78 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN^ ASSOCIATION. 



SECOND DAY. 



Thursday, December 15, 1887, the convention met at 9 

 o'clock, pursuant to adjournment. 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



Jonathan Periam, Chicago: 



The word ensilage as well as that of silo, we get from the 

 French, and for the reason that this people first brought the art 

 of preserving green vegetation, fresh (ensilage), in pits, trenches 

 or channels, from which the air was practically excluded; the 

 word silo meaning the place of preservation, the preserved 

 material being the ensilage. A silo, therefore, is simply the 

 place where the vegetation is preserved — a vat, cistern or under- 

 ground trench where any substance liable to fermentation in the 

 presence of air may be kept fresh by the more or less perfect 

 exclusion of the air. And in proportion to the more or less 

 perfect exclusion of the air, in just that proportion will the 

 material remain in its natural state. 



The art of preserving perishable materials, more or less 

 intact, has long been known — even before history began, prob- 

 ably. If dried and kept in that state any article, even succulent 

 vegetables, will keep indefinitely. This is the oldest known 

 method, and was known to the most ancient peoples before 

 they emerged from barbarism into civilization. Even the sav- 

 age Indians of America thus preserved their corn and other 

 winter vegetables, stored in earth pits covered from the wet. 

 And here I may perhaps be allowed to remark, that no superior 

 method has yet been found, so far as insuring prompt, vigorous 

 germination is concerned. Canning the various products of the 

 orchard and garden in tight, soldered cans, or self-sealing jars, 

 is the most perfect means known. This latter, in brief, is 

 simply a most perfect form of the silo. The preservation of 

 vegetables in earth pits, rude silos, has long been known, and 



