Connecticut western news., 1884-01-30


 Bnsilase-Fed Cows~Its Encct on IIersss
 The Government Asked to Investigate
 Nearly one hundred farmers interested in preserving summer growths Rrcen and juicy in winter met in New York city They represented the Ensilage Congress. Ensilage has been tested in this country for five years. The object of the annual meetings is to compare experience and results. Az an art, ensilago ia yet in it's infancy. It was practiccd first in France in 1873 on u large scale, and was adopted in America in 1878 The system has enemies, who insist that the preserved grass or corn spoils the milk, and that, being the first stagesof fermentation. 1t must eventually undermine the health of cattle.
 question were presented. Edward Grid ley, of Wassaic, N. Y., gave an account of the difficulty the Wassaic farmers had with New York condensed milk com pany which had it's factory nenr Wassaic. Milk was furnished to this factory by farmers from great distance around it. In 1880 three farmers experimented with silos. Milk increased in quantity, and milk inspectors at the factory tried in vain to detect something wrong in 10. They pronounced the milk good. In 1881 eight additional silos were made and in 1881 and 1882 a great deal of milk was furnished To the factory from cattle fed on ensilage and no fault was found In 1882 four more silos were built There were then more silos in Wassaio than in any other part of the country in l n 4grytf,tsxB aF sFfttfIav Ia Eat,W,s ary, 1883, the milk was refused at tho factory. Tho farmers were told that some milk which came from cows fed on ensilage had been condensed by itself, and it was found that the milk would not remain fit for consumption as long a l time as other milk. 10 was asserted, | too, that New York consumers com plained that they could taste something bad in tho milk. The President of the milk company offered to furnish tho usual food for cows if farmers would not | fill their silos last summer, and refused to make contracts with them from Octo- Der l, 1883, to March 31, 1884, if the farmers filled their silos.
 Corn had been planted whom this proposition came from the condensed milk company, and the farmers por- l til the time came for them to decide whether to fill their silos. When that time eight arrived seven silos were filled and were allowed to remain empty. They are empty yet. The speaker was one who refused to yield to the condensed milk company. He had bought thirty steers and was fsttening them for market Dr. Tanner, Mir. Chaifce, and othera had done the same. MT. Gndley thought it question which was the way to make most money, but he thoughtitwa by sell ing milk. However, he was not Bo certain of that when he found two old oxen gain two and one-third pounds n day on ensilnRe:
 Dr. Tanner of the same town said he had 150 COWS, and after the trouble with ilm factory he sold 100 of them and took the milk of fifty to New York city. The customers who used the milk did not complain of it. If they did he had hay enough for the COWS.
 B. Rogers of Binghampton said ho furnished the milk of onsilage-fed COWS to many people in Binghampton. They complained of the milk just after the silo was opened in winter. Ont of threo hotels one had complained.
 resolution was passed asking the Department of Agriculture at Washing ton to make an analysis of enailage milk and of that produced by the ordinary feeding and to publish the result, and also requesting the State Experimental Station of New York to make similar comparative analysis.
 Elder Evans, of the Lebanon Shakers, said the Shakers filled three Hilos last l i. FaI s.F NI.aa Their butter was as good as ever. Elder Evans thought that it is casy to make a poor article, but that there is no reason why ensilage is not perfect food. Ho saw no injurious effect on the cattle.
 Professor Miles of the Amherst Agri. cultural College read q papor on the pre- vention of acidity in ensilaRe. He said that fermentation is the result of q pro. cess of vital activity in which microscopic germs are nouriBhed. These germs arc called bacteria, and they produce the acidity. If the bacteria could be killed there could be no acidity. Tho way to kill them, he thought, was to fill the silo leisurely, and not put on the weights un- til the temperature is high enough to prevent its falling below the point neces- sary to kill the bacteria. This tempera- ture, he had found, was from 1l5 degrees to l22 degrees. The result, he believed, would be uniformly sweet ensilage.
 John Myer, of Mir. Theodore A. Have meyers Mountain Side farm, near Mahs wah, N l., said he fed each of his 100 Jerseys twenty pounds of ensilage in the morning and twenty pounds at night, with seven pounds of hay at noon. With each meal was given also quart of ground oats and Indian meal. The cattle were never turned out to pasture, and had been fed in this way for thrco years. Their health is perfect The ensilage had been taken from sixty-three acres of land, producing about twenty tons to the acre.
 Some one asked whether ensilage is good for horses. Dr, Baxter, of Virginia, said "I fed my horses onsilage for n week. So did neighbor. My neigh. bor's horses died. About that time l heard of some mules dying in Kentucky from eating ensilage. Thon I com cluded to stop feeding ensilage."
 Henry Goodwill, of passaic, said he had m old horse which he fed on ensil- age because he didn't care whether the old plug lived or died. It got fat
 T. Cosiigan, of Frederick Bronson's farm in Greenfield Hill, Conn.,, said he had fed ten horses for n week on onsil- age, and eight of them had died.