GREEN FODDER ALL THE YEAR. 77 



coiidiliuii or in bloum, passed, imiuediulely through the cut- 

 ting-iiuichine to reduce it to unii'onu short lengths of not 

 more than one inch, and at once be deposited and trod firmly 

 into the pit ; sufficient salt being used to render it palatable, 

 but no more. As fermentation, which will commence at 

 once, proceeds, and the mass settles, the cutting and tread- 

 ing-in of fresh fodder must be continued at intervals of from 

 thirty-six to forty-eight hours (depending upon tlie rapidity 

 with which fermentation and settling proceed), until settling 

 has ceased, and no more can be trod into the pit. 



Fourth, The pit, as soon as completely filled, and settling 

 has ceased, must be securely sealed to exclude the air wholly 

 and arrest fermentation, and must be kept so sealed until 

 opened for use. 



My own practice is as follows : — 



THE PEESEEVING-PITS. 



I make my pits of hard brick, with twelve-inch perpendic- 

 ular walls well laid in cement, with smooth joints. If the 

 ground is sandy or gravelly, the outside of the wall next 

 the earth is covered with a coat of cement, or the walls are 

 filled in behind with clay, or clayey earth, to prevent the 

 passage of the air through them. The bottoms are also laid 

 with brick upon the flat in cement. The pits are made from 

 eight to ten feet wide, from sixteen to twenty feet long, and 

 about fifteen feet deep. The deeper the pits, the more they 

 will contain in proportion to measurement, owing to greater 

 density of the contents from the weight of the mass above. 

 In all cases where practicable, pits should be made at least 

 twenty feet deep. The walls are made so smooth upon their 

 inner sides as to offer no obstacle to the settling or compact- 

 ing of the food by friction of the sides. These pits are 

 made either open at the top and covered with a roof, or 

 arched over, and covered underground, with two necks to 

 each coming up to within one foot of the surface of the 

 ground, through which they are filled, and the necks then 

 sealed with earth. This last construction I have found most 

 convenient in connection with basement stables, to which 

 the food is carried or wheeled by a passage from the pits 

 through the foundation-walls of the stable. In this con- 

 struction I make one pit parallel with this foundation- wall; 



