108 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. ' 



The convention met pursuant to adjournment at two o'clock 

 p. m. same day. 



ENSILAGE. 



J. Y. Sawyer, Godfrey: 



It was our intention to confine ourselves to the money value 

 of ensilage compared with our present system of dry feeding; 

 but at the request of your secretary to commence at the rudi- 

 ments, we will take a few moments to give you a history of this 

 wonderful feed: 



In 1850, M. Auguste Goffart made some experiments in the 

 ensilage of wheat at Versailles, France, and in 1852 he built 

 four under-ground silos, made of masonry and cemented. These 

 silos he filled and emptied several thousand times, using maize, 

 Jerusalem artichoke, beets, sorgo, turnips, potatoes and straw 

 to experiment with, his object being to preserve the plant in its 

 natural juice, which was lost in drying. His method was to cut 

 the maize into six inch lengths, place a layer of this in his silo, 

 covered by a layer of straw, and so on till filled; a covering of earth 

 was then put on. Upon opening, the earth was found to have 

 arched, leaving a place between the earth and the feed. Here 

 the ensilage was being damaged by the action of the air, and 

 was only saved by its immediate use. Later he covered with 

 boards and weighted with stone, but the process was imperfect 

 till he reduced the amount of straw and cut the feed very fine, 

 when it was found to keep an indefinite length of time. This 

 was the summer of 1873 — success after 23 year's labor. Goffart 

 at once made known to the world what he had found, not the 

 method of building silos and filling them, but the process of 

 preserving feed in its natural juices, by continual pressure. 



In 1876, while we were celebrating our great Centennial, 

 Francis Morris, of Oakland Manor, Md., was building the first 

 silo in the United States, he having read of Goffart's success, in 



