REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURIST 303 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



The silo is a round one, built of staves on the plan outlined in Bulletin No. 35. 

 It is 9 feet in diameter by 22 feet in height. Such a silo should hold, when well filled, 

 about 30 tons of corn ensilage. By most careful filling on 3 separate dates we were 

 able to include only 1G tons of the wet forage. 



The material as put into the silo contained about 470 lbs. dry matter per ton. 

 Such dry matter is about 70 per cent digestible. Since at least 10 per cent was 

 wasted, there remained only 14 -4 tons material. This amount of ensilage would 

 contain 4,318 lbs. digestible dry matter. 



The forage came oft' 3 acres. Below is a statement of the cost of the material in 

 the silo. Naturally, only half the annual rental and manure expenditure are in- 

 cluded. 



Cost of 3 acres clover aftermath in silo — 



Kent of land, half amount, 3 acres $ 4 50 



Manure, A at 15 tons per acre, $1 per ton, half amount . - 4 50 



Seed, 4 at $1.50 37£ 



Mowing, 4 hours at 25 cents per hour 1 00 



Baking. 3 hours at 17j cents 52§ 



Drawing, 1J days at $2.50 per day 3 75 



Men, loading and unloading, 6 at $1.25 per day 7 50 



$22 15 

 Total forage cured, 14§ tons. 



Total amount digestible dry matter, 4,318 lbs. 



Cost to produce 1 ton ensilage in silo $ 1 54 



Cost to produce 100 lbs. digestible dry matter 51*3 



On June 6, 1901, this silo was filled again with practically pure clover. This 

 time, however, the forage was cut into inch lengths. Owing to the material being 

 cut into short lengths, we were able to include 33 tons 660 lbs. in the silo. This, it 

 will be observed, is double the amount included when the forage was put in as mown. 



The cut forage cured with very little waste into excellent ensilage, which was 

 eaten with eagerness by dairy cattle as supplementary feed to pasture in August and 

 September. To give some idea of the cost of producing such feed, when first cutting 

 of clover is used rather than the last cutting, the subjoined itemized statement is in- 

 cluded. The area from which the clover was removed, served later as a pasture for 

 pigs and sheep ; therefore, only half the cost of rent and manure are charged. 



Cost of growing clover ensilage (-4 acres') — 



Kent of land, half amount, 4 acres $ 6 00 



Manure, £ at 15 tons per acre (half amount) 6 00 



Seed, I at $1.50 per acre 37£ 



Mowing, 5 hours at 25 cents per hour 1 25 



Kaking, £ day at $1.75 per day 87i 



Drawing, 2 days at $2.50 5 00 



Men loading, working at blower and in silo, 10 at $1.25 



per day '. 12 50 



$32 00 

 Forage produced, 33 tons 660 pounds. 



Average dry matter per ton, about 360 lbs. (»0 per cent digestible.) 



Cost to produce 1 ton ensilage in silo 96 *2 cts. 



Cost to produce 100 lbs. digestible dry matter 38-2 cts. 



