8 August, 1907.] 



Silos 071 d Silage. 



499 



8IL0S AND SILAdE. 



A. ^. Kenyan, C.E., Engineer for Agriculture. 

 In the Journal for December last were printed the personal experiences 

 of several farmers in the making and use of silage. Since then much more 

 testimony has been received, and as the season for making spring ensilage 

 is approaching, the present is a suitable occasion to place extracts from 

 those letters before the farming community. That they do not all sing 

 praises, and that most point out room for improvement, merely confirms 

 what has already been noted that in silage making there is still a deal 

 to be learnt. The conditions for its successful manufacture vary with 

 the climatic conditions and the locality. Fodder cut too green becomes 

 at times slimy ; cut too late, there is a tendency to mould. Still the 

 use of silage is fast on the increase. The additional sums provided last 

 year by the Honorable the Treasurer for the assistance of farmers in 

 the erection of silos have been all expended. It is proposed to allot the 

 sum of jQi.ooo for the present year. Many applications for silos are 

 alreadv in. 



CLIMAX ENSILAGE CUTTER AND BLOWER. 



Last April, a trial of a new American silage cutter and blower was 

 made. It is named the " Climax Ensilage Cutter and Blower." The 

 cutting of the green stuff is done bv blades with straight cutting edges. 

 The blades are attached to^ a wheel similarlv to those o-f an ordinary 

 chaffcutter; the cutting edges are not radial, but inclined forwards. 

 The effect is to give a chopping action instead of the draw-knife motion 

 of the chaffcutter. Other American makes of silage cutters have spirally 

 curved cutting blades revolving round a spindle much after the style of 

 a lawn mower. Neither sort is capable of producing a decent sample of 

 chaff, however efficient they may be at cutting green stuff. In the 

 '' Climax " cutter^ the fans of the blower are attached to the cutting 



