at Home and Abroad. 
1G5 
My first visit to ^Ir. Stobart's was made on August 21st, 
1883. Each silo has a tap at the bottom, and from time to 
time juice is drawn off and used for feeding the pigs, who take 
it greedily. This squeezing out of the juice of the fodder seems 
to indicate that the silage has been too heavily weighted, at 
any rate for such material as was pitted in a chopped state. 
Great care had evidently been taken in filling the silo, but 
necessarily at some expense, namely, not only that incidental 
to chopping by steam-power, but that entailed by the method of 
spreading and treading adopted — three men employed to catch 
the cut grass in baskets, spread it evenly over the floor, and 
tread it down. The examination of a specimen of silage taken 
at this visit showed that it contained 76 per cent, of moisture. 
Kept in a wide-mouthe'd stoppered bottle, a portion of it has 
remained good ever since. Dr. Voelcker's analysis of the 
drainage material yielded the following results : — 
Water 93-11 
Organic matter 4-36 
Mineral matter 2 "53 
100-00 
The two latter items, which together comprise the dry 
residue, contained : — 
Albuminoids* 20-91 
Acids 10-71 
Extractive mat ters 31-72 
Ash 3G-GG 
Total 100-00 
* Containing nitrogen 3-34: 
At my second visit, on January 21st, 1884, the results of the 
process adopted were clearly seen. The silage was generally 
in a good state of preservation, but some of the layers were 
much better than others. The least attractive portions were 
those which contained more or less prickly comfrey. On the 
whole, I inferred that a smaller weighting would have pro- 
duced a result quite as good to the eye, and doubtless better to 
the more searching enquiry of a chemical analyst. It must be 
stated, however, that the expressed juices mentioned above are 
by no means wasted, as the liquid is mixed with the pigs' food, 
and is stated to be much relished by those omnivorous animals. 
A great portion of the material in ^Ir. Stobart's silos consists of 
rough grass from under trees, roadside cuttings, and odds and 
