ENSILAGE—ENGLAND,
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTA.2011."1 SIR,—I cannot imagine what I should have done this season without ensilage. In the autumn of 1883 I sowed ten and a half acres of winter-vetches with rye, winter-oats, or alone; and, foras- much as the mild winter helped to give me a stunning crop, I had — what I had calculated on as possible—more than I wanted for green fodder, and so I ensiled six acres in May or the first fortnight of June. I had heard of vetches being a difficult crop to ensile successfully; but I may report of the first third which I have used that it has surpassed my most sanguine anticipations.
I consider this worth mentioning, because I do not suppose you would think I was telling you a lie, and also because under present and probable corn-prices the root or green-fodder crop of the year must needs yield a substantive profit, and will not do as mere adjuncts to the corn crops. Mangels may do this, — cabbages, perhaps,—and I would add, thirdly, winter-vetches, followed by swedes. I think that ensilage greatly adds to the -value of winter-tares, because the drawback to that crop is, that if you grow enough to ensure against a deficiency of green fodder in the spring, you are liable to a glut of green fodder ooming in all at once; but ensile what you do not want, and you
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