332 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



The plan of preserving millet, in some of its 

 forms at least, along with corn may have some com- 

 mendable features, since it is usually ready for being 

 harvested about the same time as corn. There is the 

 objection to it however, that it does not improve the 

 feeding value of the mixture so much as a legumi- 

 nous plant would, since the latter would be richer in 

 protein. The more bulky kinds of millet and the 

 soy bean may be successfully preserved together in 

 the silo. They make a good food, as each plant 

 would in a sense be the complement of the other. It 

 has been recommended to put one load of each alter- 

 nately into the silo when filling it, and to sprinkle 

 several buckets of water over each load of millet 

 when in the silo. 



The Common Cereals. Under this head only 

 wheat, oats, rye and barley will be considered. 

 There would seem to be but little reason for preserv- 

 ing these crops in the silo, even though they made 

 good silage. The grain alone which they produce 

 is usually more valuable than the silage made from 

 them, since they must be made into silage while yet 

 somewhat lacking in completest possible nutrition. 

 Nor can they be readily preserved in the silo owing 

 to the hollow and dry character of the stem. Silage 

 as ordinarily made from these crops is much liable 

 to injury from dry mold. This liability can of course 

 be lessened by much tramping while the silo is being 

 filled, and by sprinkling the mass freely with water 

 occasionally, also by cutting the food a little earlier 

 than it is usually cut. The Author made good 

 silage from winter rye at the Ontario experiment 

 station at Guelph in 1891. The rye was cut when 



