Preserving Green Forage 143 



THE PRESERVATION OF ENSILAGE, 



BY S. M. COLCORD, DOVER, MASS. 



[Published in the Report of the State Board of Agriculture of 

 Pennsylvania, 1888.] 



For ten years past, I have made a study of 

 preserving green forage,, and a great deal of 

 my time has been spent in visiting silos and 

 making examinations of their contents. There 

 is a great deal of truth in the claims made for 

 ensilage, especially in the direction of assimila- 

 tion and the digestion of food, analogous in 

 some degree to the difference between grapes 

 and raisins, or between green and dry forage. 

 There is also a great deal of truth in the 

 objections made to ensilage as usually fed to 

 cattle, especially in the direction of its being 

 injured or spoiled by heat and fermentation in 

 the silo, rendering it unfit for wholesome food. 

 It has been found so difficult to preserve it 

 without heat and consequent fermentation that 

 the advice of scientific men has been in the 

 direction of increasing the heat for the purpose 

 of germinating the bacteria in true fermenta- 

 tion and killing them by excess of heat, as 



