experime:^ts with ei^silage, 



MADE BY THE FARM DEPARTMENT OF THE MICHIGAN STATE AGRICUL- 

 TURAL COLLEGE, 1881-2. 



The following statements were printed in our report for 1881-3, but as our 

 supply of that issue is exhausted, and frequent inquiries are made for this 

 paper, it seemed best to reprint it this year : 



At the last regular session of the Legislature an apjjropriation was made of 

 one thousand dollars, "for the purpose of conducting experiments with ensil- 

 age, for the feeding of animals, the culture of amber cane and new varieties 

 of grain and beet roots, by the farm department of the Agricnltural College." 

 The bill w^as not passed until quite late in the session, being approved June 11, 

 1881, so that we were somewhat hurried in the preliminary work of prepuring 

 the ground and building the silo. As a new grain barn, with high basement 

 walls, was being erected on the farm, we decided to bnild the silo in one cor- 

 ner of this basemeut, with the thought that if the ensilage experiment was not 

 satisfactory, the silo could be utilized as a root cellar. A space in the north- 

 east corner was chosen for this purpose, and a wall made, eighteen inches 

 thick, well laid with common field stone and strong mortar. Tiles were laid 

 to carry off water, and the floor was then covered with small stones, bedded in 

 cement, and then cemented, as well as the sides, until all was smooth, and sup- 

 posed to be air and water tight. The inside measurement of the silo is 14x15 

 feet, and walls 8 feet high. There is a door four feet wide and six feet high 

 from tlie silo into the basement, where the ensilage is taken out. Where 

 circumstances will admit, I think the barn basement is the proper place for 

 the silo. It is near the stables where it is to be used, and a door through 

 which it nuiy be taken out, directly to the animals, is more convenient than to 

 lift the ensilage over the top of the wall. Silos can be bailt in almost any 

 barn in this manner at much less expense than if built separately, as no extra 

 expense for roof is incurred. When filling the silo, matched plank were fitted 

 in the doorway to the basement, and the ensilage packed against these as the 

 filling proceeded. When opened, the ensilage was found to be as perfectly pre- 

 served next to these plank as m any other iDart of the outside of the silo. 

 Matched plank, two inches thick, were used as a cover, care being taken to 

 have them fit closely, but not to bind in the settling. 



The items of expense incurred in building the silo are as follows : 



