ii4 



form, and apparently in a more nutritious condition than it exists 

 in the fresh plant. It must be conceded, I think, that if even the 

 silo only enabled the stock-feeder to preserve the food in as good 

 a state as when fresh, it would be an inestimable boon, but a 

 comparison of the analytical results between fresh and ensiloed 

 maize and grass, points to a still further gain in the improved 

 condition of the material so far as its assimilable properties are 

 concerned." By actual experiment it has been shown that a 

 cow will eat from 70 to 80 pounds per day of blue grass two 

 inches long ; this grass, as cut with a long mower and thoroughly 

 dried, will be found to weigh from 16 to 20 lbs. to the hundred. 

 Feed this to your cow for a week and you will see a great loss 

 in milk, as also in the weight of the animal herself. A ton of 

 well cured hay contains about i,8oo lbs. of solid matter while a 

 ton of ensilage only has about 300 lbs. of solid matter, yet it is a 

 fact that three tons of the latter is equal to one ton of the former 

 in feeding value. We consider there is no more difference be- 

 tween a nice ripe peach or apple, and the same fruit dried, than 

 there is between ensilage and the dried fodder as far as its di- 

 gestibility is concerned. 



Third — Cows will not do as well Afterward. In answer to 

 this objection, we will simply relate our own experience: The 

 23rd of April we turned our cows on rye and clover pasture; 

 two were fresh during the winter; the other three had given 

 milk since the summer before. The five head had been mak- 

 ing from 25 to 30 pounds of butter per week. The first week 

 they were on grass, they made 44^ lbs., and did not make less 

 than 42 lbs. any week in May; they would eat 12 or 15 lbs. of 

 ensilage after being on grass all day. 



Fourth — Makes bad Milk — Butter will not Keep. We have 

 used milk on the table for four years from ensilage fed cows, 

 and have never had nicer milk and cream for table use, being 

 entirely free from that bitter taste, which milk from farrow cows 

 sometimes has. Never had a complaint from a butter customer, 

 though one lot was shipped to Texas in December, and the last 

 used in March, said to have kept well in that warm climate. 



