CHAPTER XIII. 



ENSILAGE IN THE GREAT DAIRY DISTRICTS. 



THE system of Ensilage is especially adapted to the 

 great dairy districts of the West. Improved Ensilage 

 will enable the dairyman to make as good an article of 

 butter in the winter as in summer. By it the number of 

 cows can be tripled. It is cheaper to soil cows during 

 the summer than to pasture them where land is valuable, 

 particularly in the vicinity of cities. Fifty cents per 

 week is the average price paid in my section for pastur- 

 ing a cow ; for less than this, a cow can be kept upon 

 Ensilage, and in better condition than the average pas- 

 ture will keep her : besides, by this system, all the 

 manure can be saved, which will abundantly pay for all 

 the extra labor of caring for the stock, if the labor is 

 greater than in pasturing, which I much doubt. 



The system of Ensilage which I hope to see rapid- 

 ly adopted (of the hundreds of farmers who have visited 

 " Winning Farm'' nearly all have assured me that they 

 shall build Silos this season) will cause our exports of 

 beef and mutton to be immensely increased, while the 

 exports of dairy products will be doubled and tripled. 



They are now rapidly increasing, as is shown by the 

 following table of receipts and exports of butter alone, 

 at New York, for the years 1874 to 1879 : 



