ENSILAGE. 115 



silo, the property of tlie tenant, as part of tlie dead stock. Old 

 barns and buildings can also be converted into silos, and these 

 will be of no slight benefit if they provide us with the means 

 of supplying cattle with succulent food of good rpiality in the 

 winter and spring, especially in seasons when roots are short, quite 

 apart from the possibility of making us partially independent of 

 the sun at the time of haymaking. 



The weighting of the mass has hitherto been a vexed ques- 

 tion. According to the Eeport of the Ensilage Committee, 

 ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, July 31, 1885, 

 good results are claimed to have been obtained by means of 

 weights varying from seven pounds to three hundred pounds 

 per superficial foot of the top of the stack. Such an immense 

 difference naturally suggests a doubt as to whether weighting 

 is a necessity at all. The exclusion of air, which is a vital 

 matter, can be effected without it, by means of a cover resting in 

 water, as in Mr. James Howard's silo. 



Only a few years ago silos were unknown in Great Britain ; 

 now they are very common, and ensilage stacks are being put 

 up all over the country. The system is, therefore, having a 

 thorough trial, but my own opinion is that the present enthusiasm 

 will shortly cool, and that while we can grow roots and make 

 decent hay, the silo will at best be only an auxiliary. The grass 

 crop for which the silo can most reasonably be used is the 

 lattermath, which is more difficult to make into hay in autumnal 

 weather than the first crop. Lattermath hay has also the repu- 

 tation of possessing more ' proof,' which renders it additionally 

 suitable for this purpose. 



The system will no doubt encourage the growth of maize 

 and other semi-tropical plants ; but interesting as the treatment 

 of these crops in the silo may be, they do not relate to the 

 immediate subject in hand. So far as its application on a large 

 scale to grass is concerned, I am well persuaded that the use of 

 the silo will be the exception, and that grass will continue to be 

 turned into hay very much as heretofore. 



r 2 



