VERMONT DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 77 



how much more butter I could make irrespective of quality; 

 I fed as high as four quarts a day, I do not recommend it. 



Question. What is your objection to ensilage? 



Mr. Aiken. My objection to ensilage is the old one, I pre- 

 sume you have heard it. If you get me started on ensilage 

 vou will be sorry. 



President Pierce. I wish you would tell us why } r ou do not 

 use ensilage? 



Mr. Aiken. When they began to make ensilage I went to 

 see some of the silos when they were opened. They smelled 

 so much like a distillery to me, that, being a temperance man, 

 I could not think of feeding it to my cattle. 



Question. Have you ever eaten the bread made from com- 

 pressed yeast? 



Mr. Aitken. Yes. 



Question. Would not the same objection apply here? 



Mr. Aitken. No, because I believe that the ensilage under- 

 goes a change which makes it a stimulant. I object to too 

 much of a stimulant. Incidentally I would say that I consider 

 it is largely the cause of the epidemic of tuberculosis that we 

 had in Vermont, although that is a broad statement. 



Maj. Alvord. Give us some reasons for your statement? 



Mr. Aitken. About eighteen or twenty years ago a gentle- 

 man living in Vermont, asked me to look over his herd with 

 him. I did so. It seemed to me a good deal like going into a 

 fever hospital. The cows were looking as though they were 

 washed out. I said there was some trouble with the cows. I 

 was told that the cows were never doing better, were eating 

 sixty pounds of ensilage a day and were making more milk 

 than they ever had. I think you know the sequel, that all 

 tuberculosis of the state has been traced to that herd. Now, 

 while 1 do not claim that feeding that ensilage originated tu- 

 berculosis in that herd, I know he bought the disease. Yet I 

 claim that the food those cattle were getting and the condi- 

 tions under which they were kept were conducive to tubercu- 

 losis, that the whole surroundings were conducive to the 

 spread of tuberculosis. 



Mr. Smith. Have you not seen a change in the quality of 

 ensilage in eighteen or twenty years? 



Mr. Aitken. Certainly. 



Mr. Cooley. How much ensilage have you fed to cows? 



Mr. Aitken. Quite a good deal. I had a disastrous expe- 

 rience with brewer's grains; and the ensilage smelled so much 

 like that material I didn't like it. 



