424 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



have the facilities for storing them in any quantity. Tliey must be buried in 

 the field ; and in the winter with the thermometer below zero, digging out the 

 roots and getting them to the stock is not a desirable task. If ensilage will 

 give us the succulent food at less cost, in shape to be easily handled and occu- 

 pying but a small space in storage, it must prove of value. What are the 

 farmers in Michigan to do with the coarse fodders raised on our farms, but to 

 feed them. They are too bulky to transport to market — they must help to 

 make beef and mutton, but the farmer needs something to feed in connection 

 •with them to make them of more value, and the ensilage will help out in this 

 direction. 



The large number of silos erected during the last year in all parts of our 

 country, indicates that ensilage has the sanction of a number of our leading 

 farmers, and that actual tests confirm reasonable claims as to its value as a 

 cattle food. The farmers of Great Britain, too, are greatly interested in this 

 subject, and it has received the favorable attention of some of the leading 

 English agriculturists. 



To Mr. Will E. Hale, class of '82, I am under obligations for most careful 

 and efficient aid in the carrying out of these experiments. 



Respectfully submitted, 



SAM'L JOHNSON, 

 Prof, of Practical Agriculture and Supt. of the Farm. 



Lansixg, June 8, 1883. 



