222 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



My studies of ensilage have for some time past been directed to 

 methods of preventing acidity and securing a desirable degree of uni- 

 formity in quality, and thus far the results are, to say the least, en- 

 couraging. The experimental silo at the Massachusetts experiment 

 station was made under my direction, on the plan of the wooden silo 

 described above. It was filled in two and a half days with over seven- 

 teen tons of fodder-corn, cut in one and a fourth inch lengths, and 

 thoroughly packed as it was put in. A tight cover made of two thick- 

 nesses of planed boards and planks was put on, and loaded with barrels 

 of earth that were estimated to give a pressure of over sixty pounds 

 per square foot. For convenience of access to the interior of the 

 mass, a gas-pij^e one and a fourth inch in diameter was driven through 

 a hole in the middle of the cover, to the depth of four feet, the upper 

 end being carefully packed to make a tight connection with the planks 

 of the cover, and the upjjer end was closed with a plug. 



When the cover was put on, September 8th, the temperature was 

 82° Fahr,, two feet below the surface. Observations were made from 

 time to time, of the temperature and rate of settling, as recorded in the 

 following table : 



