238 



Feeds and Feeding. 



stations or the United States Department of Agriculture instructions 

 concerning the form, materials, manner of construction, etc., as de- 

 tailed in bulletins which are available for the asking. 



371. The cylindrical silo. With the devising of the cylindrical 

 silo by King of the Wisconsin Station, 1 its form and construction 

 emerged from uncertainty and imperfection to definiteness and sta- 

 bility, thereby greatly advancing and strengthening the practice of 

 ensiling forage plants. The cylindrical form of silo should usually be 

 adopted because it is the most economical of building material, its 

 sides are unyielding, and it has no corners, which are specially to 

 be avoided. 



372. Weight of silage. King 2 reports the weight of silage 2 days 

 after filling the silo to be as follows : 



Weight of a cubic foot of corn silage in silos of different depths. 



The second column shows that 10 ft. from the top corn silage 

 weighs about 33 Ibs. per cubic ft., while 36 ft. down it weighs 61 Ibs., 

 or nearly twice as much. The last column shows that the whole 

 mass down to 10 ft. has a mean weight of about 26.1 Ibs., while the 

 whole mass in a 36-ft. silo has a mean weight of 42.8 Ibs. per cu. ft. 



373. Proper size of the silo. The diameter of the silo should be 

 gauged by the number and kind of animals to be fed from it, and 

 its height by the length of the feeding period. About 2 inches of 

 silage should be removed daily from the exposed silage surface to 

 minimize the loss from molding. Two inches in depth of ordinary 

 corn silage weighs about 3 Ibs. per surface square foot near the top 

 of the silo and 10 Ibs. near the bottom, averaging about 7.5 Ibs. On 

 this basis the proper feeding area may be placed at about 5 sq. ft. per 

 cow daily. Gurler 3 allows 6 sq. ft., with 8 as the limit. King 4 gives 

 the following table, showing the proper inside diameter of a silo 

 where silage is to be fed off at the rate of 2 inches per day, allow- 



1 Bui. 28, issued July, 1891. 



2 Wis. Bui. 59. 



3 The Farm Dairy. 



4 Physics of Agriculture. 



