at Home and Abroad. 
127 
to my respected colleague's severe indisposition. The following 
pages will therefore only embody the chief facts which I have 
collected, and the inferences which I have myself drawn. 
So much has already been written about silos and ensilage * 
that an explanation of the terms may be regarded as unneces- 
sary by those who read agricultural books and newspapers. 
These are, however, a minority of farmers ; but it is not impos- 
sible that some who have not studied what has been already 
published may be induced to read this Report. I may also say 
that there is a certain amount of confusion in the prevailing use 
of the term " ensilage" which makes it necessary to give pre- 
cision to the language which I shall use, by commencing with 
definitions, in the same way as Acts of Parliament generally 
include " Interpretation Clauses," namely — 
Silo : — the structure in which the fodder is preserved. 
Silage : — the fodder pitted or otherwise preserved. 
Ensilage : — the process of preservation. 
The Americans are chiefly responsible for the confusion to 
which I have referred. Mr, Thurber, for instance, in the Intro- 
duction to his book ' Silos and Ensilage ' explains that " the 
term of M, GofFart ' Ensilage de Mais ' has been abbreviated in 
this country to Ensilage, and is supposed to apply solely to 
fodder-corn [green maize] thus preserved, unless modified, by 
naming some other crop, as ensilage of rye, &c." f Little im- 
portance need have been attached to this alteration of mean- 
ing if it had been universally known in this country, but many 
English farmers have read some of the optimist American state- 
ments, when reproduced in England, as if the word " ensilage " 
referred to the process, and therefore as if the results described 
were due to the superiority of this process over any other for 
preserving fodder for winter use. During my recent investiga- 
tions I was pleased to find that the three terms suggested above 
had occurred independently to others, and were already being 
used by them. J 
HiSTOKT. 
A silo was originally by destination, if not by derivation, 
neither more nor less than a cellar. M. Littre § finds the deriva- 
* See especially "Silos for British Fodder Crops,'' published at the 'Field' Office. 
+ In English we have a similar practice in the case of the word " bread," by 
which we mean wheaten bread. When we wish to talk of any other kind of 
bread we mention the chief ingredient, e.tj., rye-bread. 
X For instance, Mr. W. Biddell, M.P., has already used the term "silage " in 
a communication which has been published in the Agricultural, and some other 
newspapers, e.g. 'Ipswich Journal,' February 9th, 1884. 
§ Silo — s. m. Excavation ou fosse creuse'e dausle sol, ou I'ou depose les grains 
battus pour Ics conserver. 
Fig. Dans les cavernes les os gardaient fidelement la forme que la vie leur 
