CATTLE SOILING AND ENSILAGE. 825 



ding, so that it gave a room twelve by fifteen feet, and ten feet 

 high. This box, as will be understood from the previous expla- 

 nation, stood about seven feet in the ground on two sides, but 

 had an exposed front. Where it extended above the ground 

 and at the front, boards were nailed upon the outside of the 

 studding also. The four-inch space thus formed was filled with 

 earth so as to exclude air. Studding were then placed on end 

 lengthwise through the middle of this box, and boards nailed to 

 both sides of these and earth placed in the four-inch space as 

 before. This gave two small silos, each about fifteen feet long, 

 nearly six feet wide, and ten feet deep. In putting the boards 

 on no care was taken to make them fit closely, and they were 

 full of cracks and nail-holes, as old lumber was used, but as 

 most of the silo was below ground, and that part which ex- 

 tended above had a four-inch space filled with earth there was 

 little chance for the passage of air. Such a silo is far from 

 having air-tight walls, in the true sense of the word. This silo 

 had only the natural earth floor. The roof was made of old 

 boards well lapped to keep out the rain. The labor required 

 for excavation was one team, ten hours ; farm hands, thirty-four 

 hours. For building the silo, farm hands, fifty hours. Allow- 

 ing fifteen cents per hour for team and hands, the cost of the 

 silo for labor was fourteen dollars and ten cents. About two 

 thousand feet of old lumber was used in its construction. 



Filling the Silo. The green fodder used for filling the 

 silo must be cut fine, the object being to insure compact stor- 

 ing and consequent exclusion of air. About three-eighths of an 

 inch is recommended as the best length to cut. 



It should be placed at once in the silo and thoroughly 

 packed. Where the size and location of the silo will admit of 

 it a horse or mule can be used to tramp it. The usual cus- 

 tom is to have one or two men to tramp it, according to the 

 size of the silo and the amount of ensilage cut each day, and 

 if provided with light rammers they will do better work and 

 easier than to tramp all the time. 



It is not necessary that the silo should be filled in a single 

 day, but the filling should be as near continuous as possible, not 



