ENSILAGE. 379 



binations, with meal made by mixing equal parts of wheat bran with an equal 

 amount of oats and corn ground together. These, properly mixed and pre- 

 pared, will furnish profitable winter rations for dairy cows in our State. 



We have seen that milk is a very complex fluid, containing all the compo- 

 nent elements of the animal body. The food, therefore, to produce it should 

 be rich in all these elements. Dairymen frequently make a mistake in sup- 

 plying a ration from one kind of fodder, instead of giving a variety. Corn 

 fodder is fed in large quantities in this State. It is good as a part ration, 

 but is very deficient in albuminoids, which are found in so large a proportion 

 in milk. It should be fed with clover hay, oats and peas, millet, oil cake or 

 wheat bran. 



ENSILAGE. 



[Discussion at Fremont Institute, February 3, 1887.1 



Mr. A. E. Upton : I would like an account of ensilage from Professor 

 Johnson. 



Prof. S. Johnson: Ensilage is fooder cut green and stored in that con- 

 dition in an air tight compartment. Our last last crop of ensilage was grown 

 on a sandy loam. Bailey's ensilage corn and Chester county corn were grown 

 on the same plat, in rows four feet apart, dropped in drills and covered with 

 hoes. It was cultivated four times with a one-horse, double-shovel culti- 

 vator. It attained a large growth, had a few ears, and had become a little 

 brown at the butts of the stalks when cutting was commenced September 

 12. The filling of the silo being finished September 15, it was covered Sep- 

 tember 16 and weighted with one hundred pounds of stone to the square 

 foot, laid over matched planking. 



The area of corn put in the silo was 311 rods, yielding 46,763 pounds. The 

 dried corn fodder was grown on an area of 64 rods, yielding when dried, 

 4,350 pounds. This would make the weight of ensilage grown on one 

 square rod 221 pounds, or 35,360 pounds per acre. The yield of dried corn 

 fodder per rod was 68 pounds, and 10,880 pounds to the acre. In other 

 words, 3^ pounds of ensilage make one pound of dried fodder. 



The weight of corn in silo— weighed as it was put in September 12, 13, 14, 

 15 — 51,433 pounds. The silo was opened December 15, and each load taken 

 out was carefully weighed and a record kept. Finished the feeding April 1, but 

 a few cubic feet of the ensilage left in the silo at this writing, June 8, seems 

 after the surface is removed, in a good state of preservation. The number 

 of pounds weighed out was 44,315. This indicates a loss of 7,118 pounds, 

 about 15 per cent. I estimate the loss in weight of the fodder corn by dry- 

 ing out in the barn about the same as ordinary hay, or from 15 to 25 per 

 cent. 



I have always found difficulty in drying corn fodder so that it could be 

 stored without injury in large quantities. Here is one advantage in storing 

 in a silo. If the work has been properly attended to, cover and weights on, 

 you may be quite certain that the ensilage will come out in good shape. 

 You will be saved the vexation of watching and turning your fodder, unbind- 

 ing and binding, and seeking out new devices to prevent the fodder corn from 



