BY-PRODUCTS 



357 



or unhealthy feed and, when fed to cows, of causing shrinkage 

 in milk. This applies to the pomace containing straw as well as 

 to that from the more modem mills in which no straw is used. 



The fresh pomace ferments quickly when exposed to the air, 

 and probably for this reason the trials which have been made in 

 feeding it have not resulted satisfactorily. A Massachusetts farmer 

 of the 40's is reported to have preserved pomace by placing it in 

 a pit under his barn, thus anticipating the silo. It was kept in this 

 wax for months, and fed to cows during the winter. It has now 

 been fully demonstrated that the pomace can be preserved in the 

 modern silo without difficulty, and apple-pomace silage is getting 

 to be appreciated as a cheap and altogether healthy feeding stuff. 

 Its composition as compared with corn silage is shown by the 

 following averages of several analyses : 



AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF APPLE-POMACE SILAGE AND 

 CORN SILAGE 



Experiments with sheep have shown that apple-pomace silage 

 compares favorably in digestibility with corn silage, over 70 per 

 cent of the total dry matter, 40 per cent of the fat, 60 per cent of 

 the fiber, and nearly 85 per cent of the nitrogen-free extract (starch, 

 sugar, etc.) being digested. Dairy cows which were fed from 25 to 

 50 pounds per day of pomace silage for five months showed no ill 

 effects of any kind either in health or in the flow of milk, and the 

 quality of both the milk and the butter was not injured. These re- 

 sults from actual experiments by farmers and Station men seem to 

 demonstrate that the feeding value of this material is worth con- 

 sidering. In fact, no farmer who has a silo and lives conveniently 



