ENSILAGE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1727, 29 December 1887, Page 3

ENSILAGE.

Owing to the low rates of wheat and other cereals which, for the last two or three years, have ruled at Home, the system of dairy farming is rapidly takiDg the place of the old fashioned wheat-growing industry. On this, as on many other occasions that seemed to require it, a new discovery has been made just m the nick ct time to lend its valuable aid to the toiling husbanman. The system of ensilage, or the preserving of green fodder m silos, was brought under the notice of the farmers by prominent-English agriculturists some short time before the last great fall m wheat, or when it ruled some ten shillings a quarter higher than at present. Gradually, but surely, the practice has been extending, notwithstanding the expenses attending the construction of silos, as, when first introduced, it was thought necessary to exclude the air as far as practicable. But it seems that some dariDg spirit has caused the system to take a new departure by dispensing altogether with silos and having recourse to the stacking process, and this is being every day turned to further account. The latest innovation that we have read of that made by a Mr Lempriere, a farmer m Scotland, who, having on his. farm a plot of about two acres, completely overrun with thistles to the exclusion of all other herbage, and having read ths description of the system of stack ensilage adopted m England, determined to make an experiment m 6tack ensilage with his two acres of thistles, "A bottom of 14ft by 18ft was formed with saplings, and the thistles built on top. It was then covered loosely with bracken ferns and spars, on top of which was then heaped up a large quantity of earth. The stack rapidly subsided, and when opened a few weeks ago was not more than 4ft high. The ensilage proved of excellent quality, being of a good color and possessing a nice aromatic smell. It is eaten with avidity by the cattle, the milking cows being very fond of it. The ensilage coming out of the stack quite warm, its valtfe as a fodder for milking cattle these wintry days cannot well be overestimated," We reproduce the above brief description of the process from a Home contemporary for the benefit of our readers.

Believing as we do, that dairying is destined, sooner or later, to supersede wheat-growing for export, we would venture to suggest that the farmers should go into the question themselves, and see if butter at 130 to 130 shillings per cwt would not pay better than wheat at 3s or 3s 2d per bushel. Ey the use of > the latest invented cream separators, and the most approved butter workers, a first-class article would be the result, and this would always command the prices we "have quoted, from November to April, m tbV'&ondon market. If this butter I would pay better than wheat, why con- ! tinue growing wheat year after year, taking all the virtue out 9i the soil by constant cropping until it is quite worn out? Wheat growers have adverse seasons to contend with, but the dairy farmers, with our extended. system of water-races and the stack ensilage system, would be comparatively independent of the weather. The subject at any rate is worth a little careful consideration.