The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-05-05
Ensilage.


This word. which is only few years
old. grows out of the discovery made by
q Frenchman, Auguste GOffart, that
green crops, when stored in water-tight
pits called silos, under a heavy pressure.
do not rot, but are preserved fresh and
sweet, AMI retain all their nutritive
juices for a year or more; and that,
when offered to cattle in this condition.
in the winter, are preferred to any dry
food. 1t is not surprising that the dis
covery made a sensation among farmers
and cattle feeders in. this country, and
that there is exhibited a keen desire to
know all about it; for. not only can a
great deal more in weight. of green food
than dry, be raised on an acre, but ensi-
lage possesses the advantage of supplying
cattle with succulent summer feed in
the winter-an advantage of great value
to milch cattle. Any green crop that
stock are fond of when in . growing
state is good material for ensilage-grass,
clover, rye, young corn, sorghum and
vegetables; but corn, clover and the
grasses are most generally used, because
when growing they are full of juice,
which is lost in curing into hay or fod-
der, but preserved in the silo. Several
kinds of green crops may be packed in
the same silo, and the ensilage is
said to be improved by the variety.
Corn, either drilled or cultivated or
sown broadcast. and cut in its most juicy
condition, is the basis of most ensilage
experiments in this country; it may be
packed in the same silo with clover OF
grass of any kind cut green, and success
sive crops of corn may be planted for
mixture with different kinds of grasses
in their season. As it is estimated that
ten to twenty tons weight of green crops
may be cut from an acre of good soil
five to ten times as much as the weight
of dry crop of grain or hay-it is easy
to see how much more profitable it is to
to save green crops in the form of ensi-
lage than to allow them to mature and
dry. Col. j. w. Wolcott of Boston, who
owns farm near that city, raised AGO
tons of ensilage on thirty-four acres
being fourteen tons to the acre-last
year. BY raising two crops on the same
soil he has gathered as much as twenty
one tons per acre. On one piece of
ground he gathered thirty-one tons per
acre, but THAT corn was fourteen feet
high" he says. He adds: II am sat
isfied that an acre of ground will keep a
COW twenty-four MONTHS
When the silo is opened in winter the
contents are found in sort of cheesy
condition, and require to be sliced off
with a sharp axe. They have under
gone a slow and slight fermentation
which does not impair their merits as
feed and is not offensive to cattle. In
deed, the first smell of ensilage is said
to .'set cattle wild for it, and they pre-
Ter it to any other kind of feed.
Silos are variously constructed. The
usual plan is to dig pits ten feet wide,
fifteen feet deep and as long as may be
desired, on sloping ground, and make
them water-tight with cement Mr.. c.
w. Mills of POmpton, New Jersey, pre-
fers to build strong frame, boarded up
tight and close with thick lumber, en-
tirely above the ground, something in
the fashion of an ice house. The green
crops may be packed into them, either
whole or cut up with cutter; each plan
has its advocates, though the weight of
opinion is in favor of cutting, as it al
lows of closer packing. As the crops
are thrown in they are tread down as
closely near the edges as possible, and
when the silo is full it is covered and
weighted with heavy rocks or earth, and
then shielded over to protect it from the
weather. In few weeks the ensilage
is ''ripe'' and ready for use. One end
of the silo, if built along the ground.
may be opened and the ensilage cut out
and fed as it is wanted. Its quality will
depend on the crops of which it is made
and the care with which they are packed
away. Nearly all animals will eat it;
cattle like it and thrive on it, and for
milch COWS it is particularly valuable,
as it increases their flow of milk and
keeps them in cheerful, healthy condi-
tion.-St. Louis Republican.