180 HOW TO PEED SILAGE. 



and, therefore, my ensilage was not as good, and conse- 

 quently not as favorable a trial, as if it had been made 

 of better material. 



"In January, when well into lambing, I opened the 

 stack, and began to feed it to the ewes that had lambed. 

 At first they hardly cared to eat it, but by degrees they 

 seemed to like it more. They had a night and morning 

 meal of best sainfoin hay, and a small lot of ensilage 

 with the cake given at midday. After three weeks' trial 

 what the shepherd observed was this: That when best 

 sainfoin hay worth 4 a ton, was put up in the cages, and 

 ensilage in the troughs at the same time, half the sheep 

 would go to the- hay and half to the ensilage, although 

 there was sufficient accommodation for the whole flock 

 at either sort, and we now observe that with the ewes 

 that are most constant to the ensilage, their lambs are 

 nourished better than the others. We have not lost a 

 single lamb from scours, and have some 470 lambs from 

 380 ewes lambed as yet, which I think proves the value 

 of the experiment. As soon as the stuff arrives in carts 

 the ewes are crazy for it, and almost come over the 

 hurdles, so eager are they to get at this new sort of 

 feed, which, as I have stated, is only water meadow 

 grass ensilage." 



Silage for Swine. 



The testimony concerning the value of silage as a 

 food for swine is conflicting, both favorable and unfavor- 

 able reports being at hand. Many farmers have tried 

 feeding it to their hogs, but without success. On the 

 other hand, a number of hog-raisers have had good suc- 

 cess with silage, and feed it regularly to their swine. It 

 is possible that the differences in the quality of the 

 silage and of the methods of feeding practiced explain 

 the diversity of opinions formed concerning silage as 

 hog food. According to Professor Cook, Col. F. D. Cur- 

 tiss, the great American authority on the swine industry, 

 states that silage is valuable to add to the winter rations 



