4 INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION. 



would suppose to economize forage can boast of having 

 the largest silos in America, if not in the world. Dr. Eager 

 of Middletown, Orange County, N.Y., visited "Winning Farm" 

 early in the winter of 1879-80, and has constructed at West 

 Point, Neb., four silos, each 60 feet long, 20 feet deep, and 16 

 feet wide, capacity about 2,000 tons. California has its silos, 

 as have Florida and Texas. In New England and the Middle 

 States, hundreds have been built. At this date (Dec. I, 1880) I 

 am in receipt of many letters daily, announcing the openings of 

 silos. In every case the success is absolute. Hundreds of suc- 

 cessful experiments in 1880 from the one seed sown by me in 

 1879! No more doubting. Every farmer is considering how 

 he shall build, and where he shall locate, his silos. I do not 

 claim the credit of originating the system of ensilage. No 

 man can claim that ; for it is older than the Christian era. We 

 are all under great obligations to M. Auguste Goffart, a dis- 

 tinguished' member of the "Central Agricultural Society of 

 France," and "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur," who spent 

 years in patient experimentation before success crowned his 

 efforts. I have carefully tested it, and by my success have 

 made " Silo " and " Ensilage " household words in every part of 

 the land. One of the earliest Latin writers speaks of subter- 

 ranean vaults (silos), wherein the ancient Romans used to pre- 

 serve fruits, grain, and forage in its green state, in very much 

 the same manner as is practised at this time by Mr. O. B. Potter 

 of Sing Sing, N.Y. The Mexicans have practised the same pro- 

 cess for centuries, and to this day preserve the bulk of their 

 forage in the same manner. Probably the idea was carried to 

 Mexico by some learned Spanish monk or priest of a practical 

 and agricultural turn of mind, who, filled with a religious zeal, 

 accompanied the Spanish adventurers in their crusades, which 

 resulted in the subjugation of Mexico, and nearly all the 

 American continent south of it. 



If the system was thus introduced into America, whether he 

 was successful or not in teaching the heathen how to save their 

 souls, he certainly taught them how to save their forage. 



Upon the discovery of America, the Indians in the southern 

 part of our country preserved their stores of maize in pits in 



