164 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



up in his vicinity. I have understood that it did pay a divi- 

 dend, but it did not pay but one. Dikes are not put around 

 the mouth of the river, as Solon Robinson said they could be, 

 and the bogs utilized, and every acre made to pay the interest 

 on $1,000 or $1,500 a year. It is a great mistake. We read 

 of tliese things in the papers and take them in ; we think 

 they are so ; but I tell you it is all moonshine. I don't care 

 where you invest your money, you can put it into any other 

 kind of property, and although it may not be worth a dollar, 

 it will be worth as much as a cranberry bog. 



Mr. Ayer. My friend was talking in the same line that I 

 was. Perhaps I was not understood. When we talk about 

 draining marshes next to salt water, as his were, I say it is 

 impossible. I sayD. C. Stevenson failed for the same reason 

 there in Essex, next to the river ; but when we talk about 

 land back from the river, where there is a proper chance, as 

 Mr. Norton has, if anybody says that cranberries cannot be 

 raised there at a profit, I know to the contrary. My friend 

 Bill is right, and so am I. 



Question. How about ensilage. 



Mr. Wetherell. The secretary of the Vermont Dairy 

 men's Association came to Boston a few days ago, after 

 attending the meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Agri- 

 culture at Lowell, and inquired of the leading butter dealers 

 in Boston, who sell the best commodity of that kind that is 

 sold in that market, and every one of those butter-dealers told 

 him they did not want any ensilage butter ; they had tried it, 

 and they did not wish to have any more brought into their 

 stores. I wish to add, simply, that some of the condensed 

 milk factories, as I understand, refuse to use milk for con- 

 densing purposes that is made from cows that are fed on 

 ensilage. The preparation of ensilage is nothing new. It 

 was known to the ancients, as it is known to us. If they 

 found it a good thing, how is it that it dropped out of use 

 until recently ? I .do not believe that ensilage, for making 

 butter or dairy products, is at all to be desired. 



Mr. Russell, of Orange. I have a silo that I filled, and I 



