DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 61 



pounds, ill round numbers, or between ten and eleven tons to the acre. This 

 yield is a very fair one, when the condition of the land ajid the season are 

 taken into the account: but I have no doubt tliat it might be trebled, perhaps 

 more, under the most favorable conditions. 



COVERING 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 nine 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. The labor of putting on the 

 stones and taking them off 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 RAISING CORN AND PUTTING SAME IN SILO. 



Plowing and harrowing If 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 shilling 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 

 neighboring farm and returning the same, and some allowance must be made 

 for delays that were unavoidable 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 

 was 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 ensi- 

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

 from five of tlie plank next the basement door, the plank removed, and this 

 section was cut down with a hay-knife and taken out with a four-tined fork 

 and placed in baskets to be taken to the stable. After this section had been 

 disposed of the process was repeated, only taking off the cover as needed 



