502 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



APPENDIX. 



AMERICAN ENSILAGE IN ENGLAND. 



THERE having been many questions raised in reference 

 to the wholesomeness of ensilage as a food, especially for 

 milk, we regarded the following correspondence and 

 analysis of maize and rye ensilage by Dr. Voelcker, of 

 England, as important enough to be added in an appendix, 

 with other recent statements in this country. Mr. Edward 

 Atkinson, of Boston, who has taken much interest in the 

 development of this system of ensilage in New England, at 

 the instance of an English friend, sent maize ensilage and 

 rye ensilage to Prof. Voelcker for analysis and experiment. 

 The following is Mr. Atkinson's letter to the American 

 Cultivator, accompanying the report and analysis of Dr. 

 Voelcker : 



IMPORTANT STATEMENTS BY PROF. AUGUSTUS VOELCKER. 



An English friend of mine, having become greatly interested in 

 the subject of ensilage, and having seen only samples of French fod- 

 der, carried to England in bottles, I suggested sending to him two 

 casks, one of Yankee corn fodder, the other of rye; upon his assent 

 thereto, the two casks were forwarded to Prof. Voelcker, the leading 

 agricultural chemist of England, by whom they have been analyzed, 

 and whose report is inclosed herewith. I have been informed that 

 Prof. Voelcker had previously been very skeptical in regard to the 

 value of this method of saving green crops. 



It may interest your readers to know that I measured off half an 

 acre of good land and planted it in the autumn with winter rye 

 which I reaped a little too late, when the straw had hardened, about 

 the middle of June of last year. I then planted Southern corn, the 

 growth of which was checked considerably by the drought, but which 



