FARM DEPARTMENT. 257 



21. Have never seen any evil effects on quality of milk from feeding 

 ensilage, either in smell or taste, but I am of the opinion it would affect it, 

 if fed as a whole feed or in excess. 



22. Have fed some to horses and pigs with good results, they learning to 

 eat it readily, even greedily. Am now feeding two horses some every day and 

 their hair is smooth and glossy and they feed well. Have not fed it to sheep. 

 I believe shoats can be wintered on it cheaper and better than on anything 

 else we have at hand. 



23. I am satisfied after six years' trial that in no other way can so much 

 coarse fodder be put up in so small or economical a manner, or so acceptably 

 or healthy for stock. The cost of silo is so small, and the room it occupies 

 so little, no special protection against frost being necessary. 



24. There seems to me no doubt of its utility, and I can heartily recom- 

 mend to my brother farmers, however small their farms may be, to put in a 

 silo and fill it once. Then I guarantee they will never do without one or more. 

 The cost of a silo that will hold 100 tons need not be over $50, and will be a 

 constant source of profit and comfort. 



MARTIN L. SWEET, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 



1. I built my first silo in July, 1886. 



2. It is 36 feet long and 18 feet wide, with a stone wall under it, 8 feet 

 high, laid up with Buffalo cement, and made air tight, and plastered on the 

 inside the same as a cistern. Then I put a wall in the center across the 

 shortest way, leaving the two parts 15x16 feet, and then I put a wooden 

 structure on top with studding 2x10 and 18 feet long. I ceiled it up with 

 common matched flooring on the outside. On the inside I used two inch 

 plank dressed on the inside, plowed and tongued, and spiked onto the stud- 

 ding all round, and on both sides of the partition. I put on an ordinary 

 shingle roof, one-third pitch, with a door 3 feet by 6 in. each, gable end, and 

 then on the sides, for the purpose of taking out the ensilage ; had three 

 doors, one above the other, 3 feet wide and 6 feet high each, and hung with 

 ordinary strap hinges. 



3. Corn. I have experimented with nearly all kinds. 



4. I would recommend Minnesota early sweet corn, and Sto well's ever- 

 green, in equal parts or half and half. 



These varieties have proved most satisfactory. 



5. I plant in drills, 3 feet one way and 4 inches the other, and one stalk in 

 a place. 



6. One-half bushel to the acre. 



7. I let the corn stand until perfectly^ ripe and cut before the frost 

 touches it. 



8. About 25 tons to the acre. 



9. It is weighed. 



10. Never put corn in uncut. 



11. I put in about 40 tons a day, commencing and filling one side of my 

 silo, and then the other side. (This silo being divided into two compart- 

 ments.) I think it makes but little difference whether you pack in slow or 

 fast; the only advantage in packing slowly is that more time is given for the 

 filling to settle. 



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