FARM DEPARTMENT. 247 



the hay. I made no tests to afford any positive conclusions in regard to its 

 effect on quantity or quality of milk, but my cows held to their milk well 

 during the very cold weather that followed the first of January, and the 

 same cows are doing better in quantity than they did on the same grain and 

 all dry fodder, fed one year ago." 



WM. A. BLAKE, GALESBURG, MICH. 



1. I built a silo in 1888, in two compartments, each 16 feet square inside 

 measurement, and 21 feet high. 



2. It was built in a barn by placing studding inside of the girts and 

 between the cross sill and beams, with two thicknesses of common barn 

 boards, with tarred paper between on the inside of studding. 



3. I filled it with corn grown in hills as field corn is ordinarily grown, not 

 intending at the time of planting to put it in the silo. 



4_5_6. I think I shall use the same kind of seed for ensilage that I do for 

 the regular field crop, planting in drills three and a half feet apart, and 

 twenty grains to the rod as near as may be. 



7. I cut when the corn is as mature as it can be while the fodder remains 

 green. 



8. The actual weight of the field corn I placed in the silo was about six 

 and a half tons per acre. Owing to dry weather I think it was about one- 

 half of an average crop. 



10. One of my neighbors filled a silo with whole cornstalks bound in 

 bundles. It was not a fair test, however, as a stone wall projected inside of 

 wood lining nearly a foot, and a beam crossed it at the top of the wall eight 

 feet up from the bottom, which prevented the contents from settling uni- 

 formly, and the result was a burned, blackened mass, which was quite worth- 

 less as animal food. 



11. I filled at the rate of 12 tons per day, first filling one, then the other, 

 but shall hereafter alternate between the two, changing from one to the other 

 each day, and shall allow the fodder put in the first day to become heated to 

 quite a high degree before proceeding, and then fill as fast as I can. 



12. When filling I kept a man in the silo spreading and treading the fodder, 

 doing most of the packing around the outside. 



13. 14. I covered with two thicknesses of boards with tarred paper between 

 and a light covering of earth to fill the crevices and to make sure that the 

 covering shall settle with the fodder, which is all the weighting I deem 

 necessary. 



16. 17. I opened the silo about three months after it was filled. Imme- 

 diately under the covering, to the depth of from four to eight inches, the 

 ensilage was partially spoiled, but all below that was well preserved. 



18. I could not discover that it underwent any material change from 

 exposure to the air after being opened. 



19. I feed ensilage once a day and dry feed of some kind to complete the 

 day's ration. 



20. 21. I feed milch cows one full feed of it once a day, and I think it 

 materially increases the quantity of milk, and the quality, if not improved, is 

 not impaired. 



22. I feed ensilage to cattle, sheep and horses with apparent good results. 

 I have not fed it to hogs to any extent. 



