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raittee. When the drought came on so severely as to stop 

 the growtli of nearly all crops, the Committee deemed itunad- 

 visable to continue the visiting further, as no correct judgment 

 could be passed upon the real condition of the farms entered ; 

 therefore no awards have been made. But it is hoped that 

 those who have entered their farms this year will, with others, 

 enter them another year under more favorable circumstances. . 



Benjamin P. Ware, /or the Committee. 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



In presenting this subject to the farmers of Essex county, 

 we do so fully realizing the difficulty and the delicacy of the 

 task; the difficulty of obtaining reliable data in regard to the 

 cost of producing and storing ensilage, is seen from the fact 

 that very much of the information gained is entirely dependent 

 on the judgment of the producer ; and also from the fact that 

 the deductions of science, as shown by the most thorough and 

 rigid analysis, in regard to the nutritive qualities of ensilage, 

 differ so widely from the results gained from the practical 

 tests that have come under our own observation. And the 

 delicacy of the task is at once perceived, when you remember 

 the widely differing opinions as to the merits or the demerits 

 of the whole question involved, and that, too, by men for whose 

 opinions we have the highest regard. But notwithstanding 

 the widely differing opinions that exist among our farmers, 

 and the fact that these opinions are sometimes expressed in 

 language more forcible than elegant, yet we are charitable 

 'enough to believe that they express the honest convictions of 

 their authors ; we believe that the intelligent farmers of 

 Essex County are honestly inquiring after the truth in this 

 matter of preserving green fodder for winter use. Facts are 

 what we want, not abstract theories that have never been put 

 to the test of practical application, for the laboratory of the 

 field gives a different result from the laboratory, of the school, 



