THE FOOD QUESTION. * 87 



commission of lunacy be appointed to examine the condition of 

 my brain ; and yet I venture to say so." This was on the 9th of 

 September, 1882. I am now able to cite facts strongl}^ corrobor- 

 ating the prediction then made. 



Mr. C. "W. Garrett, of Enfield, N. C, ripens his corn, gathers it 

 before hardening, and then converts the stalks, Jind leaves, still 

 green and succulent, into ensilage at a cost of one dollar a ton. 

 He used to buy northern hay a few years since. He also makes 

 ensilage of cow-pea vines, rich in nitrogen, at a cost of a dollar and 

 a half per ton, and feeds his working mules upon it without any 

 grain ; at the same time raising beef and feeding milch cows. 



At the recent meeting of the farmers who practise ensilage in 

 New York, Col. Smith, of St. Albans, Vt., gave testimony to the 

 effect that he had planted, harvested, and put into his silo more than 

 six hundred tons of ensilage during the last year, at a net cost of 

 seventy-seven cents per ton ; and he confirmed the evidence of 

 others that two tons of ensilage, such as he makes, are equal in 

 nutritive properties to one ton of the best hay. 



Mr. Powell, of the firm of Smiths, Powell, & Lamb, of Syracuse, 

 N. Y,, testified to the fact that his firm were feeding more than 

 six hundred milch cows upon ensilage, and were making the best 

 of butter, winter and summer. At a recent national competition 

 the}' had taken the first prize for the best butter ; the second 

 prize for the second best ; and the first prize for the third quality. 

 I first ordered some of their butter for trial ; and have since made 

 an arrangement for a monthly supply throughout the year. 



When the value of ensilage for milk production was questioned, 

 a " silo" farmer in Connecticut, Mr. Strong, bore witness that he 

 was supplying the Brunswick Hotel of New York with all the 

 milk consumed in that house, and had done so for several years.* 



*The subjoined communication embodies important statements which are 

 best presented in the writer's own words : — 



Saltville Stock Farm, Saltville, Va., \ 

 February 9, 1886. / 

 Hon. Edavard Atkinson, Boston, Mass. 



Dear Sir : — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your valued favor of the 

 2d instant, and also to thank you for the "Massachusetts Ploughman." I 

 have been very much interested in reading tiie discussion on the subject of 

 the production of beef in New England and the East, and have long been of 

 the opinion that it could be produced to better advantage, and with better 



