Losses in Preparation of Silage. 



349 



blished by long practical experience, has been confirmed by 

 recent scientific investigations at various experiment stations. 

 The results obtained have moreover not only shewn the 

 value of lucerne as food for all kinds of stock, including 

 pigs and poultry, but have also thrown considerable light 

 upon the stage of its growth when the plant contains the 

 greatest amount of nutritive matter and the best method of 

 making it into ensilage. 



It has been shewn at the Wyoming Agricultural Station 

 that the crop is especially valuable for increasing the 

 nitrogen in arid regions, for improving the tilth, and for 

 destroying weeds by crowding them out. Land where 

 lucerne had been cultivated for five years produced more 

 wheat, oats, and potatoes than land which had previously 

 grown potatoes and grain, the increase per acre being esti- 

 mated at £2 2s. for wheat and 37s. for the other crops. The 

 increased yield and value were, moreover, produced with 

 absolutely no manuring except the lucerne stubble and roots 

 which were left when the crop was cut for hay each year. 



Like other leguminous plants, lucerne is able to draw from 

 the air the larger part of its nitrogen and thereby to increase 

 the nitrogen in the soil. In some experiments at the 

 Colorado Station a ton of lucerne was found to contain 44 

 pounds of nitrogen, 8*27 pounds of phosphoric acid, 50*95 

 pounds of potash, and 40 pounds of lime. Where lucerne is 

 ploughed in as a green crop the fertility is considerably 

 augmented, and even where the crop is harvested the tilth 

 and fertility of the soil are improved by the shading of the 

 ground and the decay of the large, deep-growing roots of 

 the plant. 



[U.S Department of Agriculture, Farmers Bulletin, No. ijj.] 



Losses in the Preparation of Silage. 



The following information relating to ensilage is taken 

 from an article by Professors Babcock and Russell, which 



