No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 149 



own experience and practice, tliat it certainly will pay every dairy- 

 man having ten or more cows to build a silo and feed corn ensilage. 

 Even though he has to borrow the money, he can make no invest- 

 ment that will pay him a greater profit. The one I built six years 

 ago has paid for itself six times. 



A silo is an air-tight building or place to store fodder, corn, clover, 

 rye, or other green food, preserved in such a manner as to retain 

 a large part of the qualities of the original product. We borrow 

 the idea from the F'rench ; there the thrifty farmer of ten or a dozen 

 acres is accustomed to store his crop in a pit in the ground and ex- 

 clude fhe air by putting on weight or pressure. And the early silos 

 of this country were constructed almost entirely below ground. 

 These were usually long, narrow, shallow walled pits, but did not 

 prove satisfactory as to keeping silage and were inconvenient to 

 feed from. These defects were soon remedied; that stone cemented 

 box was turned on its end, giving height and pressure, and if the 

 corners were rounded the transformation was a perfect success. 

 PeAaps that is too strong a term to use in connection with any 

 stone silo. Very rarely, indeed, do they prove entirely satisfactory, 

 though many are still used; w^hen the walls are lined with wood, 

 conditions improve. The round or tub silo is doubtless the cheap- 

 est to build; that is, it will cost less per cubic foot of capacity than 

 any other shape. But a silo is usually filled in from four to eight 

 days, in good weather, but is emptied daily through the cold and 

 storms of winter, which is the real labor. And the location and 

 shape should conform to the convenience of feeding. Outside of 

 the barn, but adjoining it at one side of the driveway, is possibly the 

 place best suited on most farms. The one I am most familiar with 

 is thus situated, rectangular, 20 feet by 12, and 25 feet high or deep, 

 9 feet below the ground surface and 16 feet above, with the acute 

 angle taken off — two of them being built that way, the others being 

 used for ladders and funnels, made by adjusting separate boards 

 as the filling goes on, like the boards of a granary, and removing 

 one at a time as they are exposed when feeding. They deposit the 

 silage at two points directly at the cows heads. 'Tis no more labor 

 to throw down and feed a bushel of ensilage than a rack full of hay. 

 As ensilage is the product of a foliage plant, and corn gives more 

 tons to the acre than any other crop, we can raise, it should be our 

 aim to produce the greatest possible quantity consistent with qual- 

 ity. All parts of our State are not equally good corn lands. A va- 

 riety that will yield 25 tons per acre in the southwest would not 

 mature at all in the northwest. In Lancaster and Chester coun- 

 ties some varieties of the southern white grains are always used. 

 My preference is the white horse tooth of Virginia; it bears one 

 good ear, occasionally two; grows very vigorous and tall; on ordi- 



