FARM DEPARTMENT. 243 



Ensilage is excellent food for dairy cows, producing milk of the best 

 -quality. The evidence of such men as Mr. Hiram Smith and Prof. Henry 

 of Wisconsin, and Mr. E. A. Powell of Syracuse, New York, and a host of 

 others, whose names might be mentioned, on the value of ensilage for milk 

 production, ought to satisfy any reasonable man of its merits. 



Good ensilage, if fed judiciously, will produce good milk, that will, I 

 believe, prove satisfactory for any use. 



Prof. Alvord found in a test made at Houghton farm, that a greater per 

 cent of the fats of the milk were converted into butter when the cows were 

 fed grain and corn ensilage than when fed hay and grain. 



Prof. F. W. A. Woll, of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, found that 

 12.60 per cent more of the fat was churned out from the mixed milk of two 

 cows when the cows were fed on ensilage than when they received corn 

 fodder. 



The story, started some years ago, that manufacturers of condensed milk 

 would not buy the milk from cows that had been fed ensilage, has been 

 repeated time and time again by the opponents of this method of preserving 

 fodder as evidence of its lack of value. It is now stated, on good authority, 

 that in this case the injury was caused by the polluted water which the cows 

 were compelled to drink, and that the ensilage had nothing to do with it 

 whatever. 



The lie has gone many leagues, in this case, while truth was getting on her 

 boots. 



ENSILAGE A SUBSTITUTE FOR ROOTS. 



As early as 1882, I took the position that ensilage would be a cheap sub- 

 stitute for roots, furnishing the succulent fodder so needful for our stock 

 during the long period of winter feeding. 



I go further today and affirm that good corn ensilage is, in my opinion, 

 more than a substitute for roots. It has a much higher value. In confirma- 

 tion of this statement I refer to our experience last winter. We grew some 

 hundreds of bushels of roots, which were put in the root cellar the last of 

 October. The cellar was nearly full, and, as the weather continued so mild, I 

 feared there was some danger of their rotting. On account of this I directed 

 the herdsman to defer opening the silo until the first of January and to com- 

 mence feeding the roots, so that we might open up ways through the pile 

 and secure more ventilation and so obviate the risk of decay. 



Boots were fed until January first, when our silo was opened and we began 

 to feed ensilage. It is of first quality this year, much of the corn was fairly 

 well eared and cut in the roasting stage or a little past. I do not think a 

 casual observer could have failed to notice how rapidly our cattle improved 

 in flesh, in thrift, as evidenced by the hair and general appearance, when we 

 fed the ensilage in place of the dry corn fodder and roots which they had 

 received through December. I should say the grain ration was lighter with 

 the ensilage than with the roots and dry fodder. This is only observation, it 

 may be said ; but reference to the reports of careful experiments made here in 

 recent years and published in former bulletins, will prove by exact figures the 

 correctness of this position. 



