ENSILAGE. 489 



ENSILAGE, 



THE system of ensilage, which has attracted so much attention for a few years past both 

 in this country and Europe, is one of vast importance in the agricultural world, and of 

 practical interest to every farmer, since it bids fair to supplant in part, if not wholly, 

 the present system of hay-making, or preserving fodder by drying, a process not only laborious, 

 but expensive, while it involves at the same time considerable loss of valuable nutriment by 

 desiccation, or the drying process. One has but to enter a meadow or mowing field where 

 the new mown hay is being thus cured, and inhale the fragrant odors that are so invigor 

 ating and pleasant, to be convinced of the fact that some of the best elements of the grass are 

 by this process being wasted by passing into the atmosphere. Thus much is lost by the curing 

 process, even under the most favorable circumstances, while great loss is often sustained 

 through rains, heavy dews, and unfavorable weather at the time of gathering this crop, 

 so important to the farmer. Now, any improvement in the method of preserving vegetation, 

 which not only involves less labor, time, and expense, but furnishes better and more nutri 

 tious food for the stock, keeping cattle in as good condition through the winter, and causing 

 milch cows to produce as much milk and of as good quality as when supplied with the best 

 pasturage in summer, is well worthy the attention and interest of all lovers of improvement 

 and laudable prosperity. The advocates of the ensilage system who have experimented most, 

 and consequently have had the most experience with regard to it, make this claim in behalf 

 of its adoption into common practice. And not only this, but that it furnishes the opportunity 

 in time of an abundance to lay by a supply for the time of drought or other failure of the 

 forage crops. By this process, also, a much larger number of cattle can be supported upon a 

 given extent of land, and thus the land of any farm utilized to better advantage, since the 

 yield of the nutritive matter in the stalks of cereals is much greater per acre than that of any 

 of the grasses. By maintaining a larger number of cattle, the quantity of manure produced 

 on the farm is proportionately greater, which affords the farmer a better opportunity of 

 enriching his lands and keeping them in a higher state of cultivation, obviously resulting 

 in larger crops, with consequent larger profits for his labor. Ensilage is a French word 

 which means &quot;the act of compressing into pits, trenches, or compartments called silos.&quot; It 

 is also used to denote the green crops thus preserved in silos. Silo is a word used to denote 

 a &quot;compartment used for storing green fodder in an air-tight manner.&quot; A Silo maybe 

 wholly above the ground, an excavation, or partly below and partly above the surface of the 

 ground. Great credit is due Monsieur Auguste Goffart for not only discovering, or invent 

 ing, the system of ensilage, but for his patient and persevering efforts in bringing it so nearly 

 to perfection as it is at present, having labored assiduously for over twenty-five years before 

 arriving at desired results. The following from M. Goffart s writings, as translated by Mr. 

 J. B. Brown, gives a brief history of that gentleman s experiments: 



&quot;In 1850 I made some experiments in the ensilage of wheat at Versailles, since which time 

 the preservation of fodder has become my favorite occupation. In 1852 I constructed four 

 underground silos, with masonry, and connected them, each having a capacity of two cubic 

 metres; these silos I have filled and emptied several thousand times. Maize, Jerusalem arti 

 chokes, beets, sorgho, turnips, potatoes, and straw I have experimented upon with more or 

 less success. Some years ago I had in the autumn more than eighty horned cattle, and my 

 hay crop would not have permitted me to support ten. One should be an agriculturist of 

 Sologne to know what such a trouble means. In rich countries, when the hay crop fails, it 

 means that instead of harvesting 5,000 or 6,000 kilogrammes to the hectare, there are only 

 3,000 or 4,000, but in Sologne it means that there is no crop at all In such difficulties the 

 enterprising cultivator must use more intelligence and more industry. What the man is 



NOTE. A hectare is about 2$ acres. A kilogramme is about 2J Ibs. Avoirdupoise. 



