THE VALUE OF ENSILAGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1616, 22 July 1887, Page 3

THE VALUE OF ENSILAGE

». — . It woijld noetn certain that the oyetsm of ensilage is to become n established feature m agriculture. The efficiency and utility of tho ayttam have both been proved. In the aoarohlng h&nds of ihe skilled agriculturist, as well as under the crboial test of thhe doubting scientist, it has ahovh results that moot bo regarded ag highly natL) factory. I. has boon tried under conditions which present great variety; crops which differ wldaly in v character have been submitted to it ; the produotj has been put to various uses m feeding; aud all round the suooess, if not oompKte, has indeed been veiy remark able. A system whioh gives such good results under such, varying oiroamstanoes, which endures equally the tests-of noieoce and practioa, cannot fail io be bo h effioient and useful. The reports of the Ensilage Oommiesion and of the judges of the Koyal Agricultural Silo Competition have been published, and aro very encouraging, for both empbatioal'y declare ensilage a guooess, Tbe ISnsilago Oommlasion says that enBllage renders the farmer independent of weather m sowing his crops, and increases the productive OApabllitles of the fatro, for a greater amount of food may be ob--1 tainod from a given area of land than if the crop were made Into bay. The feeding value of ensilage—weight for weight, they say— la only one-third tbat of hay, but a ton of green food, pre« served by ensilage, will weigh m silage &vq times as muoh as if made into hay. The Royal S joletlea' judges are equally favorable, for the systam. They say :— '• We are of opinioa that the great question of satisfactorily ensiling green crops his received amply confirmation. It has baen pro red to os, inoonteatibly, that Its euocess has been manifested m every dis trlot. We have saen allcs of brlok, store and wood; we have seen old barosand other bulldlnga converted Into sUob ; we have B9eu them sunk into tho ground and built on tho level ; wo have seen them containing twenty tons, and we have inspected others o^pablo of containing 700 toue wo have found slloi constructed at a little over £20, and others at £40); wo have found them Oiled with all sorts of groen crops, and we have found some eour and some sweet — the laitor m by far the greater proportion ; we have Boon them weighted wit bricks, with btaues, with slates, with sand, with earth, and also with ingenious mechanical contrivances ; we h»ve inspected some chaffed, and m others, the fodder oproad out and pub m whole '; m all cases the practice was successful, and m ,every instance cattle of all descriptions did well on the silage, and m many' instances the opinion was so oon elusive that decidedly more stock oould bo oarriod with silage than with hay,"— "Live Stock Journal."