ENSILAGED FODDER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 22, 21 September 1883, Page 25

ENSILAGED FODDER.

The Irith Times gives the following description of some experiments which are now being made on the Model Farm, Glasnevin :—: — On Saturday last, at the Model Farm, Glasnevin, some gentlemen interested in all questions relating to agriculture were afforded au opportunity of becoming acquainted with the system known as " ensilage " — a system by which green fodder is preserved for nse in the winter. In all ages agriculturists had to recognise that no products of the field intended as fodder for cattle could be produced in winter comparable to the grass grown during the early part of the year, hence the efforts at various times made in foreign countries and at Home to preserve green fodder for winter use. The system known as " ensilage " is a revival in an improved form of efforts that in past times had been made to preserve green fodder. This system of burying fodder in a green state in the summer months has long been practised in Hungary, and to a large extent in Russia. In remote parts of Kerry it was quite a common practice to store threshed oats in pits sunk in a dry portion of the soil. It appears from a report addressed by Mr. Carroll, Superintendent of the Agricultural Department, to the Secretaries of National Education in Ireland, tbat for Eome years past English papers specially relating to agriculture contained comrr-anications upon " ensilage," and some years since Dr. Cameron read a paper on the subject at a scientific meeting of thejfoyal Dublin Society. "These communications ■were more or less tJMMpeculative rather than a practical character. Tb.3 subject was regarded with little interest in those countries until a communication appeared in the Times, but since then many agriculturists have attached much more importance to it. The system of ensilage, it was stated, had been carried out with great Buccess at the farm of M. Arthur Vicomte de Chaselles, Liancourt, St. Pierre, in the Department of the Oise, France. Eminent English agricultural scientists applied themselves to the subject, and they gave to the public Press the results of their investigations. There were, however, differences of opinion as to the adaptability and value of the system to the British Isles. The suggestions adverse to its adoption were — first, that the plants usually grown in these countries for fodder were not suited to the system. The success of the system in France, Holland, and America was due, it was said, to the fact that maize was the provender generally ensilaged. Secondly, it was said that a considerable quantity of forage might be spoiled in attempting to preserve it by this system, and that, although fully preserved and relished by cattle, a quantity of valuable food constituents might be so altered as to leave ensilaged fodder in a condition inferior as food to what it might be if saved by other means. Sir John Bennet Lawes expressed his opinion that our system of growing roots for winter provender was also a reason why, without due consideration, the practice should net be adopted in those countries. Mr. Carroll in his report said :—": — " We have not had sufficient experience of the system in the British Isles to determine whether it is worthy of general adoption here. I am, however, of opinion that the successes of the Continental and American farmers are sufficient to warrant our trying it on an extensive scale in those countries, and the measure of success of our experiments at the Albert Farm strengthens my opinion on this point." The system as carried on at the Model Farm may here be described. Two pits, each 22 feet long by 6 feet wide and 12 deep, have been constructed each large enough to contain nearly 35 tons of green fodder, consisting of ryegrass. The walls are plastered over with cement, for the " silo " or pit " must be perfectly airtight and watertight, and the forage must be tightly compressed therein." This was shown by the failure of an experiment in the following form :—": — " Italian ryegrass packed tightly on the surface of the ground and covered with about 18 inches of earth in a manner similar to a potato pit." It also appeared that " wherever a small bulk of straw or dry matter got amongst the ryegrass the fodder around this substance was quite spoiled by the air therein contained.'^ On Saturday a hay-cutter worked by a three horse power engine was in operation, and as fast as the grass was cut it was thrown into the pit and levelled by farm servants skilled in the use of the hay-fork. One of the pits already contained about 26 tons of Italian ryegrass. That quantity, before it was subjected to pressure, filled the pit to the top, but, yielding to the weight imposed on it, .became compressed to an extent that the planks by which it was covered had descended nearly four feet. The planks, which are about 2£ inches thick, are placed across the pit lying close to each other, and on them were placed casks filled with concrete, each weighing about 4cwt., and exerting a pressure on the ensilage of HOlbs. per square foot. The filling of the pits commenced on ''xhursdjJy last, and after two days pressure the fodder occug^Q only about two-thiids of the space which it did fresh from the field. The other of two pits constructed on the American principle, half above and half below the surface of the earth, was about half full on Saturday afternoon. Two other silos constructed at less expense, and more likely to be adopted, are built above the ground, but with as much care to render them air and water-tight as in the case of the others. Professor Thorold Rogers, who is a great advocate of the system of ensilage, went to America to investigate it, and when he returned to England be explained the system in lectures delivered in various farming clubs and scientificiustitutions. The experiments by Lord Walsingbam and other noblemen and gentlemen who term on a large scale in England were such as to prove that " the system had a great future before it," and as far as it has been tried at the Albert Institution, Mr. Caaroll, who is himself a skilled agriculturist of the largest experience, is in favour of it. The experiments made at the institution last year were not carried out on a targe scale, but the results were such as afforded confirmation to the statements made in England as to the value of the system, and every farmer will appreciate a system by which fodder can be saved in any weather. There need in fact be no great concern as to the character of the weather in haymaking time, where ensilage is used, la fact there were some who urged that the grass should in a

wet condition be placed in a pit. It has been found by experience that when the grass is some time in the pit a certain amount of fermentation has taken place, and the advocates of that system say that fermentation improves the fodder. The stage which the fermentation reaches is about tbat at which the fodder arrives in the first stomach of the ruminant animal— in other wordß, it ceases before it reaches the acid state, and for this reason the oxygen contained in the fodder becomes used up duiing the slight fermentation that takes place, and a further supply of oxygen cannot have access to the eilos. Carbonic acid gas becomes generated in the silos, and it becomes impossible for oxygen to reach the ensilaged fodder. Farmers who may wish to try the system aTe recommended to study economy in the matter, for, as has been well said, " Many a good thing has been killed by extravagant outlay in the first instance." The temperature of the silos may from time to time be tested in this way — A gas tube about an inch and a-half "is inserted vertically in the ensilage, 6O that at any time a thermometer may be placed in it, and the temperature ascertained.