The Farm.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 510, 19 January 1883, Page 25

The Farm.

BNBIIi AGE.— Nearly a century ago, in this department, Arthur Young, the guest of the Duke of Liancourt, wrote about farming matters and the state of the country as few since have written, and later M. Leonce de Layergne, the French parallel of the English writer, has described, in his " Economic Eurale de la France," some of those exceptional farms which, on this side of the Channel, exhibit agricultural progress. The Liancourt of Arthur Young is, perhaps, now best known to agriculturists by its being the seat of M*. Albarets manufactory of implements, but it is another Liancourt, in the same department, where agricultural progress in its most novel form may be witnessed. The proprietor of the chateau where lam staying, M. Arthur Vicomte de Ghezelles, is not unknown in England. At Kilbnrn and at Beading he was on the look out for what was good or new among our cattle or implement classes, but at hie farms, Liancourt St. Pierre, the experiments he has made and which I came to see are especially „ c ,, • T °" dav was opened for my inspection probably the largest silo, filled with " ensilage," in Europe. In Holland during the last month of May I had the pleasure to join the party of Norfolk farmers and landowners, including Sir T. Fowell Buxton and Mr. Samuel Hoare, on their tour through several provinces to see the Tanous aspecte of « Dutch farming." Lord Reay and others accompanied us, and a visit of a week enabled the party to learn much of the methods and condition of agriculture in Holland, to which I only refer here to say that an ensilage pit seen on some of the best working farms in the whole country attracted more interest among the score of Norfolk farmers who saw it than anything else seen on their travels. The cows on a large and well-appointed dairy farm were eating, liking, and thriving on ensilage as a part of their principal winter and spring food. More milk was given by the cows that ate ensilage than those which did not. At t&e end of the visit the most satisfactory and practical comment made was, "Some of us will try that plan in Norfolk." As a matter ot fact, i believe such an experiment on a small scale is iiow, being tried, and m Suffolk Colonel Tomline has also put up a silo. But it was a reading last July that further interest in the process was created, when, meeting the Vicomte Arthur de Chezelles, he gave me photographs of his silo, a monster affair, in which he told me the P r °J^cerf about 170 acres of forage-clover, trifoliua, grass, etawas stored, and stowed there as cut, wet or dry. An illustration of this silo was afterwards given in English agricultural papers, and several correspondents made minute inquiries on the subject. Indeed, it is one of momentous interest to English agricultnre. The Jfettie of the Fans, for cooling stacks, at Reading, was of less interest as a means of saving hay in bad weather than a process which can be followed in all seasons. What is a silo? What is ensilage? In answer it may be said the process of makimg ensilage is as old as the hills, but as a practice of modern farming it is qa ite recent. Green food, grass, i? c . Ten J leave8 > B«ch as those of the mulberry have been stored, salted and preserved in many countries, notably in Hungary and in the steppes of Russia, for all the years of this century, and it is believed that Vigil refers to the process. It is, howevar, within the past decade that ensilage has been done on a large scale, and it was at Cb lateau Burtin i, in the department Loire-et-cher, that M. Goffart, £ff ;? ? d J nd i an corn in a chea P a nd satisfactory manner. M. 3f s largest pit was 12 yards long and two yards deep, the walls were made in s tone i and cement, and the bottom was paved. This pit received about 40 tons of green maize mixed with one-fifth of Its weight of rye-straw chaff. la various pits 250 tons of fodder were stored, and in December were available for winter feeding of stock. S« QT* 'illi 111 * F ,f en <* agriculturists paid their visits of inspec™,L » S °T feW followed the example, but the practice did not be£Stf» eral ? and xt was reserved for Americans to take up the " new fashion with enthusiam, to build immense silos, write a book about it, and assert to the world that ensilage was the best winter food for stock, and especially for milch cows. Animals, like ourselves, prefer LXF S. an . eh ? 0Be » green keep to dry food, and doubtless the health of cattle is improved when a proportion of fresh provender KJf Q zf^l- Atfir i tin America the fodder was simply " clamped " in heaps 6ft. high and 15ft. long, and the air was excluded partially pL? lt ,£T nn i < £ ea ! th - Of course » fermentation set in, but only tMf? T c the food more digestible and a little sour. From tne pit an advance was made by building a stone or brick receptacle E « <£ flu- pa ? tly above the surfa ce of the ground. It was necessary that this silo should be air and water tight on the bottom fi tJ ll6^ form i 8 octangular; width one third of the S• ; £ cost of erecti °a is reckoned as ss. to 6s. for each ton's capacity. ±tye, oate. grass, various sorts of clover, as well as maize, nflL r T £ c ? Bucc essfally saved. The forage is cut into lengths fnrt trn n nein^ Cb by a ? team <*aff-cutter, tumbled into the pit, packed Xn,E-^ n ® W u n> ' ? llowed to sh*, and to then covered generally 3th «^ s '™ghted heavily with atones or bricks, and laid over r<, r,? r c Variou^ P la °s are advocated as to the details of coverKSivn J- W6lgbt> time d manner of opening, and it is proma, v£™ ? TS % and nu ? c r °us technical details that have caused 111 Sch nSSI? v I 7I 7 - mm + t ki ? g It is the absence of tho ««L.? f^ £ b m tbe of .Chateau Boulleaume makes the example of the Vicomte Arthur de Chezelles one that anybody wY s SL°i IOW< - ?? Un^ ed States Apartment of Agriculture^ Sid #3L 9R IS Tt d t report emb °dy«g Information thi nwS »? 6 dlS *™ nt fadings, respecting silSs and ensilage in *TWnSr tates /° d Canada, but I only giv^ T the two last clfuses. in»!- v,^ L ol V ofßtock .i edonensila S e ' !botha s to health and gain ZZ3 ' hhiMh i M b l en u . ulfor^y favourable." "As to the profitableness of ensilage there is hardly a doubt expressed on this point, cerStSi 7 n a dlssen . tlD g opinion." As .they have arrived 'at these SS %m% m Ame " ca ' * ls time that Europe, and especially E g- Dland, m th itg uncertain. gUm.a.te, f}hoald adopt a system pronounce*

to be both healthy and economical. " I know that as soon as the fodder is in the silo it is safe ; I have no fear of storms, prostrated shocks, or rotting in the field," is the phrase of an American farmer writing on the subject. In suitable climates and soils simple earth pits are recommended as efficient and the least costly, but generally English and French agriculturists may reckon that a built silo is preferable, and the one I am inspecting is so contrived " a double debt to pay." It is at the same time an excellent barn and perfect silo, and may be described as an oblong open shed, roofed with tiles, 72 yards in length, 6£ yards wide, 4£ yards high, to all appearance a building under which the cereal crops should be stored ; it, is in fact, a Dutch barn. But the floor, instead of being level, is sunk some 12ft., the walls art lined with rough stones and cement, and the floor is paved, while the bottom level is drained. In this pit, which may be compared to the hold of a ship there is at this date stored the produce of 170 acres of trefoil, lucern, tares, and grass. This produce nearly fills the whole pit, a space being reserved at one end for the remnant of last year's ensilage. A*s the forage was cut by mowers, five men followed and loaded the carts, and the greenstuff was delivered at the side of the silo into the carriers of a powerful chaff-cutting machine, three men feeding it as two men on the loads pitched the forage off the carts. Thus ten men were occupied and were paid by peice-work, Bs. to 16s. per 2£ acres, according as the crops were light or heavy. The chaff-cutter, driven by steam, goes on incessantly, and the cat green-chaff is stowed and levelled by a couple of workmen, and moreover, twice a day two bullocks or two horses are walked over the mass and give it compactness. A sprinkle of salt is added occasionally, and gives an appetizing flavour which animals like. As soon as filled, and without boards, straw or other covering, about a foot to 18 inches of earth (here, a sandy soil) iB laid over the surface of forage, and the store is made complete, and forms in three or four months the ensilage which will be mainly the winter food of the farm stock. All this I had known before arriving at Lianconrt tit. Pierre on Wednesday to see with my own eyes the outcome of the experiment — to see if, instead of "the muck that many would expect, a nutritious and wholesome food' could really be obtained. M. Georges, the steward of the Vicomte, had written to me that owing to the abundance of green keep still in the fields the opening of the silo would be postponed from October to November. However, this day what I had come to see was shown me, and the pit was opened. I have had what may be called the first " spit" of new ensilage in my hands, and have fed with both the new and old ensilage the bullocks, seeing them take it as a horse takes a mouthful of hay, eating it with a relish. The appearance of the building was that of a great barn, and as a matter of fact the roof sheltered much of the cereal produce of a farm of over 500 acres. Wheat and oats in the straw from the floor to the angles of the roof formed the upper story of the mass of ensilage that was below, and separated by a thin strata of sandy earth. To reach the ensilage, of course a portion of the super-imposed corn had to be removed ; next the earth was shovelled aside ; and then appeared the brown black of the forage, like compressed burnt hay. The smell was rather agreeable than otherwise — much the same as comes from breweries. The temperature of the mass was decidedly high, almost more than the hand could bear ; but this circumstance was not considered any objection, and the previous year's experiment had proved that such temperature was unattended by any danger. I took three samples, packed them in tin cases, and sent them off to England for analysis. I also took a fourth sample of the old (1881; stock, that portion which had been thrown in uncut at the end of the silo then unroofed, and upon which much rain had fallen. This section iB certainly damaged and inferior, but it is not so bad but that it is still eatable, after having been uncovered and exposed to the air during the past summer. Certainly the opening oithe silo was a success The food stored there was good provender for the coming winter. One of the drawbacks ta ensilage, as commonly understood, is the supposed necessity to protect the body of the bulk each time a portion is cutaway, and to consume such portion within 24 hours. The practice at Chateau Boulleaume disperses such ideas, for the ensilage is simply cut away as wanted, just as would be a few trusses of hay from an ordinary stack. This fact promises, therefore, that cubes of ensilage, instead of being regarded as so much perishable green food, may be eventually made into marketable .blocks for dairy and other cattle, thus extending its use, which is now limited to consumption on the farms where it is produced. Should this expectation be realised, a great proportion of English forage, grass, etc., is likely in the future to be made into ensilage without farmers waiting for sunshine to make their hay. Certainly the results of chemical analysis may be awaited with interest, even although practice has already proved the value of pnsilage. At the Chateau Boulleaume farm, horses and sheep, as well as bullocks and milch cows, are fed and kept in good condition through the winter on ensilage. The quantity given daily is about 201 b. to horses, 50lb. to 701 b. to cows ; but, of course, some nitrogenous food may also be profitably mixed with it. On this food for the past two years 20 horses, 36 bullocks, 120 milch cows, and over 1,000 sheep have been successfully fed, and the different animals have been always kept in excellent condition. — Times.