280 
Eoipcnmenis in MaUng l^nsilage 
The following remarks of Mr. G. Mander Allender show hovV 
veiy important he considers it to be that a great change in the 
croppings of heavy soils should take place. He says: — 
" Ahlioup;li mangolds sliould be grown, and perhaps some swedes orothei" 
turnips, a good breadth of silage also should undoubtedly be provided. Take 
roots from the time the seed is put into the ground until the roots are con- 
sumed, the crop is one constant expense, to say nothing of the risk from fly, 
and of the disappointment in a season like 1887, when there were thousands 
of acres bare of produce where the farmer hoped to obtain food for his 
cattle for the winter. On the other hand, crops for silage, such as trifolium, 
ryegrass, or winter tares, beans and wheat mixed, are put in cheaply after 
harvest, are growing all winter, and come to maturity early tlie following 
summer before hay time, without costing one penny for hoeing, &c., &c. ; and 
if the season be favourable, and the farmer has the strength, a second crop 
either of turnips, cabbages, or maize may — in the South of England at all 
events — be got in, after the other produce has been taken ofl"." 
The above gives such a fair and reasonable description of the 
bearings of the question in relation to stiff land that the balance 
of advantages in favour of the adoption of silage crop sowing 
need scarcely be adjusted by direct estimates of costs and returns, 
especially while the worth of silage itself is yet in most cases 
subject to experiment. That it preponderates very much has 
been sufficiently proved by the statements of distinguished 
agriculturists in the preceding pages, and public opinion may be 
considered growing so rapidly in favour of the adoption of 
ensilage, that we shall probably find the Agricultural Returns 
for the next few years show considerable increases in the acre- 
ages of those green crops that have been most generally con- 
verted to silage. 
XII. — Experiments in Malcing Ensilage during the Wet Season of 
1888. By H. Kains-Jackson. 
The year 1888, and the decade of the eighties in the nineteenth 
century, will be marked in agricultural history by the farm 
practice of the Ensilage System. This system, as an auxiliary 
to agriculture, is one of the features of the A^ictorian era. 
Centuries commonly pass without the practice of husbandry 
being marked by any novelties, but the reign of Her Majesty is 
rich, above all preceding reigns, in examples of agricultural pro- 
gress. Mechanical mowers, harvesting machines, thrashing and 
cleaning machines, steam ploughs, haymaking implements, cream 
separators, and various other labour-saving appliances testify 
to the scientific advances made in farming ; but the ensilage 
system must be quoted as the solitary and notable instance of 
any new means having been introduced for the preservation of 
