280 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the corn crop does not mature so early as the remaining portion, and 

 this crop which would otherwise be blighted by frost can be used for 

 filling the silo and thus be of more value than it otherwise would be. 



In filling the silo there are many precautions which must be taken Into 

 consideration, and it will be found that to make good silage is more 

 difficult than to make good hay. If the corn is cut too green the silage 

 will be very sour, not at all palatable to the cow and more of it will be 

 left uneaten and wasted. If allowed to become too dry before putting into 

 the silo the corn fire fangs around the edges, thus permitting the air to 

 get in, and in this case also a large portion of the silage is wasted — 'this 

 time because it molds and rots before the cow has a chance to eat it. 

 In addition to this the chemist has found that a very large percentage of 

 the valuable feeding nutrients of a plant is stored up during the first 

 stages of maturity. Silage made from very green corn contains a very 

 large percentage of water and a low feeding A'-alue. In view of this fact 

 we find that to make the very best quality of silage there is a certain time 

 to cut the corn. This occurs after the corn is dented and when it 

 begins to glaze. At this time it will be found that two or three of the 

 lower leaves of the cornstalk have begun to turn yellow, and when this 

 stage has been reached operations should be begun and carried on rapidly, 

 for frost is liable to occur at any time, and at best corn matures very 

 quickly after it has once started. In cutting the corn for silage it is well 

 to start the corn harvester or two or three men with corn knives a half 

 day before the silage cutter starts, so that when operations are once be- 

 gun the cutter may be kept going at the limit of its capacity until the 

 silos are filled. Teams and wagons in great enough number should be 

 provided so that the expensive power will not lay idle at any time, if 

 the silage is to be made in the most economical manner. In former times 

 when the green corn was elevated into the silo by a simple carrier a great 

 amount of power was not necessary, but at the present time with the im- 

 proved blower which is attached to the silage cutter a considerable 

 amount of power is necessary, and it will be advisable to hire a steam 

 engine from some one in the neighborhood who perhaps used it for 

 threshing purposes In the summer time. If power is lacking the process 

 of filling the silo will be extremely slow. One precaution that should be 

 taken in filling the silo with a blower is to arrange for the cutter to stand 

 so close to the silos that the blower pipe which conveys the corn into 

 the silo would stand as nearly perpendicular as possible. If it slants to 

 any large degree sufficient power cannot be used to blow the heavy green 

 corn into the silo continuously and the blower chokes up, causing endless 

 trouble. After the corn begins to enter the silo there should be at least 

 two men whose duty it is to tromp the silage thoroughly in, especially 

 around the edges and doors of the silo. If the silage is not pressed in 

 very thoroughly the air is permitted to enter in between the particles 

 of green corn and a large portion of the silage is spoiled before feeding 

 time comes. 



Here again the advantage of having two silos instead of one becomes 

 apparent. After one silo has been entirely filled the cutter may be moved 

 on to the other and it filled in turn. After a couple of days it will be 

 found that the green corn in the first silo has settled five or six feet 



