T20 DB CEASE'8 BECIPE3, 



medicinal plants. The question has already been advanced; i'ecent experiments 

 might claim further attention to the subject." 



Remarks. — It is not expected that farmers will feel any particular interest 

 in the last clause, as to ensilage benefiting medicinal plants, but the other parts 

 are o much to the point, as to the value of ensilage for feeding stock, I deemed 

 the item well worth a place in this connection. 



Silos and Ensilage— What They Are, How It is Done, and 

 What They Think of It in Vermont.— T. H. Hoskins, M. D.. reports 

 the following in one of the agricultural papers as to the value of ensilage, and 

 also the most substantial and a cheaper way of carrying out the work. Under 

 date of February 13, 1881, writing from his home, Newport, Vt., he says. 



"Gen. Thomas, of Montpelier, Gen. Grout, of Barton, and Capt Morton, 

 of Essex, are the only persons in Vermont, within my knowledge, who have 

 made public the results of their experiments with the new method of preserv- 

 i*ig forage in the moist state by strong compression in air-tight pits. All three 

 report entire success, and express enthusiastic confidence in the future of this 

 new departure in farming. 



I. " What Ensilage and Silos Are, and How to Make and Feed TTiem. — 

 ' Silo ' is French for ' pit,' and ' ensilage ' the French equivalent of the English 

 word ' pitting.' It is applied in this case to the pitting of green forage in such 

 manner that it shall be preserved, by the exclusion, more or less perfect, of the 

 air from the contents of the pit. This is effected by lining the bottom and sides 

 of the pit w ith concrete or masonry (brick or stone), the surfaces of which are 

 plastered with water-lime cement. The lines and right angles of such a pilt 

 must be straight and true, so that no hinderance shall be offered to the settling 

 of its contents under the pressure which is applied to them after filling. So 

 far, green maize, taken about the time when the grain is ' in the milk,' has 

 been used for ensilage almost exclusively; but all green forage may be equally 

 well preserved in the same way. The preparation of ensilage is simply the cut- 

 ting of the forage, by a suitable machine driven by horse or steam power, into 

 small bits, not exceeding half an inch in length. These are dropped into the 

 pit or silo, and rapidly levelled and trod down by men or horses. This levelling 

 and treading should be as exact and thorough as possible. To facilitate the for- 

 mer, horizontal lines about a foot apart may be drawn around on the walls of 

 the silo. The treading must be especially well done at the corners, and some 

 silos are built with curved in place of square corners, to facilitate this work. 



II. "How to Build a Substantial Silo and to Fill FurtTier Described.— In 

 constructing the pits (making the silos) there is opportunity for the display of 

 ingenuity and calculation, and upon the degree in which these enter into the 

 work the cost in a general measure depends. Gen. Thomas enclosed his sila 

 with a heavy stone wall laid in cement, at a cost which he did not like to state, 

 but which he afterwards thought entirely unnecessary. Its size was 40 by IS 

 feet, and 15 feet deep. The corn from 5 acres did not nearly fill it. He used a 

 Baldwin cutter, propelled by horse-power, cutting a two-horse load every eight 

 minutes. The whole cost of getting the ensilage from the field into the pit was 

 less than the cost of cutting and stocking the same even in the field would have 



