EXPLANATIONS WHY ENSILAGE MUST KEEP. 55 



you?" "Yes, I am afraid it will," said they each and 

 all." " Now, I tell you it won't do any such thing." 

 " Why won't it ? what makes you think so ? " they asked. 

 I knew that I might quote M. Goffart, and all the agri- 

 cultural scientists in the world to them till doomsday, 

 and it would have no impression on their minds, so I 

 took homely illustrations. Said I, " Why doesn't a pile 

 of horse-manure heat when it is left in the stable all 

 winter under the feet of the horses, until it gets three or 

 four feet deep ? Why doesn't sheep-manure heat when 

 it is left all winter in the sheep-folds, and becomes a foot 

 and a half to two feet deep? " " Because it is trod down 

 so solid, the air can't get into it." " Just so! that is the 

 reason this corn-fodder won't heat and spoil : it is ' trod 

 down' so solid that the air cannot get into it," I rejoined. 

 This was rather a staggerer. " Is there any thing which 

 is quicker to heat when it has a chance than horse or 

 sheep manure?" I asked. " No-o-o," they reluctantly 

 admitted. " Now see here," said I : " haven't you all 

 noticed in the spring, when you were getting out your 

 hog-manure, that you often came across, in the bottom 

 of the yards, buried under the manure, potato-vines and 

 weeds which had been thrown in to the hogs the fall 

 before, that were just as green and fresh as when they 

 were first pulled out of the ground?"* They all replied, 

 " Yes, we have." 



BILLERICA, April 21, 1880. 



* MY GOOD DOCTOR, According to request I send you an account of the find- 

 ing of a fresh and perfectly preserved lily-pad, six or seven feet below the surface 

 of one of our Concord-river meadows. It was in perfect shape, and as green and 

 healthy-looking as in its prime of life. Having a love for geological researches, and 

 thinking these meadows had some time been deposited by the river, I concluded to 

 make an examination. At the top I found a foot in depth of black meadow soil ; 

 then, next below, another foot in depth of diatomacious deposit of microscopic shells, 

 composed entirely of pure silex, so small that they make a good silver-polish. I then 

 came to a pure vegetable deposit, consisting of sticks and leaves, four feet deep. 

 At the bottom of this I found green and well-preserved lily-pads, clam-shells, char- 



