156 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



hollow stem is that they carry so much air into the silo with 

 them, the process of ensilaging is apt to go on a little too far, 

 and you get a disagreeable taste. 



Q. Is it possible to use a hollow-stemmed plant and get good 

 silage ? 



A. , Yes, sir. Mr. Mclntire has used clover silage successfully. 

 He has used the second crop of clover cut in with corn very 

 successfully. He is a careful worker and a man who will put 

 in a little extra work to put the crop in in the proper manner. 



Q. Would it be possible to put in oats and tramp them hard 

 enough to keep them good? 



A. I don't know. Professor Campbell has tried it, but not 

 very successfully. Where oats and peas are used together 

 it is possible. 



Q. What hinders the staves in your silo from slipping? 



A. They rest on their ends, and they are bearing from the 

 inside. Like all stave silos it may be of advantage to watch 

 them a little the first few years, to see that they do not shrink 

 enough to tip in, and as they shrink take up the nuts. 



Q. I have a silo 14 by 28 feet. The first four feet is of 

 concrete, and when this silo was filled it forced out some of the 

 juices through the concrete, and still more where the concrete 

 and staves came together. Can I avoid that? 



A. I think you can avoid most of it by skim-coating the 

 inside of the foundation. You expect a slight leakage. 



Q. I understood you to say that cut corn silage is much 

 better than corn put in whole. Have you data to prove that? 



A. It is better only in that it is handled much better. It is 

 only under exceptional conditions, and when put in by excep- 

 tionally good men that the whole corn is as good. I have seen 

 men putting whole corn in the silo, where they were careful 

 in packing, and it was as good as any cut silage I have ever 

 seen. Generally speaking, it is much better to have the corn 

 cut ; it handles better and the percentage of loss is apt to be less. 



Q. Will not second-crop clover make the ensilage better 

 than if the corn did not have the clover with it? 



A. It will, most decidedly. 



Q. Would you expect it to keep as well? 



A. Yes, sir, with what experience we have had it keeps just 

 as well with the clover in. Mr. Mclntire has done quite a lot 



