DEPARTMENT EEPORTS. • 69 



This cow would not eat the full allowance of ensilage for several days, still 

 faer gain is a large one, though not equal to that of the first fortnight. Dur- 

 ing the next period, though getting all the good hay she would eat and the 

 regular allowance of meal, the gain is Jess. 



Condition of the Animals at the Close of the Experiment. 



The cattle continued to eat with relish throughout the experiment. All the 

 animals were sleek, lively, and apparently in excellent health when the expe- 

 riment closed. Even the Devon steer, No. 3, that had been losing weight on 

 an exclusive ensilage diet, began to gain at once, on a ration of ensilage and. 

 meal, showing that his constitution had not been injured. 



Comparative Feeding and Cost Value of Ensilage. 



The meal fed to the cows is worth $22.40 per ton. That fed to the bull 

 calves, %'Zb. Hay is worth $10, and cornstalks and oat straw each $5 per ton, 

 and ruta bagas 40 cents per bushel. 



Compared with the other feeds at the above rates, the ensilage has a feeding 

 value four times the cost of growing the crop and putting it into the silo. 



I was not at all sanguine, when we began the experiment, as to the decided 

 merits of ensilage as claimed by many writers, but I have been greatly pleased 

 with the results of the feeding. The convenience in handling the prepared 

 fodder; the large amount that can be stored in a small space; the avidity with 

 which cattle eat it and thrive and grow when a meal ration is fed with it; the 

 fact that it can be stored in a wet tinje, during lowery weather, when fodder 

 could not be cured ; the furnishing of succulent food for stock during our long 

 winters at very small cost, — these are some of the reasons that lead me to think 

 the ensilaging of corn especially will prove to be a practical and profitable 

 method of preparing food for stock. I think it may take the place of roots 

 and be a cheap substitute for them. I am disposed to believe that the best 

 results will be secured by feeding one daily ration of dry fodder in connection 

 with the ensilage. The experiment shows that it is not a complete food ration. 

 A meal ration adapted to the animal and the desired result must be fed with. 

 it. The winter has been exceptionally favorable for the feeding of fodder of 

 this character, on account of its extreme mildness, the mean temperature hav- 

 ing been about '^8° during the time embraced in the feeding. With severe 

 weather the results might be less favorable. On account of chancres in his 

 laboratory, and domestic afflictions, our chemist. Dr. R. C. Kedzie, was unable 

 to make such chemical investigations during the feeding experiment as we had 

 desired. A sample of ensilage from the College silo was therefore sent to 

 Prof. George H. Cook, director of the New Jersey experimental station, with 

 the request that it be analyzed. Prof. Cook had the analysis made very 

 promptly, and refused all proffered compensation. I am under special obliga- 

 tions to him for this favor and his pt^rmission to publish in this connection 

 his report of an experiment in feeding ensilage, giving results of interest, 

 especially from a chemical standpoint. 



To Mr. W. P. Latta, my assistant, I am greatly indebted for most faithful 

 and intelligent work during the entire time of cairying out this f^xperiment. 



It will be borne in mind by any who may think we have been needlessly 

 lengthy in making our report in detail, that it is published mainly for the 



