138 



food are raised which would be totally unneeded could we but 

 preserve in hay the characteristic properties of grass. Of this 

 45,000,000 tons of food no less than .40,000,000 consist of water 

 — water which may without exaggeration be considered as 

 mainly required to replace that which was driven away in con- 

 verting grass into hay. 



It is not to be wonde'red at that any process which claimed 

 to preserve grass with the moisture in it, without destroying its 

 nutritive value, should attract considerable attention, and if suc- 

 cessful become, in an incredibly short time, an integral part of 

 British husbandry. Such, however, was the claim of ensilage, 

 and such it has become. The reasons of its success are to a 

 certain extent still unknown to scientific men; but it must be 

 owned that the use of good, well-made ensilage has proved on 

 experience beneficial to dairy cattle, if used in moderation and 

 with cleanliness. To what extent silage is superior to other 

 foods, and how to make the most use of it as a food for dairy 

 cattle, are questions still requiring accurate feeding experiments 

 to answer. Those feeding experiments hitherto conducted have 

 not, in my opinion, fully tested the question. Which is the bet- 

 ter food, a ton of grass made into silage, or a ton of grass made 

 into hay? That is the great question, and so far the evidence 

 appears to be in favor of the silage, if the silage has been well 

 made. 



To explain what is meant by well-made silage may perhaps 

 be of advantage. 



In the early part of this paper it was stated that a fermentive 

 and oxidising action takes place in grass from the moment it is 

 cut, consuming nutritive portions of the grass and producing 

 heat. The same action takes place in making silage; but as 

 the grass is placed in the silo or stack the amount of oxygen or 

 air which surrounds it gradually becomes less and less as the 

 superincumbent mass presses it out from the lower portions. If 

 this mass is not very great, so that a fair amount of oxygen is 

 left between the grass, the heat produced by oxidation may be 

 sufficient to raise the whole mass to a temperature above 120° 



