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TEB AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



have the effect of spoiling a considerable 

 portion of the fodder around the edges 

 of the stack, and, although the ensilage 

 can be made well in a stack, the loss is 

 sometimes so great that it will repay the 

 farmer to make a silo. 



Peactical Kesults feom the use op 

 Ensilage. 

 Wonderful results have been reported 

 as to the value of ensilage on dairy and 

 other stock, but as some of these may be 

 looked upon as "American tall talk," the 

 actual experiences may be given of Mr. 

 J. L. Thompson, formerly Principal of 

 the Dookie Agricultural College. Mr. 

 Thompson writes as follows : — 



'"When I opened the silos at Beefacres 

 in 188-i, about the end of January, our 

 dairy cows were not averaging two gal- 

 lons of milk a day, and it was almost a 

 matter of impossibility to make any good 

 butter, although we had a very good 

 dairy. A week after we commenced 

 using ensilage the milk increased to two 

 and three quarter gallons daily, and the 

 butter made from this milk had the 

 peculiar yellow tint so well known as 

 characteristic of good butter. Consider- 

 ing the time of the year it was also re- 

 markably firm, and the churning was ac- 

 complished in half the usual time. In 

 March of that year we had a clearing sale 

 of 127 Cl3'desdales and 110 shorthorn 

 cattle. They were fed almost exclusively 

 on ensilage for three months before the 

 sale, and it was remarked by all good 

 judges that they never saw stock looking 

 better or healthier. I can further as- 

 sert that during the whole of the time 

 this large and valuable number of stock 

 were fed on ensilage there was not one 

 single case of sickness the whole time." 



Great excitement was caused in South 

 Australia some years ago when nine 

 horses out of 30 being fed on ensilage 

 died suddenly. Of course, everynn(> said 

 it was the ensilage ; and so it v/as, but it 

 was largely composed of several very 

 poisonous plants, which, if eaten in any 

 condition, would have caused death, and, 

 being chopped up, the stock could not 

 avoid eating them, although in the pas- 

 ture they could be passed l)y. No evil 



results from the use of good fodder made 

 into ensilage has ever come under our 

 notice, but, on the contrary, all stock fed 

 on it have shown a most robust and 

 healthy appearance. 



"Ensilage in a nutshell," is simply 

 this :— Every farmer in the spring of the 

 year has abundance of green succulent 

 food for all stock. Then is the period 

 of the year when stock will put on con- 

 dition, and when any quantity of prime 

 butter can be made. By the use of the 

 silo this abundance of succulent food can 

 be carried right through the year. In the 

 parched month of March, when not_ a 

 green blade of vegetation can be seen in 

 our fields, you can open your silo full of 

 fresh green fodder, and feed it to your 

 cows, which will give milk that will pro- 

 duce butter quite as good as any you are 

 making at the present time, on what is 

 known as the flower of the grass. This 

 proves, beyond a doubt, that it is not so 

 much the heat of our summers that causes 

 the production of that white frothy-look- 

 ing butter, so often seen during summer, 

 as the unsuitable nature of the food that 

 cows under ordinary circumstances have 

 to eat. 



In England the use of silos and ensil- 

 age has passed the experimental stage. 

 Two very important reports bearing on 

 ensilage have been issued, a few extracts 

 from which are taken. These are the 

 reports of the Ensilage Commission, and 

 the Judges of the Eoyal Agricultural 

 Society's Competition. They are dated 

 May, 1886. Be it noted, the e^ddence is 

 not that of enthusiastic advocates, but 

 the calm deliberations of judicial bodies 

 appointed to consider and determine 

 as to the value or otherwise of the sys- 

 tem. Both bodies emphatically declare 

 ensilage a decided success, and both re- 

 ports are capable of affording encourage- 

 ment to British farmers. The Ensilage 

 Commission classify the advantages 

 claimed for ensilage under the following 

 heads : — 



1. In rendering the farmer indepen- 

 dent of the weather in saving his crops. 



2. In increasing the productive cap- 

 abilities of farms. 



