Ei5-SILAGE OF FODDER. 91 



cost from beginning, to the ending in the cow's stomach, 

 from one to two dollars per ton. This is equivalent to 

 about seven dollars per ton for hay in the barn, at the 

 extreme limit in disfavor of ensilage and in favor of hay. 

 The result was found, by many farmers who had tried 

 the process for several years, to be that one cow could be 

 fed upon a ton of the ensilage per month, and twelve 

 tons per year; thus making it possible to feed two cows 

 upon one acre of crop, amounting to twenty-four tons 

 of green fodder corn. Corn was found to be the cheap- 

 est but not the best fodder for this purpose, and in time 

 other crops were preserved in this way, such as clover, 

 millet, green rye, oats and peas ; and in England, whose 

 moist and changeable climate favored the innovation 

 very much, the ordinary field grasses were thus secured, 

 wet from the field, in a safe and satisfactory manner, in- 

 stead of being made into hay. 



The antiquity of the process gives security that it may 

 be made permanent, and removes all fear that, like the 

 abandoned cooking of food, it might be found impracti- 

 cable for ordinary practical use by farmers. During the 

 past few years the practice has been much simplified, 

 the costly and cumbrous stone and cement silo has been 

 adandoned, and a common barn mow, closed tightly with 

 matched boards doubled, and building paper between, 

 and the method of heating the fodder by spontaneous 

 fermentation, have been substituted for the old and more 

 laborious system. The new process also gets rid of the 

 acid and preserves the fodder in a sweet condition ; the 

 heat of the fermentation destroying the germs which 

 produce acidity and to some extent improving the fodder 

 m regard to its digestibility. 



The following description of a silo is given by Mr. 

 B. S. Hoxie, a dairyman in Wisconsin. 



''If the silo is to be detached from the barn, make a 

 low foundation wall, just high enougli to prevent any 



