CHAPTKK* VI. 



ENSILAGE. 



If the average farmer a few years ago had been asked, " What 

 is ensilage, or silage ?" very few could have given an intelligent 

 answer, but now probably ninety per cent, would have a very good 

 idea of not only what it is but also how it is prepared. 



It is unfortunate that the knowledge thus possessed is not put 

 into more general practice, and the loss to dairy fanners more 

 especially converted into gain by a free use of ensilage. If dairy 

 farmers generally could only be induced to try the making of 

 ensilage for one season, and compare the returns obtained from 

 their cattle for that time as against the results of previous years, by 

 comparison with the outlay in capital and labor, very few of them 

 would ever be without a supply on the farm again. 



Silage comes in useful for feeding nearly all the live stock 

 about the farm. The milch cattle the young stock the calves, 

 horses, pigs, sheep, and even poultry and geese, seem after a time 

 to like it, especially if it is green and juicy. Brood sows while 

 suckling their young do very well on it with other food as well, for 

 if that is not supplied they get thin, as the ordinary silage is 

 deficient in the fat-producing constituents, although this can be 

 overcome by growing proper crops. 



At the present time probably those who suffer most from not 

 using silage are the milk producers who sell milk in the cities. As 

 a rule there is no good pasture near enough for the cows to go out to 

 daily, and where they are allowed to graze on the commons the 

 feed is rough and not at all calculated to cause a good How of milk, 

 or even keep the cattle in good condition. Consequently other 

 food has to be bought, mainly chaff and bran, and at the present 

 prices (^"8 a ton for chaff and 6 to 7 for bran) the margin 

 left for profit is very small indeed. An objection may be raised by 

 those engaged in the trade that they have no farms on which to 

 grow crops, but it does not require a farm to grow sufficient 

 ensilage to feed twenty or thirty head of cattle. Three or four 

 acres of land could easily be rented close to our large towns that 

 would grow enough to do away at least with the use of chaff and 

 to reduce the bran ration by at least one-half. At all the urban 

 and subuiban dairies there is always a good supply of manure, and 

 this could be carted to the cultivation paddock and ploughed in 

 in due time. Maize could be sown in the proper season, or, if the 

 land is naturally damp, amber cane or some other of the various 

 varieties of sorghum. The reason for suggesting the latter is that 



