142 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



Ensilage 



(GRASS) 



The preservation of green fodder, in an undried state, for 

 winter feeding is not a recent discovery. The long and severe 

 winters which prevail in Canada compelled the stock-keepers 

 of that country to adopt the system long before it became 

 familiar to farmers in the United Kingdom. 1 At first an 

 underground silo, or a special construction above ground, was 

 considered imperative, but it was soon discovered that air 

 could be excluded from forage stored in old barns and out- 

 houses, and silage has even been made in casks. It is there- 

 fore obvious that costly buildings are not essential, and the 

 erection of them has practically ceased. The silage stack is 

 generally preferred. By this contrivance sweet or sour silage 

 can be made at will, and the atmosphere can be effectually 

 prevented from injuring more than a few inches of the exterior 

 of the fodder. The stack also offers an advantage over the 

 fixed silo, as it can be erected on any spot that will save 

 haulage and facilitate feeding. 



Subtropical plants such as Maize and Sorghum are grown 

 expressly for conversion into silage, and almost every kind of 

 herbage which this country produces has been experimented 

 on, with more or less satisfactory results. Here I am only 

 alluding to ensilage in relation to grass, and, so far as 

 its application to this crop is concerned, I am persuaded 

 that the use of the silo or silage stack will, in favourable 



1 In so different a climate as that of the islands of the South Seas the natives avail 

 themselves of the principle of the silo for the preservation of bread-fruits. 



