38 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



on in full blast. A pair of powerful mules were at work 

 in the horse-power. The feed-cutter stood directly be- 

 hind them, and cut the stalks in half-inch pieces, at the 

 rate of two tons an hour, It required three men to tend 

 the cutter, taking the corn from the wagon, feeding it to 

 the cutter, and seeing that it was properly shunted off 

 into the pits, where one man spread it as evenly as pos- 

 sible and trampled it down. At noon and evening half- 

 a-dozen men got into the tanks, and trampled the fodder 

 down as firmly as they could. One man and one team 

 were required to haul the fodder from the field. As soon 

 as a wagon load was brought into the barn, the team was 

 ungeared and hitched to the empty wagon. In the field, 

 the teamster assisted in the loading. There were three 

 men in the field cutting up the corn and loading the 

 wagon. Thus the labor required was as follows : Two 

 teams and one driver, four men in the barn, and three in 

 the field ; eight men in all. With this force they were 

 putting in about twenty tons a day. 



The stalks were rather dry ; the juice did not squirt 

 out of them when they went through the cutter, and the 

 chaffings were not even moist to the touch. When 

 packed in the pits, a strong fermentation sets in very 

 soon. The corn that had been packed the day before 

 was steaming hot, no doubt having a temperature of one 

 hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty degrees 

 Fahrenheit. It had a vinous odor, which was very 

 sweet and pleasant. Mr. Charles Buckley gave us 

 the figures of the cost of these two pits, which is as 

 follows : 



Digging, 112 days work at $1 $112.00 



Masons' bill 94.44 



Men to assist the masons, twelve days work 12.00 



Bill for lime and cement 78.10 



Total outlay $296.54 



This does not include anything for stone, for the stones 



