ENSILAGE. 509 



Analysis of Ensilage. The following is an analysis of ensilaged corn fodder, by 

 Prof. C. A. Goessmann, the sample analyzed being taken from the silo of Dr. J. W. Bailey, 

 of Massachusetts: 



PER CENT. 



Moisture at 212-220 Fahrenheit, . . . . . 80.70 



Dry matter left, 19.30 100.00 



This dry matter consists of : 



PARTS. 



Crude cellulose, . ..... 6.43 



Fat ether abstract, ....... 0.62 



Albuminoids, ........ 1-56 



Non-nitrogenous extract matter, . . . . . 8.92 



Ash (with traces of sand), .... . 1.77 19.30 



By way of comparison, we also give an average analysis of the corn-plant in the milk 

 by the same authority: 



PEE CENT. 



Moisture at 212-220 Fahrenheit, . . . . . 85.04 



Dry matter, ........ 14.96 100.00 



PARTS. 



Ash 0.82 



Albuminoids, . . . . . . . . 0.86 



Fat, ......... 0.26 



Crude cellulose, . . . . . . . 4.53 



Non-nitrogenous extractive matter, . . . . . 8.49 14.96 



Advantages of the Ensilage System. In summing up the benefits to be derived 

 from the ensilage system, some of which have been alluded to in previous pages, we will 

 place first (since farmers generally are such an incessantly laborious class) economy in time 

 and labor, although this, in a monetary point of view, may not appropriately take the first 

 rank. When once a farmer has his silo well built, it will last for years with little or no 

 expense in repairs, while the labor and expense attending the preservation of his forage 

 crops by ensilage are but slight when compared with that of cutting, drying, and securely 

 housing the hay crop, to say nothing of the anxiety in successfully accomplishing this result 

 on account of unfavorable weather, or the loss often sustained by rains and cloudy weather. 



Another important advantage of this system, is in preventing the loss of nutritive matter 

 necessarily sustained by the drying process in converting the green forage into hay, all the 

 succulent and nutritious juices of the food being preserved by the ensilage process. 



It is a well-known fact that hay- fed cows always produce milk and butter of an inferior 

 quality and light color, and that cows fed upon the same kind of grass before it has been 

 converted into hay, produce milk and butter of excellent quality, the butter being of a golden 

 tint and delicious flavor. The question naturally arises as to what causes this difference. If 

 the only difference consists in drying out the water contained in the green grass by changing 

 it into hay, or in other words, simply concentrating the nutritive juices of the grasses, there 

 would be no loss of nutriment. Consequently rations of hay and water in quantity propor 

 tionate to that of the rations of grass before it was dried, would give the same results as 

 grass in producing butter. The fact that dry hay and water when fed to cows do not pro 

 duce the same results as are secured by feeding green grass, is but one of the many proofs 

 that there is great loss of nutritive matter in the drying process. 



Now if this same grass, or an equivalent fodder, can be preserved in a green state as 

 nearly as possible to that which is grazed in summer, without the loss of nutriment, it follows 

 that, aside from the labor and expense attending the drying process, there is not only an 

 economy in preventing any loss of the nutritive element by drying, but better milk and 

 butter are also furnished by the cows feeding upon the ensilaged fodder. Again, as fodder- 

 corn can be cultivated so much easier, and in such larger crops per acre than grass, the ensil- 



