SILOS, EKSILAGE AND SILAGE. 95 



to add to the deservedly high estimation in which it is 

 held as the main stay of American agriculture. 



The necessary expense involved in the ensilage of fod- 

 der corn has been very much overrated by those who 

 have not made a trial of it. With the comparatively 

 cheap silos of wood, and discarding the heavy weights 

 that were formerly used, it is believed that fodder corn 

 can be put in the silo, and finally fed out, at less expense 

 than it can be cured in stooks in the field, hauled to the 

 barn and run through the feed cutter, and fed to ani- 

 mals, and in the winter management of stock the ensi- 

 laged fodder has the advantage of convenience, and 

 decidedly less waste in feeding. Hon. Hiram Smith of 

 Wisconsin makes the statement that, by actual trial, he 

 found that a load of fodder corn could be run through the 

 feed cutter, elevated more than twenty feet, and depos- 

 ited" in the silo, in seven to eight minutes' less time than 

 was required to set it up in stooks in the field. 



There is, however, another consideration that must 

 have weight in estimating the economy of the silo. 

 Fodder corn is rapidly growing in popular favor for 

 summer feed, and it would be more extensively culti- 

 vated for winter feeding were it not for the difficulty of 

 curing it, particularly in wet seasons, and its liability to 

 injury when stored in the barn or in stack, from the 

 readiness with which it absorbs moisture. Ensilaged 

 fodder, on the other hand, is exempt from the influence 

 of the atmospheric conditions that are so annoying in 

 the management of dry fodder, and it is always ready 

 for use when wanted. The relations of the silo to the 

 general system of management suggest many questions 

 of practical interest that the farmer must carefully con- 

 sider. Every interest of the farm has its influence, for 

 good or ill, on every other interest, and the aim should 

 be to make each supplement the others and thus aid in 

 increasing the aggregate of profits. In a large proper- 



