420 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



After that its outer coat hardens and it becomes less nutritive — or rather less 

 digestible. 



Never put corn into the silo when the dew is on it, nor when it is wet from 

 rain. Corn can be ensilaged without cutting the stalks, but to do it success- 

 fully requires so much care, and even with all the care possible there is so 

 much risk of failure that it is just about as cheap and much safer to cut it. 

 This should be done with a power cutter, set so as to cut the stalks (ears and 

 all) into about one inch lengths. I use the Morton tread power, and like it 

 very well. It is easily moved from one barn to another and has a perfect 

 governor. With this I use the Smalley No. 14 cutter. It cuts into inch 

 lengths very rapidly, but does not cut finer than that as well. I have tried 

 five different cutters and of the five I like the No. 14 Smalley best. I have 

 not tried the Ross, but hear it well spoken of. It costs more than does the 

 Smalley, and the knives are hard to remove for grinding. 



To harvest to the best advantage have two men hauling, two men cutting 

 in the field, who will also help load the wagons, one man at the power cutter 

 and one lively and faithful man to tread the ensilage as it is fed by the car- 

 rier into the silo. 



I have tried a Buckeye reaper to cut the corn, but do not find it as good 

 as the old way. 



A platform wagon is the most convenient for hauling. 



The treading is a very important matter and must be well done all around 

 the sides, and especially in the corners. The middle need not be trodden. 

 The object of the treading is to make the mass compact, and with as little 

 air included in it as may be. The weight of the middle will settle it, but 

 the friction of the side walls prevent the edges and corners from settling 

 solidly enough without the help of the tramping. 



You may fill as rapidly as you please if you follow these directions. 

 There is no necessity for delay except for nights, Sundays, and when it 

 rains or the corn is wet. 



After filling the silo, let it settle for a couple of days, and then fill up 

 snugly once more, and, after letting it settle again, cover over the top with 

 a two feet layer of cut straw and the work is done. You can nail up the 

 door until you are ready to begin feeding. In my opinion, weights on the 

 ensilage are entirely unnecessary, if the treading has been properly done. 



If you want to put in clover early in the season and corn later, separate 

 the two by a good layer of straw, but corn is so much better for the purpose 

 that I would never make ensilage of clover. 



Begin to feed whenever you please, raking off evenly from the top what 

 you wish to feed each day and keeping the surface about level. 



If for any cause you should stop using the ensilage for a while after hav- 

 ing begun on it, cover it up again with cut straw as at first. 



Sixty pounds of ensilage per day is a good ration for a full grown cow or 

 horse, so that at only 12 tons per acre one acre would supply such an animal 

 400 days. Many people claim to have raised 20 or even 30 tons per acre. I 

 have found 15 tons a fair crop. 



It will not do to begin by feeding animals a full ration of ensilage all at 

 once, but begin gradually, just as you would not give unlimited green grass 

 all at once. 



It is excellent food for all farm live stock. It is the best thing in the 

 world to feed to the mothers of fall colts and calves. 



