1882.] ENSILAGE. 101 



building on so large a scale. They said " I could never fill 

 the holes I was digging ; " " If I did, it would all spoil ; " " If 

 it didn't spoil, I could never keep enough stock on the farm 

 to fill the barn." This is the first year I have used my sta- 

 bles, and they are two-thirds full to-day. If I choose to buy 

 stock, I can keep cattle enough to more than fill that barn 

 and.not buy a thing next winter except grain. I do not know 

 whether I could have raised hay enough on my farm to have 

 gained these results so quickly or not, but I have not faith 

 enough to make the attempt. 



I have here a sample of my own ensilage, and I have also 

 a small sample of ensilaged clover, cured by a neighbor, who 

 last summer put a second crop of clover, without cutting it, 

 into an old disused cistern. He had very good success, is 

 very much pleased with it. I have also a sample of what I 

 did not suppose a year ago I should be able to show anywhere, 

 and that is, a sample of genuine old German "brown hay," 

 that is the results of an experiment of one of my men who 

 is enthusiastic about ensilage, but has not the money to build 

 a silo. Acting upon my advice, he put in a stack alternate 

 layers of coarse hay and corn fodder ; you can see the result 

 for yourselves. He tells me his cattle eat it readily, and he 

 says it is worth a great deal more to him than dry corn fod- 

 der, and did not cost as much as curing the corn fodder 

 would. I do not recommend this method as desirable if the 

 silo is possible for you, but I think there is enough in it for 

 such as cannot now have a silo to look into. But if you try 

 this way be sure and trample the corn down thoroughly, and 

 to weight it heavily. This stack was twelve feet in diameter, 

 and seven or eight large loads of stone were put on top. 



Mr. Ayres of Farmington. Why would it not be better to 

 use a screw, such as is used in a cider mill ? 



Mr. HuRD. I don't know. It might. A silo as large as 

 mine, forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and sixteen and a 

 half feet deep, would require so much power that the fitting 

 up of screws would cost more money than to use stone. 



Mr. Ayres. Would it not be better to build in sections ? 



Mr. HuRD. I should prefer smaller silos than mine and 



