42 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIE CULTURE 



2. Silage is more palatable than dry fodder, and animals 

 will eat a larger quantity. 



3. Silage preservation is not dependent on favorable 

 weather conditions. 



4. Silage requires less space for storage than an equiva- 

 lent amount of hay or fodder. 



5. When corn and especially grain sorghums are pre- 

 served as silage, the seeds are softened so that they are 

 thoroughly digested. 



While silage is undoubtedly the best way to preserve 

 corn, sorghum and similar coarse plants, it has not 

 proven very satisfactory with legumes or hay grasses, 

 perhaps because proper methods of ensiling these plants 

 have not been developed. Legumes mixed with corn or 

 sorghum are very satisfactory, but when ensiled alone, 

 the product seems frequently to be ill-smelling and un- 

 palatable. A more satisfactory method of ensiling grasses 

 and clovers is a desideratum for regions where hay curing 

 is difficult. 



34. Crops adapted to ensiling. Corn is the principal 

 American crop preserved as silage, and constitutes 

 probably more than 90 per cent of the total amount. 

 The sorghums, both saccharine and non-saccharine, are 

 also very satisfactory, and apparently not inferior to 

 corn. Japanese sugar cane has given excellent results 

 at the Florida Experiment Station. 



Meadow grasses and small grains are not much used 

 for silage in America. They are, however, thus preserved 

 in western Oregon and western Washington as well as in 

 Europe. Georgeson reports the successful ensiling of 

 beach lyme grass (Elymus mollis) at the Alaska Experi- 

 ment Station. The silage kept well and made satis- 

 factory feed for oxen. Millets have been preserved satis- 

 factorily as silage at several experiment stations. 



