DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 719 



A. The condition of stock fed on ensilage, both as to health and gain in 

 weight has been uniformly favorable. 



XXVI. Q. What is the profitableness of ensilage, all things considered? 



A. There is hardly a doubt expressed on the profitableness of ensilage — 

 certainly not a dissenting opinion. 



Remarks. — What more could be asked as to whether the silo, and conse- 

 quently ensilage, was profitable, or not, when out of all these many inquiries 

 of those who have fairly tested the matter, in eighteen different states and Can- 

 ada, not one gives an unfavorable opinion. It is remarkable indeed, and 

 should give encouragement to those who have not already tested it, to begin at 

 once, with an expectation of final success. After having prepared the above, 

 on the subject of silos, ensilage, etc., I saw the following items upon these sub- 

 jects as they see them in England, and as a few practice them in America, and 

 as there are a few points in them of a more practical cliaracter, showing an 

 increase of nutrition, and making it easier of digestion by ensilage, and also 

 giving more particularly the manner of building silos, etc., I will give them a 

 place, as follows: 



Ensilage (in England) Claimed to Increase the Nutritive 

 Powers of Green Forage. — The CJiemist and Druggist (English) in the 

 winter of 1884, referring to previous notices of the subject of ensilage, says: 

 "Since then two most encouraging statements have been published with regard 

 to its value. Professor Thome Rogers reports that ensilage increases the nutri- 

 tive powers of green forage; that the process obviates waste, saves time and 

 increases the productive powers of the soil. The forage is made more di- 

 gestible, and the farmer is enabled to get a double yearly crop. The silos 

 should not be too shallow; not less than 20 to 25 feet deep. [This, the author 

 thinks, should depend wholly upon the amount to be put up — if this amount 

 of room is necessary, for the amount of stock kept, then the deeper the better, 

 perhaps.] Had silos been common in England, millions of pounds worth of 

 fodder would have been saved last summer. This is not the time, remarks the 

 professor, when British agriculture can afford to neglect economies, whether 

 large or small. [If English agriculture can't afford to neglect economies, can 

 American?] Mr. F. Sutton confirms this view by comparing the relative 

 value of hay and ensilage from a poor quality of grass. The hay was 

 coarse and poor, destitute of sweet taste and odor, and contained a trace of 

 ready-made sugar. Distilled with water, no essential oils were yielded, nor 

 was there any flavor, save that of decaying grass. The specimens obtained by 

 ensilage were highly odorous from the essential oils, and had a vinoiis fragrance, 

 accompanied by a slight acidity. No ready-made sugar could be detected. It 

 is argued, then, that a manifest improvement had been effected. That which 

 was tasteless had been rendered appetizing and succulent (full of juice). A 

 much larger proportion of soluble albuminoids (like albumen — white of eggs), 

 soluble extractive matter, and digestible fiber was found in the dry ensilage as 

 compared vdth dry hay, leading to the inference that a partial digestion had 

 taken place in the silo. It seems a question which fairly invites discussion, aa 

 to whether ensilage could not be employed advantageously in the storage of 



