Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1886. Concerning Ensilage.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1891, 1 October 1886, Page 2

Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1886. Concerning Ensilage.

This is a subject almost unknown to our Wairarapa farmers, but it is one that should engage their attention, for the storing of green fodder crops has been successfully carried out in England, America, and elsewhere. It was only the other day that Colonel Noake read a paper on the subject i at the Progress and Industrial Association of Wanganui, and that gentleman pointed out that the subject was one of very general application in England, on the Continent and in America, therefore contemplated experiments would be by no means the risky speculation which some are prone to think. Fortunately, the main conditions are simple and few. Of course, failures have been recorded, but they have generally been traced to want of knowledge or a disregard of the essentials necessary lor successIndeed, one can hardly go wrong if it is borne in mind that it is not only necessary to prevent air getting in the silo, but the air s already enclosed in the mass must be driven t out, which is done by energetic and sufli , cient pressure ; but it must also be under- , stood that rough pressure and small silos will not give the full measure of success j which may be secured by large silos and . better appliances, and tbe more careful the 3 arrangements the greater the result. No iloubt satisfactory returns may bo obtained , at a comparatively small outlay, and where the saving of first cost is of greater importmice than some waste in fodder, the most a convenient course may be adopted. For earth silos, simply dug in the ground, there is merely the expense of labor. To thosq who find their own, and have, therefore, 1 nothing to pay, they may be very suitable, • as they have given favorable results as regards loss of fodder, hut the soil is apt to 1 crumble away ; in this respect it is inferior to masonry or concrete. Earth silos should 1 not he so deep as to be in danger of iufiltra- , tion of water. Before putting in the fodder the bottom and sides should have a thin layer of straw to prevent contact with the earth. " When the fodder is put in it should be well trodden down ; when the pit is full it should have a thin covering of straw, and then be 3 covered with earth sufficiently thick to prer vent rain penetrating. An American farmer, 3 descubing his operations with earth silos, 1 states that he digs a trench (where the crop is grown) eleven feet wide at the top and > seven at the bottom, as deep and long as • convenient; he covers up with 20 inches of , earth ; his soil is marly clay. A French 1 farmer obtained the gold medal at the Bourges agricultural show in 1871) for a sample of • eniilage which had been in an earth silo four years. The French professor of Agriculture reported the preservation to be perfect. ■ Ensiling in barrels may be of use to many ; it has been practised with more or less success 1 for mauy years. It is within the compass of e every cottager who owns a cow to keep a few barrels under cover, in which to store roadside grass, cabbage and lettuce leaves, potato • tops, Ac , which would prove a useful additiem to the cow’s dietary, and would amply f repay the laborer iu the increased quantity and quality of milk and butter. A mau in Durham, owning a small plot of grass, out it, and filled a barrel four feet high by 31 incjjes in diameter ; as it shrunk he refilled until it would hold no more ; he then weighted it with river stones. For general application, however, ensiling in stacks, qr open air silos seems to b« much more prefer able to all other methods of making ensilage. It !s simple, inexpensive, and has the great t advantage that it may be made wherever | convenient for the time being. Tbe cost of " silos must of necessity bo influenced by circumstances such us nature of soils, materials, > dimensions, Ac Small silos generally cost more per ton than large ones. Silo capacity may, as a genera! rule, be estimated at one ton for every fifty cubic feet of ensilage. Wheu a crop is to be ensiled, It should be put in the silo as soou as cut, and not allowed to lie in the sun and wind to wither, as then the water in the plant evaporates, and air enters into tbs cells; and air in the silo is move to be fen id than damp , indeed, there is little fear of ordinary crops oonf.doing too much moisture, a condition w’ oh, so to from being a cause of deteriou i n, G in,, dispensible to the good prcsorv.Jl -i of the materials. A farmer repoited that, on as wot a day as ever rained, he cut and put in the silo a crop o;' grass and oats, which, although a perfect squash when siloed yet kept remarkably wc 1. Another states that at the same time he was filling a si'o from a poor held (-I' coarse herbage he was endeavoring to save a crop of hay from an uphnut meadow very favorably sitiuted for drying in ordinary seasons. When (he sun shone out f<ra brief period all hands lepaiivd to the I ay field. When Gouda and rain prevailed they resorted to ensilage making. In the One case they li'erahy improved each shining hour )U the olher they utilised each wot. and cloudy one : vm the mem urc of success was precisely in uoe s- at o to 'ho expo and cite bestowed, a; lleiuy. badly w: adhered, ’ proved fit only I t bud in; for ci-ttlo, for 1 which purpose it was used, while the ensilage was given to the cattle, wiidi wore kept three months on it, and tin y throve well—yet the ensilage was s "red iu the rain, and was composed of conse iirbige. Almost any green substance may he ensiled. Grasses •>t all kinds, cloveis. lucerne, vetches, green oats, wheat, rye, hailcv, sp.iity, mahee. Jerusalem artichokes thistle q gorse. potato tops, Ac. Wheu a silo is tilled, it is not merely requisite to exclud ■ the outer air. hut it is necessary, to expel that which is shut up wi'h it. This r< quires heavy pressure, which must be continuous. When the crop ia Gloed it is tt : I living, and endowed with an elasticity which resists strongly the first process. The fodder soon undergoes a softens mg process, and it is then when these physical and chemical modifications are accomplished that the Heavy pressure is an iudispensible condition to success ; it must follow the fodder ns it ccllapses to produce ( that density which is essential to place it beyond the reach of deterioration. The pivssuie may range fn-iu UOlbs to 6001b the : -quaie foot. Filling the silo is the crucial 1 ■peration of the whojp business, and will always require judgment and intelligence It j is an und'sputed fact that forage is improved by slight alcoholic fermentation. Goffart, an 1 author* 1 * 00 ensilage making, whose direo- * | tious the Am.'-'oans closely follow, soon ' found ihat the fermentaii*” .' a tilb siloes apt to depot prate jntn acetic, lactic, and n~,‘.‘) lv I into butyric Jermept&ljop and putrefaction, 1 1 which is positively objectionable, ponaen j t yuwtly, Goflnrt, finding it iraponjbl* to hit o

it filthily, so long us tiio fo-Uiii’ r-mains there, lie says that if it were necesMity to sacrifice fermentation in order to avoid loss of material which is undergone in silos, in; would accept that loss, attaching the highe-t value to fermentation, the good effects 1 1 which are indisputable, but fortunately the two points are easily reconciled. The benelits of fermentation are that the fodder undergoes a commencement of decomposition, which facilitates digestion, while increasing the nutritive or assimilating power. Fermentation acts in a very thorough manner upon ensilage ; it always has the result of producing new substances ; converting sugar into acetic and other acids ; starch-like bodies into saccharine substances ; and reduces insoluble woody fibre into soluble matter somewhat allied to starch. Sugar and starch, digestible and indigestible fibre, have, chemi oally, the same percentage of composition, but the last is of small feeding value, ami indeed may be actively injurious, as it may encase round substances which, in themselves, are very easy to assimilate, and thus prevent their being acted upon by the digestive powers of the animals. There are two kinds of ensilage, brown or sweet, and sour, which may be produced at will, provided the laws which govern fermentation of the class to which silo belongs be understood. These laws are three—l. Free oxygen is a necessary agent at the commencement of fermentation. 2. When fermentation has become active, a supply of free oxygen is no longer needed for its progress. 3. Active fermentation cor * tinned in accordance with law No. 2, only within certain limits of temperature—a tern perature exceeding 50 deg. C. (122 f.h) des troys the vitality of ferments, and the germs remain inert until again excited by free oxygen. Now, if grass or clover be placed in the silo, so that the filling extends over several days, a brisk fermentation will be excited, the temperature rapidly rises until it exceeds 50 deg. 0. This temperature, according to law 3, arrests the vitality of the ferment. The ensilage produced by this process is a brown color, sweet odour, free from vitality. It is said to smell like " mow burnt ” hay, and is very dense, a cubic foot weighing from 451bs to 50Ibs. Cattle, sheep, and horses eat it at once withapparent relish. On the other hand, if a silo is filled as rapidly as possible, well trodden and pressed every night, so as to exclude as much air as possible, an ensilage of a totally different character will be produced ; the temperature will rise only slightly, probably never exceeding 20 deg., C,, or 68 F. On opening the silo after having been closed for several months, the ensilage will be found to be of a pale greenish, yellow, color ; the flowers of trifolium incarnatum will still retain a dull purple hue. It will have a peculiar acid smell—not very agreeable ; this is called sour ensilage, which is perhaps better suited for milch cows, and the brown ensilage for fattening stock. Colonel Noake has done good in bringing this subject into prominence in his district, and the following letter shows that the value of ensilage is known to some of the Hawke's Bay settlers :—“ I forward a sample of ensilage made by Mr Sydney John ston, Hawke’s Bay, which speaks for itself. I need hardly say that it is a complete success. The press by which it was made only requires an introduction and farmers would soon learn that ensilage is not only the cheapest and simplest, but most valuable of all farm products.’’