at Home and Abroad. 
155 
a few additional remarks from me may not be considered 
superfluous. I received from Mr. Trepplin a number of 
samples of silage from his different barns and silos, and found 
them possessed of that peculiar aroma of aldehyd, like Caven- 
dish or honejdevv tobacco, which is frequently observed in 
silage, although it may have arrived at the stage of acetic 
fermentation. They all went mouldy after a short exposure to 
the air, as generally happens when the silage is very moist, as 
was the case in these instances. Being somewhat impressed 
with the scale on which Mr. Trepplin was using the system, 
and with the general success which had attended his efforts. 
Dr. Voelcker and I visited him on February 16th. Partly as 
landlord and partly as tenant, Mr. Trepplin farms about 3300 
acres ; and as he now makes no hay. Rumour may not ex- 
aggerate in her usual way when she credits him with having 
made 3000 tons of silage last year (1883). I was therefore 
anxious to learn his views on the question of Silage versus 
Hay. They may be thus stated in general terms : — Although 
there is more carting in making silage, the extra cost is more 
than balanced by the " not making " of the hay. Mr. Trepplin 
also asserts that he has found the same quantity of grass of 
the same quality at least twice as valuable for feeding purposes 
if made into silage as if made into hay. Inferior and over- 
ripe grass or aftermath may prove, in his opinion, actually less 
valuable per ton than if it had been made into silage. He 
remarks also that horses and cattle will always eat silage made 
at any time and in any weather, but they will not always eat 
bad hay ; and, if fed on bad hay, they often contract diseases 
of which silage is quite innocent. Some farmers may say that 
these are the opinions of an enthusiast, but at any rate they are 
based on the results of feeding more than a thousand animals. 
12. Mr. N. Echersleu, M.P., Slandish Hall, Wtgan. — In the summer of 
1883, two silos were erected inside the old barn at Staudisli Hall, each 18 feet 
long, 10 feet wide, and 9 feet deep. The inside of the walls and the surface 
of the bottoms were plastered with a coating of Portland cement, left smooth, 
and the corners were rounded off. The bottoms had a slight inclination 
from the sides to a channel in the centre. The channel also inclined slightly 
from the back to the front wall, where a small cesspool was formed, 12 inches 
by 3 inches, and from this a lead pipe one inch in diameter was inserted, to 
convey the liquid which exuded from the silage through the front wall 
into a small well. At the commencement this lead pipe was plugged up. 
Ten acres, statute measure, of second-crop clover and rye-grass yielded 80 tons 
in 80 cartloads of one ton each. Cutting commenced on the loth of Sep- 
tember, and continued at intervals until the 29th of September. The silos 
were filled alternately. One ton of old dry clover-hay was spread at the 
bottom of each silo, in the expectation that it would absorb all the liquid 
which drained from the silage. 
