102 EXPERIMENTS WITH ENSILAGE, 



will, I think, find any good power cutter will do as well, perhaps, as some of 

 the more recently patented machines known as ensilage cutters. The stalks 

 were not weighed when put in, but we have weighed the ensilage as it was 

 taken from the silo, and it weighed out 40,000 pounds in round numbers, or 

 between ten and eleven tons to the acre. This yield is a very fair one, when 

 the condition of the land and season are taken into account ; but I have no 

 doubt that it might be trebled, perhaps more, under the most favorable con- 

 ditions. 



COVEKING THE SILO. 



The ensilage having been carefully leveled, so that the pressure should be 

 equal, the planks, two inches thick and eight inches wide, were nicely fitted as 

 the covering proceeded, care being taken that there should be no danger of 

 binding at the ends, as the settling continued. It was then weighted immedi- 

 ately with stones, at the rate of niue hundred pounds to the square yard. 



Various means for securing the desired pressure for the ensilage have been 

 suggested, but it seems quite probable that weights of stone, wood, bags of 

 grain, or boxes of earth will be found after all most desirable, as such pressure 

 is constant and needs no watching, while a screw-power neglected, or forgot- 

 ten, will be quite likely to result in failure Tne labor of putting on the stones 

 and taking tlieni olf is no great item in the account. The stones we used had 

 to be drawn a short distance, and three boys with a one-horse cart weighted the 

 silo in four hours. 



COST OF RAISIXG CORiv AND PUTTING SAME IN SILO. 



Plowing and harrowing 1^ acres $3 00 



Marking and planting 2 74 



Three bushels seed, at $1 00 3 00 



Cultivating three times 2 50 



300 hours student labor, at 8 cents 24 00 



37^ hours team labor, at 1 shilling 4 69 



15 hours men's labor, at 1 sliilling 1 88 



$41 81 



This makes the entire cost of growing corn and placing in silo $2.09 per ton. 

 This amount also includes the time of getting the horse-power from a neigh- 

 boring farm and returning the same, and some allowance must be made for 

 delays that were uiuivoidable in work with which none of us were familiar. 



There was no outward sign of any change going on within the silo. Only a 

 temporary roof was over it for some time, and on one or two occasions it Avas 

 left in such shape as to receive some rain. On December 15th the silo was 

 opened. The ensilage was found to be nicely preserved. There was no mould 

 next to the plank or sides worth mentioning, and there has not been one per 

 cent of waste. 



The thorough exclusion of the air is the secret of its preservation. It mat- 

 ters but little what materials are used for the silo — lumber, stone, or merely 

 pits — if the air is only excluded the fodder will be preserved. Many farmers 

 at the institutes during the winter have inquired, "How do you get the ensilage 

 from the silo ?" and so I refer to it here. The stones were thrown back from 



