IS ENSILAGE A SUCCESS? 127 



The Wooden Stlo above Ground. — A very common form 

 of wooden silo is made by covering 2 in. by 6 in. or 2 in. 

 by 8 in. studs, inside and out, with rough plank and filling 

 in between with dirt. This answers the purpose, but one 

 made as follow^s is neater, stronger and fully as cheap. Lay 

 four 8 in. by 8 in. sills level on the ground and fasten their 

 ends together securely, notch them across their upper sur- 

 face every two feet, — notches two inches wide and one inch 

 deep. Rest on the sills the lower ends of 2 in. by 10 in. 

 studs set in the notches. Toe-nail these to the sill and 

 drive a forty-penny nail into it just at the outer edge of the 

 studs to help hold them against the outward pressure of the 

 ensilage. Saw off the tops of the studs on a level. Place 

 on their level tops a 2 in. by 10 in. plate. Set on this plate 

 supports for a roof. Cover this with clapboard or shingles. 

 Put in braces wherever thought desirable, but not to inter- 

 fere with the interior space. Line the inside with narrow 

 tongued-and-grooved flooring, put on horizontally. If a 

 door is wanted, make it four feet wide, in one end, by put- 

 ting battens on the outside of the flooring and sawing it out, 

 together with a section of one stud. The door must open 

 outward. If the wall should be covered with tarred paper 

 and another thickness of flooring laid on inside of that, 

 running up and down, it would be better, and enough better 

 to pay for the extra expense. Washing the inside thor- 

 oughly with crude petroleum, applied with a whitewash 

 brash, is of advantage, as aiding in the prevention of rotting 

 — the weak point in wooden silos. In New England this 

 form of silo ignores the action of frost upon the contents ; 

 but, if weighted, this is not serious. 



II. — The Crops for Ensilage — Cost of Cultivation and 



Harvesting. 

 At different times I have made ensilage (relished by stock) 

 from eight or ten different plants or crops, although never 

 more than seven kinds in one year. For excellence of food 

 produced, I should place them in this order : Hungarian 

 grass, sorghum (Early Amber Cane), Soja or Japanese 

 bean, Indian corn, peas and oats, Southern cow peas, 

 meadow grasses, rye and clover. I never saw better en- 



