IS ENSILAGE A SUCCESS? 145 



something in these practical results of ensilage feeding 

 which chemistry has yet failed to explain and reconcile with 

 well-accepted theory. It has long been contended that in 

 making hay or fodder we simply evaporate w^ater from the 

 material, w^ithout otherwise changing it. But notwithstand- 

 ing the apparent correctness of this theory, practical feeding 

 trials, comparing dry forage with succulent materials and 

 especially with ensilage, shows that it is untrue. According 

 to this theory, dry forage should give the same feeding re- 

 sults per acre as green forage ; but every practical farmer 

 recognizes the difference, and it is especially noticeable in 

 the case of dairy stock fed largely upon ensilage. 



Reference to the foregoing table shows that, as compared 

 with roots, sugar beets, mangolds, carrots, swedes and com- 

 mon turnips, average corn ensilage gives more dry sub- 

 stance to the ton than any of them, and is in all respects, 

 chemically considered, a better food than the average of 

 the five roots named, while the sugar beets alone are better, 

 in some respects, ton for ton. 



There has been comparatively little hesitation about feed- 

 ing store stock of all kinds upon ensilage, but many have 

 thought that it might be objectionable in the case of milch 

 cows, and opinions still differ as to the effect of ensilage feed- 

 ing upon milk and the quality of milk products. There are 

 large quantities of milk and milk products now going into 

 the best markets of the country, and subjected first to the 

 close scrutiny of dealers, and then to the final judgment of 

 consumers, and all highly approved, which are produced upon 

 farms where ensilage is regularly fed. Yet there are con- 

 spicuous cases where the use of this food with dairy stock 

 has been reported as resulting in loss. A few years ago, the 

 Borden milk-condensing factory at Brewster's Station, N. Y. , 

 refused to take milk from any farms where ensilage was 

 fed, asserting that its use had caused a heavy loss by spoiling 

 a large quantity of the condensed milk. Several silos which 

 had been in use in Putnam and Dutchess counties have been 

 necessarily abandoned in consequence, but a careful investi- 

 gation, by an outsider, proved that not one of their owners 

 had discovered any unpleasant effect upon milk, or believed 

 from his own practice that any evil resulted from the use of 



