146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ensilage with daiiy stock. One of these men wrote : "It 

 has always seemed to me that the milk would have been 

 satisfactory to the company under a fair test ; but several 

 customers who used ensilage were feeding indiscriminately 

 and juSt before milking, some just after, and some almost 

 exclusively. As this was the case at the time the company 

 experimented with ensilage milk, I was not surprised that it 

 proved unsatisfactory. It is not surprising that a feed with 

 the flavor and nature of ensilage should have produced such 

 a result under the above conditions. Fed in reasonable 

 quantities, and immediately after milking, I have no doubt 

 it would produce the best of milk, and as a food for milch 

 cows or dry stock give the best results obtainable from maize 

 in any shape whatever, and fully one-third cheaper than any 

 other." A letter to me from Mr. Borden admits that the 

 factory managers never demonstrated to their own satisfac- 

 tion that ensilage caused their trouble ; all they really knew 

 was, that trouble occurred while ensilage-fed milk was re- 

 ceived, and the same had not recurred since reception of such 

 milk had been discontinued. Prof. Roberts, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, gave up the use of ensilage, because his customers 

 for milk, most of them the families of professors in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the l)arn, complained of the odor and taste 

 of the ensilaije. But the farm barn at Cornell is a very close 

 one, the silo was in it, the ensilage made was very poor, and 

 its strong and extremely unpleasant smell not only permeated 

 the whole premises, but was perceptible at the neighboring 

 houses. Specially unfavorable circumstances caused the first 

 trouble in this case, and a prejudice was created which a 

 change in the conditions could not overcome. One of the 

 choicest dairies in Massachusetts, selling its butter at a price 

 near the very top, had a complaint of impaired quality come 

 from its Boston agents, a couple of years ago, accompanied 

 by an inquiry whether ensilage was fed. Replying frankly 

 that it was used in small quantity, the agents at once sent 

 back word that that was the trouble and all ensilage feeding 

 must be stopped or the butter could not be sold. This was 

 done, but the next season ensilage feeding was again begun, 

 and care being exercised in the methods more ensilage was 

 fed than before. The proprietor was satisfied as to the good 



