ENSILAGE, green fodder, preserved for cattle, by a process not unlike that employed in the preparation of sauerkraut. A silo or pit, large or small, is first prepared; usually placed, for convenience of feeding, contiguously to the barn in which cattle are housed. It must be so constructed that the air can be excluded from its contents, and of such form and dimensions as will facilitate their settling into a solid mass, and as, when opened for feeding, will expose to the atmosphere as small a part of the sur face as practicable. The construction of a silo 16 to 20 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, and from 15 to 20 ft. deep, is thus described: 12–in, perpendicular walls of hard brick, well laid in cement, with smooth joints. If the ground is sandy or gravelly, the outside of the walls next the earth is covered with a coat of cement, or the walls are filled in behind with clay or clayey earth, to prevent the passage of the air through them. The bottoms are also laid with brick upon the flat in cement. The walls are made so smooth upon their inner sides as to offer no obstacle to the settling and compacting of the food by friction of the sides. The pit may be made either open at the top and covered with a roof, or arched over under ground, with two necks coming up to within one foot of the surface of the ground, through which it is filled. The pit being prepared, the fodder is cut green, when in the best condition, or in bloom, passed immediately through the cutting-machine, to reduce it to uniform short lengths of not more than 1 in.,
and then deposited and trodden firmly into the pit, sufficient salt being used to render it palatable, but no more. As fermentation—which will commence at once—proceeds, and the mass settles, the cutting and treading in of fresh fodder must be continued from day to day, after an interval of about 36 hours, until the pit is filled and settling has ceased. Then the pit is immediately and thoroughly sealed over the whole top surface of the fodder, by a well-compacted layer of clean fodder, not less than 6 in. thick, excluding the air. Over this layer, some lay planks weighted with heavy stones; others deem this needless. The fodder to be thus treated may be corn, red clover, pearl millet, West India millet, or Guinea corn, green rye, oats, mixed grasses, or any other succu lent production of which cattle are fond. Food preserved by this process is greatly rel ished. It is eaten eagerly and clean, leaf and stalk, without any loss whatever; and stock thus fed exhibit the highest conditions of health and thrift. It is recommended especially for mulch cows, as it increases the quantity and improves the quality of milk.