728 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



day of ten hours. This was considered a fair price, as the time of year 

 in which silos are filled is not usually an especially busy season on the 

 farm. In most cases the man who had the silo also owned an ensilage 

 cutter, and a uniform charge of $2.00 a day was made for wear on the 

 machine and interest on the money invested. The engine, including 

 the engineer, was charged for at $5.00 a day; fuel at $3.00 a ton for coal 

 and 15 cents a gallon for gasoline; twine at 11 cents a pound. The 

 charge for machine and engine, fuel, twine, and labor of men and teams, 

 gives the total expense of filling the silo. 



To uetermine the capacity of the different silos the diameter of eacn 

 and the depth of the silage after settling forty-eight hours were care- 

 fully measured. From these dimensions the number of tons of silage 

 was estimated from a table on the capacity of silos. Having the acres 

 cut, total cost of filling and tons of silage, the tons per acre and average 

 cost per ton of putting up silage were computed. 



The cost of filling ranged from 40 cents to 76 cents per ton, the 

 average for the total number of tons put up being 56 cents. This varia- 

 tion was caused by the distance the corn was hauled, and the ability 

 of some farmers to arrange the work more systematically and push it 

 with greater energy than others. 



