PRESERVATION OF MAIZE 257 



345. Silage. — Probably the most important change that has 

 been made in the handling of the maize plant in the last quarter 

 of a century is the practice of putting the unripened plant cut 

 into small pieces by a feed cutter into a receptacle with air-tight 

 sides and bottom, called a silo. The essential value of this 

 process, aside from economical farm management, lies in the 

 greater palatability of silage as compared with maize fodder. 

 Experiments show the digestibility of silage and maize fodder 

 to be about equal when all other conditions except method of 

 preserving remain the same. A large number of American 

 feeding experiments, mostly with milch cows, show, in general, 

 about equal food value for amount of dry matter consumed, but 

 that ordinarily there is less waste in the consumption of silage, 

 thus adding to the total returns per acre, and that a rather higher 

 rate of feeding can be maintained with silage, thus adding to 

 the daily production of butter fat. 



346. The Silo. — A silo should have air-tight bottom and 

 sides and should be constructed in such a manner and of such 

 materials as to be durable, protect the silage from freezing, and 

 afford ventilation. Its sides should 



be perpendicular, rigid, with inner 

 surface smooth. The efficiency of 

 the silo will depend, also, upon its 

 size and shape. The more com- 

 pact the silage, the better it keeps. 



ifcia 



The greater its diameter and the mM'^^ 



more nearly circular the silo, the ^pp^" ' '"'• 



less the resistance of the sides to " _^ 



packing. The deeper the silo, the ^"^^O^AJ^?^' 



more compact the silage, and the '^^' ' 



less the surface exposure in pro- * '"°^'^" ''''^ '*'° 



portion to the whole mass. A silo should never be less than 



twent}'-four feet deep, thirty feet is very much better, and forty 



feet is desirable where practicable and the capacity desired 



