SILOS AND SILAGE. 755 



arises. Farmers are often in a better position than many of the large graziers 

 to undertake the work of conserving fodder, as they have the necessary 

 equipment and suitable land. A great area is occupied by graziers on which 

 it is impossible to grow crops, and relief must perforce be obtained from 

 more favourably situated country. 



It is only by some such organisation and co-operation between farmers 

 and graziers that sufficient reserves of forage will be created and appalling loss 

 of stock from time to time prevented. One of the most satisfactory method-; 

 of conserving forage in connection with such a scheme is to ensile it. 



A System of Ensilage Benefits the Farmer. 



It might be stated at once that under normal conditions ic is neither 

 difficult to raise crops suitable for silage, nor is silage difficult or incon- 

 venient to make. The crops can be raised easily because the seed can be 

 sown much earlier than wheat is ever sown for hay or grain, and thus grows 

 during the most favourable season. It is not inconvenient to make, because 

 the crop can be cut and all the work of making completed well before the 

 usual routine of haycutting commences. There is a further advantage that 

 the work can be done when the weather is cool ; it is therefore not nearly 

 so trying as the operation of haymaking. 



A wheat farmer to be successful must carry sheep on his land as well as grow 

 grain ; and a good reserve of silage will not only prevent loss during droughts, 

 but it will enable him to increase the numbers because of the reserve of feed 

 on which he can draw should the necessity arise. Where the size and 

 character of the farm is such that the owner finds it impossible to carry 

 sheep permanently, except a few ration sheep, the adoption of the system 

 of silage-making may place him in the position of being able to make use of 

 sheep to a greater extent, and thus augment his returns. 



Under present conditions it is hardly possible for a great many wheat- 

 farmers to carry many sheep profitably, as the nature of their holdings is 

 such that the natural grasses, even when helped by the wheat stubble, are 

 not sufficient to provide feed for any length of time. There is no great 

 inducement for a farmer to grow crops specially for sheep feed when he 

 knows that he will have to wait until the crops are ready before he can buy, 

 and at that time, owing to the abundance of grass, sheep will be so high in 

 price that the margin will not recompense him for the cost of growing the 

 crop. 



Tt is undeniable that a better system of rotation is required in the wheat 

 areas than the almost universal wheat and bare fallow, because such a practice 

 will within a very few years so reduce the supply of humus in the soil that 

 the yields of wheat will no longer enable a profit to be made. Such a con- 

 dition is already arising in many soils, and will become more pronounced as 

 time passes. In this country where the rainfall is so uncertain, one of the 

 most important constituents of the soil is humus, because it is one of the 

 prime factors in helping the soil to retain moisture for a long period, and even 

 the best fallowing will not yield good results in its absence. 



The only practicable means of restoring or maintaining a good supply of 

 this constituent, except by allowing the land to lie out in grass for a long 

 period, is to grow upon it, in rotation with wheat, a crop which can be fed 

 down by sheep. The remains of the plants left after the sheep, and their 

 excrement, become humus, which gives to the soil the desirable moisture- 

 retainin^ character. 



