ENSILAGE. 141 



tage for cattle for that purpose, if we had not mangels to mix with 

 the dry fodder. Like all widely diverging systems of agriculture that 

 have their special adherents, the only safe decision can be arrived 

 at by observation of the results. If we find that herds of 

 cattle raised by the silo can be kept in as good condition as 

 those raised by the fodder and root system, then it may take prece- 

 dence, provided that it can be shown that the expense attending such 

 system is less, but if no better results entails an increased cost, then 

 it will not be likely to supersede the old method. To those who are 

 interested in this matter the proceedings of The Ensilage Congress, 

 published by the New York Plow Co., New York, will give full 

 information. In the Country Geitileman, of March 17th, 1881, is the 

 following article written by me, on the subject of ensilage, which will 

 give my views at length. I also add the corroboration of that opinion 

 by F. D. Curtis, in a letter in the Country Gentleman of same date. 



ENSILAGE NOT SAFE FEED. 



" I had a letter from a German farmer, who, in his youth, had to take 

 a good deal of sauer kraut. He says he still takes a little now and then, 

 but on a cold winter's day he wants solid food. When Dr. Bailey 

 and others preach ensilage they will doubtless cause many who read 

 the Country Gentleman to look in a few years on their deserted silos 

 with feelings of sadness. The cow will eat ensilage. Certainly she 

 will; but how much will it benefit her? How much fat will a 1,000- 

 pound cow gain on seventy pounds of ensilage per day ? How much 

 solid food is there in this seventy pounds? Some of our learned 

 friends say not" more than six per cent. If this is so, then cattle will 

 do well on air and water. If the gentleman had said that cattle would 

 eat 200 pounds, then I would have more belief in the benefits they 

 might derive from it. When the Doctor states that village farmers 

 can keep a cow on one-fourth or one-half an acre of land, we know 

 that this is so. The German and French peasants, living near large 

 cities where land is worth from $400 to $500 per acre, raise truck 

 for village and city markets. They make pits, and put all the tops 

 of their vegetables in them, and cover them up with earth, and this 

 they repeat with two or three crops in a season; but it comes out in 

 the winter like tea leaves after they have been steeped (not so green 

 as people in America say the ensilage comes out) ; but how long do 

 they run their cattle on this? Only a short time, you will find. You 

 will remember that the first case of pleuro-pneumonia ever heard of 

 in America was traced to Dutch cattle. Ensilage, I am afraid, will 



