ENSILAGE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1680, 8 May 1884, Page 2

ENSILAGE.

' : TO THE EDITOR' OP THE DAILY. • Sir,—The late wet season and the consequent failure of hay, should, I think, make Wairarapa farmerg turn their, attention' to the question of making " ensilage" instead of hay. The farmers' club lately'.:established should, take this• question into consideration, and. will be able to obtain reliablo. .information • upon it before next'season. : :

■ A short time,since I had the opportunity of seemg';a «'silo" at Lord Norraanton's place in Dorsetshire, and can give the;following facts fipin my own. observation, Size of silo is 25ft by 15 and?l7ftJiighy- (in brick, -about half below "and holf above ground. This contained, the grass from twelve acres of heavy .cropland was. not full. Grass was cut and ; carted on a wet day, and r simply; thrown' in and trodden down, and whenfull, a weight of l|owt. to the square foot placed on top'.oi it. Of course this soon pressed it down and it was filled up'again twice, Most people will say at once that this might produce manure but certainly not'food-tor. stock. When I saw it, after six months, about half had been cut out, and it was in splendid condition.'• The cattle and horses were taking-it; in,preference to hay. The process seems to be one of preservation instead of decay,, in;consequence of the ; great pressure excluding the air. It was-found .there, as anywhere else, to be particularly; good for milking cows, considerably/increasing the ; proportion ! df cream. There is no doubt thai J, i£|)^jbf;grass s treated in this wa; is of mucji\g'rcater value for feeding pUrposeVtlian' if made into hay. Th( perfectly, tough; and ■sft. liPfJ& ar Pes - w H en sna ken out, is no decay.' say ths I no doubt of the great value of thd process.'" If appears to me that fqrther., experiments will prove ■that it can be ( fmuch-simplified:'and the expense'reduced,' The' manager is of this opinion, and told me, in proof of thiflj tliat. he s tried,- some. of the same grass merely put up in a heap in a shed and the same weight placed on it, the. result bemgjust'asgodd as in the brick > ' , silo." ; ''.The'opini6n'is that the weight is the mainpoint as this alone excludes the air from all but just ;the outside,, which, will dry .but will, not decay. Of course, it must •be sheltered from ramf Timber sides 'will; certainly do just as''well as brick, and would be much cheaperjn New; Zealand. "The experi'nieiit can be/easily tried by any 'farmer in a corner.'of "his shed or barn on a small scale, .say a.space of 6ft square and lO.or 12ft high, and he can thenijudge-.whether tp.work on a larger scale next year. He must -remember, though, that the great point is weight, which; : fflust. jipt 'be' : le>sjthan'l : have, stated, and'if more sVmuch the better. It may evenbe<doae on a very small scale in a-box-'Or J cask^which' perhaps very .cautious people, may -prefer; at first. I-notieed in a .papsr iately. that it had been proved very successful in Experiment,'the weight may easily be obtained by boxes filled with stones,. but of course if .done pn/a'large "scale this can be improved, on. Possibly the old lever wool ;pressplan might be-best. .The ensilage is much improved by; spine salt, being grass and thrown in. One |reaii,advantage;appears to bethat'anyi tjofee gras'a not good ensilage.' wp>|drpj»babl| purpose of. i-great taporte&ce v iti bush' settle- 1 ments,' where ,so.much;cpbksfoot is; pffetf BOOT.'; '■pti-><J:)':i? L kMIU:K:, v ;'Tfo'wholeipcess seems'to me par. tticuiarly- suited 1 ; to

bush-land, as \ they.: so. : often have so manyidifficultiea ia making hay, in rainfall. It wouldVbe to be able to cuti'-'afidjitore the grass at once; quite irideperidently of weather, They-can generally; get good slabs from some mill, anlimight contract a rough " silo" at a very small cost.'.! Probably some details will; have to be learned by experience, arid ■ there may be failures, but we, have the fact that wet grass can be safely'stored in England, so ; ■why not in New;Zeala'nd ? * My'object is, .not; to. write - exhaustively' On4he question, but merely to dtect.'attentioh. to it. The Farmers'' Club, can readily collect good" deal will be found in' ''The' Field," and other papers. . When I return to England I will endeavor to find v some pamphlets on the subject, and forward.,' V. ';[■ ': J yours,; etc,,; '' O.PHARAZmPan Basses Pyrenees, France,' March' 18th, 1884. ... "'■;!'