142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



records of feeding experiments, tliere is abundant evidence 

 of the advantages of succulent food when forming a large 

 part of the daily ration at all seasons for fatting animals and 

 those giving milk. Ensilage will furnish succulent and pal- 

 atable food on the farm every day in the 3^ear. From the 

 many practical results, however, it is plain that corn ensi- 

 lage cannot be fed alone with profit, unless it be simply as a 

 maintenance ration for store stock. The best results have 

 been those where ensilage has been fed in limited quantities, 

 - — forty, fifty and certainly not exceeding sixty pounds per 

 day to 1,000 pounds live weight, and accompanied with lib- 

 eral grain feeding to secure the proper nutritive ratio. 

 Many careful feeders prefer that ensilage should not consti- 

 tute the only coarse forage, and so use forty or thirty pounds 

 only, with five to ten pounds of hay, or its equivalent, ad- 

 ded, and also grain. Some well-conducted trials show most 

 satisfactory results from using ensilage chiefly as a condi- 

 ment, or addition to the usual dry, winter diet, and as a sub- 

 stitute for roots. In nearly all cases where ensilage is used 

 as a considerable portion of the daily ration for horses and 

 cattle, but not exclusively, its excellent hygienic effect is 

 apparent. Ensilage tends to increase and maintain the flow 

 of milk like any other succulent food, but no more. Milch 

 cows on an ordinary winter diet show a marked gain in 

 quantity of milk and some in quality, if ensilage be added to 

 their daily ration, but no more than if an equal quantity of 

 good roots were used. 



In comparing ensilage with other kinds of food the pri- 

 mary question is as to the effect of this process upon any 

 forage plant thus preserved. What is the feeding value of 

 rye or clover as ensilage, eompared with the same plant in 

 its growing state, or cured as hay? Likewise, corn ensilage 

 must be compared with green maize, cured corn (fodder or 

 stover) and grain. Some very careful chemical and practi- 

 cal comparisons tend to show that the nutritive value, digesti- 

 bility, waste in feeding and the result at the pail, are 

 substantially alike in equal quantities of corn, whether 

 cured as fodder or as ensilage. The same of other forage 

 plants. There is some margin in favor of ensilage, but no 

 more than its succulent form may account for. These re- 



