table II. luv notes of the analyses of 

 various samples of ensilage, the first four of which were taken 

 from the silos of ^Ir Mackenzie of Tortniore. Nos. 5, 0, 7, and 8, 



