CHAPTER XIX. 

 WINTER SOILING (ENSILAGE). 



HISTORY. 



IN 1875 there first came to this country reports of 

 experiments made in France, by Monsieur Auguste 

 Goffart, of preserving green forage. After many 

 trials and failures, and the expenditure of consider- 

 able money, his labors were crowned with success. 

 The same year the French Government awarded to 

 Mr. Goffart the Cross of the Legion of Honor. 



M. Goffart first successfully ensilaged cut maize 

 in 1873. For years he held to the idea that the 

 green forage should be partially cured, and that it 

 should be put in the pit in alternate layers with 

 straw, until, more by chance than otherwise, he dis- 

 covered that the curing process and the use of straw 

 was, more than anything else, defeating the end in 

 view. Although ancient historians mention pre- 

 serving grain, and also forage, in pits dug in the 

 ground, the system had been discarded for hun- 

 dreds of years, and M. Goffart deserves all the 

 credit for its rediscovery. He must have been a 

 most persistent and resolute man, for year after 

 year he was obliged to cart out the forage he at- 

 tempted to preserve, as so much manure. 



