IS EXSILAGE A SUCCESS? 131 



don't grow without food, and the more food the greater the 

 growth ; that is the first lesson in raising an}^ crops for ensi- 

 lage. 



All the leguminous plants that have been tried make good 

 ensilage : but they are so highly nitrogenous as to make 

 too rich a food to use alone in any quantity, and ensilage 

 made from nearly all of them is very disagi*eeable lo handle, 

 because of its pasty character and strong odor. The Japan- 

 ese soja beau makes a reasonably dry and pleasant article, 

 but it is uncommon and the seed hard to obtain ; it deserves 

 more attention. The cow pea is one of the best plants in 

 the South for ensilage, being easily grown on poor soil, and 

 now quite extensively used in the silo, — alone and mixed 

 with corn. This plant will not ripen its seed in Xew Eng- 

 land, but will make a profitable gro^vth of green forage 

 almost anywhere in ^Massachusetts. Oats and peas mixed 

 give a heavy crop and make berter ensilage than either 

 alone. The clovers are largely used in some sections for 

 ensilage, and although usually extremely unpleasant, I have 

 never seen clover ensilage so black, slimy and altogether 

 nasty, or with so " loud'"' a smell, as to prevent cattle from 

 eating it with avidit}'. The most satisfactory way to Ub^' 

 clover, or any similar growth, for ensilage, is to cut it and 

 put it into the silo in alternate layers, six or eight inches 

 thick, with dry straw or swale, or other coarse haj" or fodder, 

 also cut. The result is a mass much more comfortable than 

 clover alone, safer to feed and of almost equal feeding value, 

 judged by actual results. In England, any grass suitable 

 for hay is cured in the silo, instead of drying, if the season 

 is unfavorable for haying. 



In storage, I have found by careful trials that plants stand 

 in this order, as regards compactness in the silo, when cut in 

 equal lengths : clover, cow peas, rye, corn, soja bean, early 

 amber cane and Hungarian grass. In other words, a cubic 

 foot of clover ensilage weighs more than one of cow peas, 

 and so on. The order of shrinkage or settling of the same 

 list is therefore exactly the reverse, — Hungarian grass and 

 sorghum settled very little, and the soja bean not much 

 more; Indian corn, cut short and levelled off" in the silo, 



