Winter Soiling. 207 



ing Mr. Morris's experimental earth silo. I speak 

 of this with some degree of pride, because I was at 

 that time subjected to much ridicule. Soiling my 

 cattle summers was bad enough in the estimation of 

 my neighbors, but ensilage (sauerkraut as it was 

 then called by many) was the capsheaf of folly. 



However, the cattle liked it, and I liked the cat- 

 tle. The sheep ate it, and nothing that I could do 

 was too good for them. The neighbors laughed at 

 me. The cattle and sheep also laughed at me when- 

 ever they saw me coming on a load of sauerkraut. 

 I was getting 50 cents a pound for butter, and I also 

 had to laugh. 



As to the result it fully met my expectations, but 

 I have never claimed, as some have, that it takes the 

 place of soiling, as will be shown under a heading 

 entitled Soiling vs. Ensilage. 



The only thing that can be said of ensilage now, 

 compared with ensilage in 1879 and 1S80, is that the 

 method of handling the crops is much simplified, 

 and the construction of wooden silos instead of ma- 

 sonry, as was then believed necessary, has greatly 

 reduced the expense of construction. The perfec- 

 tion of a corn cutter has lessened the labor and ex- 

 pense of harvesting the corn, until the system has 

 become quite generally adopted, and is now within 

 the reach of almost any farmer. 



