VOL. XLVII NO 1997. 
NEW YORK, MAY 5, 1888, 
PRICK FIVE CENTS. 
$2.80 PER YEAR, 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1888, by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.) 
ENSILAGE 
Antiquity of the ensilage system; its revival 
by M. Ooffart, its general introduction; 
don't expect too much ; corn the best ensilage 
crop ; silage stacks. 
It is not maintained that the ensilage sys¬ 
tem is a new thing, It is practically a “lost 
art” revived and improved by the necessities 
of modern agriculture. The practice of pre¬ 
serving green produce in structures from 
which air and moisture are excluded was 
known five centuries before the Christian 
era, and is mentioned by many of the old 
Latin agricultural writers. Mention is made 
of the practice in the Scriptures. The provis¬ 
ion made by Joseph against the years of fam¬ 
ine and the pictures of the ancient Egyptian 
grain vaults are quoted as indicating a prim¬ 
ary knowledge of ensilage and the antiquity 
of the silo. The present development is un¬ 
doubtedly due to Mr. Auguste Goifart, a 
Frenchman who stored green corn and rye 
straw in stone pits. For 100 years before 
his time German farmers had been packing 
cut grass, clover and vetches in pits about as 
they packed cabbage in the family barrel, 
but to M. Goffart must be given the credit of 
first bringing the process systematically before 
the public. 
The system was practically forced upon 
English farmers by a succession of wet seasons 
which rendered hay-making an uncertain 
operation. When farmers found that they 
could preserve their crop of grass in the silo 
even in the midst of a pouring rain, they were 
strongly inclined towards the new system. 
American farmers, on the other hand, are 
being forced to the silo by drought and the 
consequent failure of the hay crop. Again, 
American farmers, except perhaps those in the 
cooler parts of the country, are unable to uti¬ 
lize the root crop as advantageously as the 
English farmer can. Hence it follows that 
the silo presents the best means of securing a 
supply of succulent stock food. The early his¬ 
tory of silage in this country was not encour¬ 
aging. It was a new thing. Nobody knew 
how to make silage properly. The few who 
tried it were so extravagantly enthusiastic in 
its praise that sensible men were disgusted. 
After years of experimenting and careful in¬ 
vestigation,the truth comes to the surface, and 
the real value of silage becomes known. It is 
with a view to extending this truth that the 
following articles have been prepared. We 
have no desire to “boom” the system beyond 
the point where it will prove profitable to the 
farmer. We have aimed to secure the exper¬ 
ience of practical men who make a living on 
the farm and who cannot afford to hold on to 
an unprofitable system. The story is told so 
simply and so well that it is hardly necessary 
for us to add to it. We can only call atten¬ 
tion to a few points which we deem of special 
importance. 
We must caution our readers against the 
folly of expecting too much of the silo. It 
cannot possibly make “something out of noth¬ 
ing.” Be reasonable in your demands and 
you will probably be well satisfied. Don’t 
put too much money into your first silo, but 
take things easy and study your way out. 
Don’t expect silage to equal the best pasture 
grass, and so try to keep cattle on it without 
grain. You will fail every time you try it. 
The best that can be expected of silage is that 
it will reduce the cost of the bulky part of the 
ration and provide a supply of needed succu¬ 
lent food. A silo built in the belief that it 
will enable the farmer to sell his grain as well 
as his hay will prove a curse rather than a 
blessing. The corn crop is best for the silo. 
That point seems to be practically settled for 
this country, and this corn crop must be al¬ 
lowed to mature. The stalks of field corn, 
duces a good ear. Then both stalks and ears 
are cut into the silo together. Such silage is 
far better than that made from small and 
poorly developed stalks. The present demand 
is for cheap, wooden silos, as the belief is quite 
general that stone and cement walls cause a 
loss of silage. The remarks by Mr. Fuller on 
this point are valuable. We show pictures of 
MOST LIKE PLAY. Fig. 116. 
MOST LIKE WORK. Fig. 117. 
after the ears have been removed, make a 
good fodder when cut up and packed into a 
silo, and if the ears are cut up with the stalks 
the silage is all the better. The latest devel¬ 
opment in ensilage consists in planting the 
corn in drills, so that almost every stalk pro- 
an ensilage stack at Figs. 120-121. These stacks 
are quite popular in England where, in conse¬ 
quence of the moist seasons, considerable grass 
is ensiloed. It is not probable that these 
stacks will ever be very popular here, for the 
J reason, as we have stated, that drought rather 
than excessive moisture leads our farmers to 
the silo. 
Silage’is fed with a scoop or shovel more 
easily than with a fork. Some parties have 
objected to it because they claimed it is easier 
to feed hay with a fork. The box on wheels 
shown at Fig. 116 is in use by many Orange 
County, N. Y., dairymen who find it very 
handy. Fig. 118 gives the exact dimensions, 
so that anyone can make one. The corner 
pieces, a a a a, are made of 2x2 scantling, to 
which the sides are nailed. Four holes ,bbbb, 
are cut, asjshown, for handles. The wheels, c, 
are of wood, 12 inches in diameter and two 
inches thick. When in use it is pushed along, 
as shown at Fig. 116, giving ease and cleanli¬ 
ness in feeding. An exaggeration of the more 
common way of feeding is shown at Fig. 117. 
Which is most like work? 
CONCLUSIONS ON ENSILAGE. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
The years that have passed since the mak¬ 
ing of corn silage was begun among American 
farmers have enabled practical observers to 
collect a sufficient number of facts upon which 
some solid conclusions can be based in regard 
to the practicability of the process, the accept¬ 
ability of the product to our farm animals, 
its nutritive value, and its economy. These 
conclusions, as I have learned them personally 
and through the testimony of a great num¬ 
ber of practical experimenters, given both 
orally and through the press, I will here, at 
the editor’s request, briefly present to the 
readers of the Rural. 
• 
1. As to the practicability of the process 
there is now no dissent. That the maize plant 
at any stage of its growth, either whole or cut 
up, may be preserved by the process of ensil¬ 
age, in a condition suitable for feeding to 
farm stock, every farmer now knows, or may 
know. Unquestionably, there is a consider¬ 
able difference in the product under variations 
of method; but if the simple, essential and 
well known conditions are maintained,there is 
no way known of preserving green fodder for 
winter feeding better, or more completely 
under the control of the operator, than ensil¬ 
age. The variations in the product as regards 
its acceptability, healthfulness and nutritive 
quality are no greater than the variations 
noted when similar feeding material is other¬ 
wise preserved, if as great. 
2. In regard to the acceptability of silage as 
food to farm stock, and especially for cattle, 
the testimony is practically all one way. They 
are very fond of it, not only when well and 
carefully made, but even when it has been so 
carelessly done as to much impair its quality, 
and even to render it undesirable, on the score 
of health or profit. Hundreds of experiments 
demonstrate this fact, and it is a very impor 
tant one, since no food that is eaten with re¬ 
luctance can be fed with profit. 
3. When we come to the question of nutri¬ 
tive value, we reach a matter upon which 
knowledge, both scientific and practical, has 
now been so accumulated that a satisfactory 
judgment is not only possible, but easy. The 
adaptation of the kind of corn planted for en¬ 
silage to the locality of its growth, the number 
of plants to a given area, the condition of the 
crop as to growth and maturity at harvest, 
and degree of success obtained in its preserv¬ 
ation being known, the experienced feeder will 
have no more difficulty in its feeding, as re¬ 
gards economy, than with any other feeding 
material; nor will the agricultural chemist, 
within his sphere, discover any probabilities 
inconsistent with observed results in the hands 
of the feeders. 
4. From known facts at the outset there 
never was any sound reason for believing that 
ensilage could be made profitable as an ex¬ 
clusive feed for the growth of young stock, 
or for the production of milk, butter, cheese, 
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