192 
Report on the Practice of Ensilage, 
the fodder the more compactly can it be consolidated, and on this, I believe, 
depends mainly success or the contrary in preservation of silage. 
The fodder preserved in my silo has been in course of very gradual con- 
sumption during more than three months ; and it does not appear to suffer or 
deteriorate in the least by the exposure to the air (for several days at a time) 
of the sides from which the silage has been cut for feeding. I imagine that 
the keeping properties must depend mainly upon the degree of consolidation 
of the fodder. I find in my pit a la_yer of about 2 inches of inferior and more 
or less mouldy stuff on the top, also about 1 inch in breadth next all the side 
■walls, varying from inferior to bad. All the rest is so compact that no air 
can enter the mass, and consequently it appears to keep as well as hay in a 
cut stack. 
I have found the silage of great value as a succulent fodder for mixing 
with chaff of hay and straw as food for milch cows, especially early in the 
winter before mangolds are ripe. Having stored but a small quantity, I have 
used it almost entirely for cows in-milk ; and with no other winter food have 
I ever found the butter so good in quality and in flavour. 
I should add that the method of storing silage I adopted was founded on 
the recommendations of Mr. H. AVoods, of Merton, to whom my acknow- 
ledgments for much good advice are due. — March 11, 1884. 
Mr. Fryer was so good as to send me a sample of his silage 
for examination ; but by the time it reached Hanover Square it 
had developed a very strong odour, and when the box was 
opened, the silage was found to be mouldy. This untoward 
circumstance may, however, have been caused by the manner 
in which the box was filled, which should have been done by 
cutting out one piece the exact size of the box, and carefully 
preventing the access of air to its interior. 
Lord Tollemache's silos, which I visited on February 11th, 
1884, have been frequently described in the agricultural news- 
papers, therefore a very brief notice of them will be sufficient 
here. They have been constructed out of existing buildings, 
and each one has been devoted to a separate experiment this 
year, chiefly with a view of ascertaining what is the influence of 
external moisture on the crop when pitted upon the quality of 
the resulting silage. The silo which was open at the time of 
my visit presented to view a vertical wall of well-consolidated 
meadow-grass. From 4 to 6 inches of material at the top was 
sodden, but there was little or no waste at the sides. All the 
pitted fodder had been mixed with 2 lbs. of salt per cwt., but 
Lord Tollemache and his agent are both convinced that this 
quantity is far too large. It makes the cows very thirsty, and 
for this reason it is found necessary to feed them with one-half 
silage and one-half chopped straw. The silage seemed to have 
been exceptionally well pressed, apparently because it had been 
put into the silos by single pitchforks-full, each of which had 
been immediately trodden hard by four men. The covering 
and weighting materials were the following : — (1) Doors consist- 
