340 Out and Tare Silcuje 



were ill full flower witli a few pods half an inch in length. The whole 

 crop stood perfectly and was of excellent quality. 



The weather at the time of cutting formed part of the long drought 

 in 1921, so that generally soil and crop were very dry, but -06 in. rain 

 fell in the night previous to the commencement of operations on 

 June 21st. June 21st was flull and tine, but June 22nd to June 26th 

 were scorching days. During the night of June 2()th a shar]) thunder- 

 storm fell, measuring -22 in. of rain, and about half this quantity next 

 day. Samples Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were cut in the early morning of June 21st 

 and were chafl'ed and ensiled without delay. Thus they contained some 

 added rainwater, as Table 1 shows, and contained only 23-5 per cent, 

 dry matter when ensiled. Samples Nos. 4 and 5 were cut at the same 

 time, but allowed to wilt for 24 hours before ensihug, and lost moisture 

 so that they contained 35-7 per cent, of dry matter. Sample No. G was 

 cut at 8 a.m. on .June 23rd — a scorching day — and allowed to wilt six 

 hours before ensiling, whilst Samples Nos. 7 and 8 were cut on June 23rd, 

 dried by wilting in hot sun till June 2(5th, then wetted by the thunder- 

 storm and linalh' ensiled on .June 27th, when they then contained 37-8 

 per cent, of dry matter, indicating that they must have been very dry 

 before the rainfall. It is important to note that the crop used in Sami)les 

 Nos. 7 and 8 showed no sign of rotting or putrefaction as a result of the 

 rain, a condition that not infrequently occurs when a laid croj) of oats 

 and tares becomes wet with rain after cutting. 



FlLLIN(i OF Sll.OS AND S.\iMPl,E BaG8. 



All the fodder was ehafi'ed with a I'apec silage cutter before ensiling. 

 Before filling the sample bags and taking a sample of the original fodder, 

 a suitable quantity of chaffed crop was shot down upon a smooth con- 

 creted floor and well mixed by turning. From this well-mixed heap a 

 7 lb. biscuit tin of fodder was filled by taking small handfuls from 

 different parts of the heap. The lid was closed at once and the sample 

 sent down to the laboratory for analysis. The sample bags were im- 

 mediately filled by taking portions at random from the same heap, tied 

 U]), numbered and weighed. Sometimes more than one sample bag was 

 filled from the same chaffed sample when rei|uired for immediate use 

 in different silos or different parts of the same silo: in this way some 

 economy was made in the number of control samples to be analysed 

 and the resulting silage samples were more comparable. 



In filling the small silos, chaffed oats and tares were first put in 

 until, when well trodden, the height of fodder in the silo was about 2 ft. ; 



