Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Feb., lyio. 



SILO BUILDING ON THE FARM. 



The following inttrt-sting and appi"fciati\e letter and the accompany- 

 ing illustrations have recently been received from Mr. H. T. Lawsnn, of 

 Ulverstcne. Tasmania : — 



" In 1903 1 was at the Melbourne Roval Show, and obtained one of 

 vour ] ouniah there. Although not farming at the time, I kept it bv me, 

 and when I started farming about 2\ years ago I became a subscriber. I 

 was so pleased with it that I sent for all back numbers, and the\- have 

 been of valuable service to me. From the description of killing, dressing, 

 and curing pigs, I started curing my own pigs, and was so successful that 

 I had orders for all I could cure from, the shops at the same price that 

 the\ were j)aving for b'est factor\' bacon. 



HARVESTING THE OAT CROP. 



" With the help of a farm hand, I have now Iniilt a silo from the 

 <lirections in the Jounial. 1 had no' difficulty in building the silo which 

 will hold 45 tons. I was rather late in building, so had to fill it in a 

 primitive w'ay. I had a very small horse works, and fitted it to a very 

 small hand chaffcutter, and carried the stuff in a bag cloth to the silo. One 

 blade of the chaffcutter was taken off, .so that it would cut longer stuff 

 (about I inch). I filled it from a very heavy crop of Algerian oats, estimated 

 to be one of the best in the district, and to go about 4 tons of hay to the 

 acre. It onlv took 4I acres to fill the silo. The silage was well trampled 

 and then weighted with 2\ tons of stones. The stuff only settled about 

 2 ft. 6 in. There are ver\- few silos on this roast, mine being the second 

 in the district, but I believe there will soon be several more, as through 

 the potato trouble, dairying has been gone in for more extensively. 



" I am enclosing photographs of the silo and crop from which it 

 was filled. The bag cloth over the silo is only a temporary roof till 

 we finish harvesting. The oats had ju.st finished the bitter stage, and were 

 getting sweet, and there was a little milk in the oats, and the_ flower 

 was still on. We cut in the morning with the binder and carted in with 

 one horse in a small Inrrv on four binder wheels, so that the heavy shea\es 

 had not to be lifted too In'gli. 



