. SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 725 



fully ripe. When in the milk it contains nearly three times as much dry 

 matter as when fully Lasseled. Only seventeen days were occupied in 

 passing from the milk to the glazing stage, yet in this time there was 

 an increase in the dry matter of 1.3 tons per acre. This shows the great 

 advantage of letting the corn stand until the kernels are glazed. After 

 this period the increase in dry matter is out slight. 



TIME TO HARVEST. 



To have the silage keep well the corn must be cut at the proper 

 stage of maturity. If cut before it is sufficiently matured, too much acid 

 develops. If too ripe, it does not settle properly and the air is not suffi- 

 ciently excluded to prevent spoiling. 



Corn should not be cut until the ears are out of the milk and most 

 of the kernels glazed and hard. In Cut 3, No. 1 is in the soft dough 

 stage; No. 2 is beginning to dent; No. 3 is nearly all dented, but a few 

 kernels are still in the milk; No. 4 shows all of the kernels dented. When 

 corn is put into the silo it should usually be as ripe as ears No. 3 and 4. 

 In case the weather has been so hot and dry that the lower leaves have 

 fired, the corn should be cut before the ears are qutie so far advanced. 

 Much riper corn will keep at the bottom of the silo than at the top 

 because of the greater pressure which excludes the air more completely. 

 It is, therefore, important that the ripest corn be cut first and placed 

 in the bottom of the silo . 



:met]iou of haevestixg. 



The corn should be cut with a corn binder, as it is much more easily 

 handled when bound in bundles. If the silage cutter is large and the 

 work is pushed with a good force of men, the corn binder should have a 

 start of half a day. If enough horses are used on the binder to keep 

 it moving at a good pace the corn can usually be cut down as fast as it 

 can be put into the silo. 



It is always wise to have a silage cutter of large capacity, as much 

 less labor is required in feeding it, and if the bundles are small, the 

 bands need not be cut. Using a small cutter with a large engine is 

 dangerous unless great care is exercised in controlling the power. Cut 1 

 shows a small sized cutter filling a silo in the center of a barn. The day 

 following the taking of this picture the machine was given too much 

 power and the cutter wheel exploded. A piece of the wheel was found 

 twenty rods distant and another piece was thrown through the inch sid- 

 ing of the barn, but fortunately no one was injured. 



The chain elevator, as shown in Cut 5, is still occasionally used, but 

 is likely to cause trouble. Where a carrier of this kind is desired, the 

 single chain gives the best satisfaction. The customary, and usually the 

 most satisfactory way of elevating the cut material is by means of the 

 blower, as shown in Cut 6. To obtain the best result and not to be 

 annoyed by clogging, the blower pipe should be run as nearly perpen- 

 dicular as possible. 



