182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. I would like to ask what the effect 

 would be upon the fodder if a rain should come up, and it 

 should be wet as it was being put into the silo. 



Professor GoessmAiS^n. It would have no effect whatever. 

 That is one of the great advantages. It renders us inde- 

 pendent of the season in regard to those crops which suffer 

 most from exposure. 



Dr. "Wakefield. We have listened to a very able 

 address from Professor Goessmann on the ensilage system. 

 He has given us the facts in regard to the preservation of 

 fodder in silos which cost considerable money. We have 

 had an experiment given by another doctor, which any of us 

 can try. It is within the means of anybody here who raises 

 corn to try the experiment, because all he has to do is to 

 plough up his land, and make his silo in the field. I am 

 very much interested in this last process, because it comes 

 down to my means, and, I think, to the means of all of 

 us. I do not see wh}-, from his description, the fodder is 

 not preserved substantially as well as in the expensive silos. 

 He says his cattle eat it readih", and he says his milk keeps 

 up. Those are the two things that we want. The professor 

 has stated here what is lost and what is gained by the silo, 

 and he says that it is necessary to exclude the air ; and the 

 question is, How much shall be excluded? We cannot go 

 into the process of extracting the air by an air-pump ; but, 

 if we can exclude it sufficiently by piling up some rough 

 hemlock-boards at an expense of something like fifteen or 

 twenty dollars, Ave can afford to do it if we can obtain a 

 feed, which, in the main, answers the purpose just the same 

 as if we had an air-pump in operation, and pumped all the 

 air out, which would be too expensive a business for us to 

 engage in. 



It seems to me that this experiment is of vast importance 

 to us. We have heard what the professor said here about 

 experiments in Germany and France, and the experiments 

 which are made in silos which cost a Gcreat deal of monev. 

 If we can have the same advantages, in (lie nuiin, without 

 so much expense, then there is a great amount gained. Now, 

 this ensilage that Dr. Faxon has brought here looks like 

 tobacco ; but if his cows don't call it tobacco, and will cat it, 

 and give inilk in proportion, it does not make any difference 



