AMERICAN" ENSILAGE. 509 



Mayer, therefore, ordered that several loads of the corn- 

 fodder cut , fresh in the field should be placed before the 

 cows instead of their customary feeds of ensilage. 



"They ate it with great relish, and they ate a much 

 larger quantity than they did of the rye ensilage ; never- 

 theless, with the same grain ration, they fell off in milk. 

 Thinking the result due to the fact that the ensilage had 

 had the advantage of having passed through the cutter, 

 the fresh corn-fodder was then submitted to that treatment 

 instead of being fed long, but the milk continued to 

 diminish until at the end of three days the average daily 

 shrinkage per cow was four pounds (two quarts), which, 

 when tested in quality, showed two per cent, less cream. 

 A new pit of ensilage was opened, and in two days the 

 cows were back to their full flow. This comparison be- 

 tween ensilage rye and fresh corn-fodder is the more sur- 

 prising from the fact that as a fresh feed rye-fodder is 

 inferior to corn-fodder. 



" The discrepancy cannot be attributed to a difference in 

 amount of food, for, as carefully ascertained, the cows ate 

 sixty pounds of the corn against twenty-five pounds of the 

 rye. The chemical theory is that the method of storing 

 ensilage causes it to develop lactic acid, which is in itself a 

 stage of digestion, and so effective in its action that the 

 food renders a maximum of its nutriment to the support 

 of the animal." 



The value of the above statement consists in the main 

 and undoubted facts stated that a great herd of dairy 

 cows had been fed upon ensilage, steadily, for 18 months, 

 remaining in health and satisfactory yield of milk ; calves 

 healthy and of vigorous growth, with a large reduction of 

 the grain ration. These are important facts. But the state- 

 ment that the cows lost four pounds of milk each in three 

 days by a change to green corn, and gained it again in two 

 days on being fed corn ensilage, we must regard as an error 



