EXPERIENCE AT ECHO DALE FARM. 31 



CHAPTER VI. 



MY PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AT ECHO DALE FARM WITH ENSILAGE 



AND SILOS. 



AFTER reading Mr. Brown's translation of M. Goffart's publi- 

 cations, I resolved to have a silo of suitable size to fairly test the 

 preserving of green fodder corn for ensilage. As 1 read several 

 articles in different agricultural papers, I became deeply interested 

 upon the subject of ensilage. I visited, early in June last year, 

 Dr. Bailey's farm in Billerica. The doctor's farm is some four miles 

 from the station. Fortunately I met the doctor at the station, he 

 having arrived on the same train. The doctor's carriage was in wait- 

 ing : he invited me to ride with him to his farm. After a very pleas- 

 ant chat on the way upon the subject of silos, ensilage, etc., we 

 arrived at the farm. He was then ensilaging his rye, and mixing 

 through it the fresh-cut grass from the mowing-field : as the rye was 

 getting quite dry to be cut for ensilage, he had a continual stream of 

 water running through a hose with a rose-bib on the end of the hose, 

 and the water dropping upon the cut rye and grass as it dropped into 

 the silo. This water discharging into the silo answered two purposes : 

 it made the cut rye and grass more compact as it was spread and 

 tramped down, also it helped fill the air-cells of the dry stalk of the 

 rye ; by so doing it helped to exclude the air, which, with pressure, 

 in thoroughly excluding the air, is the success of preserving the 

 ensilage. In company with other visitors, Dr. Bailey showed us 

 over his farm : all seemed interested in his fine flock of Cotswold 

 sheep, his breed of Berkshires, which are the pure clean breed. 

 The short time there was passed very pleasantly, for all farmers 

 take pleasure in looking at good thoroughbred stock. 



On the last of June, after waiting some two weeks, hoping it might 

 rain, I ploughed about two acres of greensward : and it seemed to me 

 I never saw the ground dryer ; it was like ashes. I prepared the 

 ground, planted my corn in drills (which was, by the way, corn I 

 purchased of Dr. Bailey, five dollars per bushel), rows four feet 

 apart, kernels three and four inches apart. Considering the ex- 

 cessive dry weather, the corn yielded very well. From what we 



