LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 419 



If you can make matched lumber coated with tar equally water tight and 

 cheaper, all right ; but I question the possibility of its being made as tight 

 as the lath-board and cement. 



If you use tar it will b*e the better for having some resin mixed with it. 



Make a door 2-J feet or 3 feet wide, extending from the sill at the bottom 

 of the silo to within 2 feet of the top, so as to always use the ensilage from 

 the top only, as that is altogether the best way to use it, because cutting 

 vertically exposes too much of the mass of the ensilage to the action of the 

 air. 



As you fill the silo, close this door with paper and boards inside and out, 

 nailing the outside boards securely so as to prevent spreading. Be sure to 

 build strongly enough so that the weight of the ensilage will not spread 

 your walls. 



One cubic foot of ensilage weighs on the average 40 pounds, so that a 

 silo 10x10x20 feet would hold 40 tons, or, at 15 tons per acre, the product 

 of 2f acres, and a silo 15x15x25 feet would hold 112£ tons, the product of 

 7£ acres. 



My silo, 15x15x20 feet, built as I have described, and all done by hired 

 labor, cost 1126.88. 



It has been snggested that the weakening effect of this vertical doorway 

 can be avoided by substituting for it a chute built next to and inside of the 

 wall and emptying through a small opening in the wall at the bottom. Thus 

 the inside of the chute can be made with removable sections, to be nailed 

 into place as fast as the silo is filled, while the outer wall can be made con- 

 tinuous and thus preserve its full strength to resist spreading. 



Do not think of building a stone or brick silo. If you wish to put ensilage 

 in some such place that is already built, it will be better to line the inside 

 with boards. 



The silo being finished, how shall it be filled ? 



In the first place, for ensilage, choose the same variety of corn that you 

 would prefer for other use — whichever variety gives you the best yield of 

 corn. If you try a new variety, venture only a small trial at first and place 

 your main dependence on something that you are acquainted with. I tried 

 Southern corn and did not succeed with it. It makes a great growth of 

 stalks, but did not mature much grain. Plant in the same way as for other 

 purposes. I plant in drills, using the Farmers' Friend Drill, of which I 

 close all but the two outside feeds. This makes the rows 4-J feet apart. I 

 regulate the feed so as to plant about 10 quarts of seed per acre for flint 

 corn, which usually gives about one plant every four inches. Larger 

 varieties should stand from eight to twelve inches apart in the row. 



My system of rotation is grass two years, followed by corn, oats, wheat 

 and then grass again. I manure the grass the winter following the second 

 year and plow in the spring, planting about May 20 and dragging twice 

 before the corn is up and occasionally afterwards until the corn is six inches 

 high. Then I begin to cultivate and never use a hoe. The early and 

 frequent dragging has killed all the weeds when they first started and there 

 is no need to hoe. 



Let the crop mature as well as if you intended to husk it. The earlier 

 practice was to cut it too soon, but it should never be cut until the kernel 

 has begun to glaze, as in cutting earlier than this you* fail to get the full 

 nutritive value of the crop. Just before corn dries off it is most nutritious. 



