ENSILAGE. 



497 



PLAN OF UNITED SILOS. 



I coat the walls with Portland cement sufficient to insure their perfect imperme 

 ability. My triple silos have cost me 4176 francs, and their total capacity 812.45 cubic 

 metres, about 5 francs 14 centimes per cubic metre. 

 I intend next year to raise the walls of my silos 

 another metre, so that their capacity will be about 

 a thousand cubic metres. I postpone till that time 

 my decision as to a special cover for them. 



Most agriculturists are more favored in the 

 profile of their soil; many of them have a hillside in 

 the neighborhood of their barn, in which they can 

 open silos that will always be dry. and in some 

 places can dispense with masonry by having solid 

 rock. Those who wish to imitate me will have less 

 hesitation when they know that Burtin is a particu 

 larly bad place for building silos, and that they can 

 obtain the same results with much less outlay. 



In making use of such large silos as these, it is 

 necessary, of course to have a cutting-machine with 

 a six horse power engine at least, and an elevator to 

 raise the cut fodder over the walls of the silos. I 

 estimate that with these instruments one silo can be filled in three days, at most, without 

 difficulty. This rapidity is necessary in order to assure the success of the ensilage. When 

 the elevator and cutter are combined in the same machine, the process will be simplified.&quot; 



Earth Silos. The practice of depositing the ensilage in trenches dug in the ground, 

 with a slight covering of some material that will keep the earth from coming in direct 

 contact with the cut fodder, followed by a covering of earth, or earth and other weights 

 combined, is preferred by some to a well-constructed silo. The arguments offered by the 

 adherents of this system of preserving ensilage are. that it obviates the expense and labor of 

 building silos, while the preservation of the ensilage is as complete as that stored in silos. 



At the recent ensilage congress assembled in New York city, in which several hundred 

 farmers and others prominently interested in the subject of ensilage participated, Mr. Francis 

 Morris of Maryland one of the ensilage pioneers of this country stated that ensilage was 

 a very simple thing, but farmers generally seemed to think there was something mysterious 

 about it, because the words &quot;ensilage&quot; and &quot;silo&quot; were new to them; but it was, in fact, a 

 very simple thing. He dug his trenches in the ground and did not line them with brick or 

 cement at all, but used, when filling, a covering of felt, with the earth above for a weight. 

 Mr. C. W. Mills of New Jersey, also well known in his connection with the system of ensilage, 

 spoke on the same occasion in favor of trenches, and claimed that all that was essential in 

 lining such trenches was that there should be a slight wooden frame not necessarily air 

 tight which would prevent the spread of the ensilage crop when the weight was placed on 

 the top, the pressure being about three hundred pounds to the square foot; and that the 

 expensive silos of concrete, brick, and stone, the cost of which had frightened so many farm 

 ers, were unnecessary. Thus we see that the practice of those who have adopted the ensilage 

 system, varies very materially in the manner of storing the fodder, #s well as the expense 

 attending it. We should suppose that one of the chief objections to the earth silo would be 

 the difficulty of keeping the ensilage unmixed with water and earth, which are obviated in 

 properly constructed silos. 



Mr. Morris System of Ensilage. The following description of the earth silos 

 used by Mr. Francis Morris is given by Mr. J. B. Brown, to whose courtesy we are also 



