Ill 



simply because the conditions are different ; consequently the 

 combinations are difierent, hence the widely differing results. 

 Without doubt one reason why some of our farmers have 

 either opposed this new method of preserving green fodder or 

 have looked coldly on while their more zealous neighbors have 

 been experimenting and succeeding, is the notorious fact that 

 no class of our fellow citizens have been so imposed upon as 

 farmers. If you doubt the statement call to mind the for- 

 tunes made (in your mind) by purchasing the exclusive right 

 to sell Patent Churns, Patent Hay Forks, Patent Stump Pul- 

 lers, Canker Worm Exterminators, Potato Bug Catchers, and 

 last but not least, Patent Spring Beds, upon which every farm- 

 er may sleep and dream of fortunes to be made by investing 

 largely in corner lots in cities yet to be, in the great and grow- 

 ing West. Who can blame an honest victim of these frauds, 

 for standing so erect as to lean just a little backwards. 



Hence in pursuing our investigations we have endeavored 

 to obtain the facts in regard to this very important subject, 

 leaving the scientific aspect of the subject to those who have 

 the time and taste for that very important department of the 

 investigation ; and as far as we have been able to obtain them, 

 and present them to the consideration of the farmers of Essex 

 Co., the results of the experiments made by practical farmers 

 of our county. We have therefore entered into a very exten- 

 sive correspondence with the farmers who have built silos, and 

 stored the ensilage, and have fed it to their stock from one to 

 three successive years. 



We have also visited several of these silos when opened, and 

 some of them after they had been opened for three months. 

 In most cases our visits and our correspondence have met with 

 the most cordial reception. In one or two instances the re- 

 plies to our questions would lead one to suppose that their 

 authors felt that they were in the possession of some great 

 secret which they did not wish to communicate to the outside 

 ^orld. Our metliod of proceclure was to send to every farm- 



