GREEN FODDER ALL THE YEAR. 75 



GREEN FODDER ALL THE YEAR. 



In stating my experience upon this subject, I shall neces- 

 sarily repeat substantially much of a paper upon the same 

 subject recently read by me before the Farmers' Club in 

 New- York City. I have practised this system for three 

 years, have applied it to common fodder-corn, red clover, 

 pearl millet, West-India millet or Guinea corn, green rye, 

 green oats, and mixed grasses in which clover predommated, 

 with entire success in every case. The last year I preserved 

 about one hundred tons, and during this summer I have put 

 down about two hundred tons, and have added sorghum and 

 sugar-cane to the varieties of fodder I have before preserved. 

 I have never lost any fodder whatever thus preserved ; but 

 during the whole experiment it has been perfectly preserved, 

 and better than when fed, fresh and green from the field. 

 As the first fermentation is passed in the process, the food 

 thus preserved has no tendency either to scour or bloat the 

 animals fed. It is eaten up eagerly and clean, leaf and 

 stalk, without any loss whatever ; and stock thus fed exhibits 

 the highest condition of health and thrift. For milch cows, 

 to which I have mainly fed it, it surpasses any other food I 

 have ever tried. It increases the quantity of milk much 

 beyond dried food, and the quality is better than that pro- 

 duced from the same fodder when fed fresh and green from 

 the field. 



The process in its results upon green fodder is not unlike 

 that by which sauerkraut is made. So much is this fodder 

 improved, and so completely is all waste of fodder prevented 

 by this process, that I tliiuk all who try it with proper facili- 

 ties will find it more profitable than the present method of 

 soiling, with the crops already mentioned, fresh cut from the 

 field. 



In addition to the fact that fodder thus preserved has no 

 tendency to scour or bloat cattle, another important advan- 

 tage is gained by this process. These fodder-crops may be 



