192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Myrick. I think Major Alvord did not cover in his 

 address the experiments where no weight was applied to 

 ensilage. Mr. Brooks, who is here, has made some exper- 

 iments in that line very successfully, and perhaps Major 

 Alvord has some data on that point which would be of 

 interest here. It is a great inconvenience to many farmers 

 to haul a load of rocks or something else with which to 

 weight their ensilage. 



Prof. Alvokd. I thought that was alluded to in the 

 paper, though perhaps not very explicitly. If the ensilage 

 is left without any cover the upper portion of the material 

 will decay. The thickness of this decomposed layer will 

 differ under cliflferent conditions of weather and other cir- 

 cumstances. I remember going into a silo at Geneva, 

 N. Y.,with my friend Dr. Sturtevant (who is fortunately 

 here now and can verify what I have to say on that point), 

 in December or January. This silo had been undisturbed 

 from the time the tilling was completed. The ensilage was 

 not even levelled off. I recollect we poked through about 

 five inches of poor material for any feeding purpose, and 

 then came to what seemed to be a pretty fair quality of 

 ensilage. My recollection is that about eight inches from 

 the top we found good eatable material. The upper layer, 

 that was spoiled, became a cover for the rest. So that it 

 becomes simply a question of the value of the material 

 itself. I have seen it spoil for a foot and a half or two feet 

 in depth over a surface of considerable extent. The larger 

 your silo the greater the extent of surface and the more ex- 

 pensive the cover. It seems to me it is simply a question of 

 comparative values ; whether your corn, or whatever you 

 put in for your ensilage, is more valuable than the straw and 

 boards that you use on top to cover it and for weight. 



The Chairman. We have with us one of our Massachu- 

 setts men, — always a Massachusetts man, although he has 

 of late been laboring in a neighboring State, — Dr. Sturte- 

 vant. I am sure you all want to hear from him. [Applause.] 



Dr. Sturtevant. I certainly did not expect when I 

 came here to speak, but this question of ensilage is a very 

 interesting one to me, because I want to get a thorougli 

 understanding of the practical methods of its preservation 



