158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing like the systematic and comprehensive investigation of 

 the subject, which has taken place in Great Britain. Public 

 interest in England was first aroused in 1882, and soon a 

 Royal Commission was established, and pursued its elaborate 

 enquiry, — the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and 

 Sir John Lawes at Rothamsted, conducted correlative 

 experiments, and exceedingly interesting and valuable re- 

 ports resulted. While the British have used silos but half 

 as long as the Americans, the English literature of the sub- 

 ject is already more voluminous, more exhaustive and more 

 reliable. I thought of quoting at some length from the final 

 report of the British Ensilage Commission, but find that the 

 conclusions agree substantially with the views of the subject 

 already presented in this paper, and will therefore only give 

 two corroborating paragraphs : — 



The experience of dairy farmers in England and Scotland 

 does not appear to justify the assertion which has been more or 

 less circulated, that dairy produce is in any way injuriously 

 affected by ensilage food. On the contrary, much reliable evi- 

 dence has been received to show that feeding with well-made en- 

 silage distinctly improves the yield of milk and cream and the 

 quality of butter. 



The commissioners have already had sufficient evidence to 

 justify them in encouraging the development of the system of 

 storing undried, green fodder crops, as a valuable auxiliary to 

 farm practice. In addition to other advantages, losses occurring 

 through weather unfavorable for hay-making may be avoided, and 

 some crops not hitherto grown in this country, on account of the 

 impossibility of ripening their seed, may be successfully cultiva- 

 ted for ensilage, to increase and diversify our present means of 

 feeding various kinds of live stock on arable or partly arable 

 farms. If carried out with a reasonable amount of care and 

 efficiency, this system should enable the farmer to largely increase 

 the number of live stock that can be profitably kept upon any 

 given acreage, and proportionately, the quality of manure availa- 

 ble to improve its fertility. 



As this paper has proved unexpectedly voluminous, and 

 presented parts of the subject in much detail, I conclude by 

 adding, for convenience, a condensed summary of the most 

 prominent of the facts regarding silos and ensilage now so 

 well established as to need no further proof : — 



