ENSILAGE. 



503 



quantity of air which is the most dangerous enemy of ensilage. Oat straw, or others of 

 softer texture, are less objectionable in this respect than rye straw. While I used at first 

 the short straw from my threshing, always troublesome on account of the room that it occu. 

 pied, henceforth I shall bury my fodder almost without any mixture. When maize has been 

 cut before the frost, and arrives in good condition at the cutting machine and then at the 

 silo, it will not yield water easily, even when it is submitted to a considerable pressure. But 

 it is not the same when the fodder is too old. and has been exposed to the rams and frosts at 

 the end of autumn.&quot; 



Crops designed for ensilage should be cut and packed into the silo as soon as possible 

 after gathering, as any wilting or drying by exposure to air or sun, even for a short time after 

 being gathered, is very injurious, and liable to produce fermentation in the silo. The Cycle 

 Ensilage Cutter, manufactured by the New York Plow Co., and of which we give an illus- 



CYCLE ENSILAGE CUTTEK. 







tration, can be run by cither horse or steam power. It combines three knives with a long draw 

 ing cut, so leading each other that the cut is continuous and steady without jar. There is an 

 aperture for dropping out stones before reaching the rollers, and another after passing the 

 rollers, so that there is very little danger of any reaching the knives. It is well however to 

 keep the stalks as free from stones as possible, as breaking a cutter while filling a silo is a 

 serious accident. 



The system of ensilage requires a large cutter to make it profitable and safe where the 

 silos are of large capacity, in order that they may be filled sufficiently fast to prevent heating. 



The cost of cutting fodder four-tenths of an inch, with a large machine and sufficient 

 power, is .estimated by reliable authority to be not more than twenty-five cents per ton. The 

 following cut represents a somewhat smaller machine than the former, manufactured by the 

 Whittemore Brothers, Boston, Mass. It cuts from one-eighth to two and a half inches long. 

 The length of the knives is from fifteen to twenty inches. It cuts rapidly, and requires but a 

 small amount of power. 



