244 EXPERIMENT STATION— BULLETINS. 



t 

 SILOS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The number of farmers in all sections of our country who are adopting 

 this system is rapidly increasing. Statistics are not very accurate as to the 

 number of silos, but it is estimated that in Wisconsin there are not less than 

 1,500, Massachusetts almost as many, Vermont between 200 and 300, New 

 York quite a large number. I think in Michigan there cannot be less than 

 between 100 and 200, and many of these were erected last season. Prof. Bob- 

 ertson, of Ontario, reports that a large number will be built in that province 

 the coming season. 



ENSILAGE IN" ENGLAND. 



The English Parliament appointed a committee to investigate and report 

 upon this method of preserving fodder, as likely to be of great importance to 

 agricultural interests. The committee, composed of some of the best known 

 men in the kingdom, after taking a large amount of evidence from those 

 who had built silos and fed ensilage, and after the most thorough examina- 

 tion of the subject, made a favorable report. They report that " all the 

 evidence seems to show that a nourishing, useful food for animals can be pre- 

 served by this process." They further report "that the testimony of the 

 dairy farmers does not justify the assertion that dairy products are injuriously 

 affected by ensilage, but that on the contrary it distinctly improves the yield 

 of milk and cream and the quality of the butter ; the silos in Great Britain 

 have doubled in number in the last twelve months; and that the evidence 

 warrants the extension and development of the system as a valuable auxiliary 

 to the farm." 



In 1886, 1,605 silos were reported in England, in 1887, 2,694 — nearly 

 doubling in a single year. Exact figures are not at hand for 1888, but more 

 silos have been built than in any previous year. Even in " Merry Old 

 England," the birthplace and home of root culture for centuries, ensilage 

 seems to be taking the place of roots as a stock food. As evidence of this 

 fact I quote the following from a writer in a recent number of " The Agri- 

 cultural Gazette," published in London: 



" I find I can get about the same weight per acre tares ensilage as I used 

 to grow of Swede turnips, and the latter required one acre of hay in addition 

 to one acre of turnips to feed the same amount of stock as I can now feed off 

 the one acre of tares alone — that is, one acre tares ensilage goes as far as one 

 acre Swede turnips and one acre meadow grass hay put together. Therefore 

 I think one of the great features of ensilage will prove to be that it will 

 entirely supersede the growth of turnips. It is cheaper to grow than turnips, 

 is as good and cheaper as a cleaning crop, and saves the one acre of hay in 

 addition. On strong land, where roots cannot be grown, of course there is 

 no question. The average turnip crop throughout the kingdom is, I believe, 

 12 to 13 tons per acre; the average of tares would be little, if any .less; 

 those with best turnip land may grow 20 tons per acre and more, but such 

 land will also grow exceptional crops of tares — and it is palpable that though 

 such land specially favorable for turnips may grow more of them than of 

 tares, it will not be sufficiently greater to counterbalance the extra cost of 

 cultivating of the whole of the requisite acre of hay." 



The cost of the silo need not deter any one from adopting the plan. I am 

 confident you cannot secure storage for an equivalent amount of forage in 



