1882.] ENSILAGE. 95 



ago. But it was not new even then, for "brown hay," which is 

 simply another form of the same principle, has been in common 

 use in some sections of France and Germany for generations; nay, 

 it is older than this even, for I read not long since in an account 

 of travel in Central Asia of the finding this same principle used 

 in a mountain village of Afghanistan, where, to the travelers' in- 

 quiry "if this was a new thing,"' the villagers replied, "No, our 

 fathers did it." Recent improvements in the method have been 

 made, but the same principle remains. The next decade will see a 

 still more mai'ked progress both in the cost, the kind of crop, and 

 the perfection of preservation. 



I have said the corn plant is the ensilage plant of to-day. It is 

 so because with farms in their present condition, and with average 

 culture, a larger feeding value per acre can be obtained than fi'om 

 any other crop ; it can be raised in four months, and the land t;sed 

 for other crops the remaining eight. So I say, raise corn, but I do 

 not say make the corn fodder your exclusive feed. The corn plant 

 is not, and never will be, a "complete food," whether fed green, 

 cured in the old way, or ensilaged. It needs always the addition 

 of some grain like wheat bran to get the most economical results. 

 I shall be glad to see the day when farmers can raise cheaply for- 

 age crops that are more nearly complete foods, and thus save the 

 cost of grain bills. 



Question. Would you be willing to mention some of the other 

 crops ? 



Mr. Hurd. Clover, oats, winter wheat, the various millets, and 

 if our climate is sufficiently humid for vetches, I think these will 

 become a favorite crop. When our farmers reach the point that 

 it can be afforded, grass will be largely ensilaged. Now it is 

 * worth too much to be so used. It must be kept for a cash crop, 

 for on many, if not on most farms, cash crops are sorely needed 

 while the owner is effecting a change of base. In other words, it 

 will not pay to feed hay to our stock. 



Question. Will your cattle eat the poor fodder of which you 

 spoke some time since ? 



Mr. Hurd. The total amount of inferior ensilage in my silo 

 will not exceed one-fourth of one per cent., which is mixed with 

 the better, and the cattle eat it all seemingly as well as the best, 

 but I doubt if its feeding value is high. 



I have seen several analyses of ensilage, but never any that sat- 

 isfied me, and I doubt if, with the present methods, one satisfac- 



