208 Ensilage. 



ENSILAGE vs. CU^ED FODDER. 



The same grasses on which a cow feeds and thrives 

 in summer, and which enabled her to produce an 

 abundant flow of rich milk, and butter superior in 

 color, and flavor, and quality, when cured and fed 

 to her in the winter (or summer either for that mat- 

 ter) produce far less in quality and quantity, and the 

 butter is also inferior in color and flavor. 



Young cattle thrive during the summer, while 

 during the winter, if they hold their own or a little 

 better, they have done as well as most farmers could 

 expect even when a little grain has been added. 



If it were possible, therefore, to supply our stock 

 in winter with such succulent and nutritious food as 

 they are able to obtain on grass, the difficulties 

 above referred to would, in a great measure be over- 

 come. Ensilage comes the nearest to supplying 

 these conditions of anything we know of for a win- 

 ter forage. Our experimental station, by careful 

 and repeated analysis of cured-corn fodder and en- 

 silage, sometimes find a result in favor of one, some- 

 times the other, but generally it has been in favor 

 of ensilage. 



First, the chemist puts both ensilage and cured- 

 corn fodder in a dry kiln to note the amount of 

 moisure (all juices of plants being recorded as so 

 much water). The kiln-dried product is then sub- 

 jected to chemical tests, and finally consumed, 



