CHAP. II ENSILAGE. 257 



water, which is never allowed to stagnate in the troughs. Indeed, as 

 food and water are given in the same troughs, there cannot be either 

 refuse food or stagnant water, as the unconsumed food must be taken 

 away before the water is turned on, and the latter, of course, must be 

 allowed to run off before the food is put in. 



A system of preserving grass and other green food in a succulent 

 condition ancient in Eastern Europe, has within recent years been 

 introduced into England. In Hungary the practice of storing forage, 

 and even grain, in pits dug in the earth, has been followed from pre- 

 historic times. Pliny says it was adopted in Greece and Spain, and 

 even in Africa. In the " Journal of the Highland Society " in 1843, 

 Professor Johnson gave a description of the German system of making 

 " sour hay ; " and in the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England," for 1874, it is described as seen in the East of Europe, 

 where the green grass or green maize was crammed tightly down 

 into long trenches four feet wide by six or eight feet deep, and covered 

 over with a foot of earth. During some years little or no notice was 

 taken of the subject in this country, and it was left for the wet season 

 of 1879, in which hay-making was almost an impossibility, to cause 

 English farmers to grasp at any alternative that was within their reach. 



In the United States, claims of an extravagant character were made 

 on behalf of ensilage, but as the result of trials made at the Missouri 

 Experiment Station it was concluded that the air-drying method, with 

 dry storage in a good barn in a compact form, is more economical 

 than storing in the silo. Missouri farmers are not advised to build 

 silos until there is a radical change in conditions. 



The system, in point of fact, is an alternative to hay-making, and, 

 notwithstanding the circumstance that silage is in a more easily 

 digestible condition than hay, it is probable there are few farmers, 

 to whom farming is something more than a hobby, who will persevere 

 with making of silage if only they can make good hay. In giving 

 evidence on the subject, Sir John Lawes said " his past experience had 

 caused him to form the opinion that a ripe crop of pats, being cut up, 

 straw and corn mixed, produced more meat than the silage. The chief 

 value of silage consisted in its storing, thus producing food available 

 at all times. 



" Silage-fed milk was richer to look at and taste, but still they 

 could not trace that the animal fed on silage had made so much 

 butter as that fed on mangel. It was desirable in making silage to 

 avoid chemical change in the silos as much as possible, because 

 fermentation meant loss. In some of his oat silage, as far as they had 

 cut it, the analysis showed a loss of nearly 30 per cent. 



" Asked whether, after his experience, he would now go to the 

 expense of building a silo if he had not got one, witness said he was 

 rather doubtful about it. It was very useful, no doubt, but he was not 

 quite sure that he would go to the expense. He could not do without 

 roots. He had not grown buckwheat, and he had no opinion of it as a 

 cleaning crop. Winter oats cleaned land better than any corn crops 

 that he knew of. He had not been able to grow maize; but for 



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