IS ENSILAGE A SUCCESS? 133 



harvest and storage of an ensilage crop, unless so serious as 

 to drive teams and workmen to cover. An addition of 

 water causes little loss ; but it does* increase the acidity 

 developed, and hence is to be avoided. To secure the best 

 ensilage, I would not only have the plant so mature as to 

 show that it is beginning to naturally dry, but would cut 

 and wilt for half a day, or over night, in the case of corn, 

 for the purpose of reducing the proportion of water con- 

 tained in the stored materials. Luxuriant fodder corn at 

 time of tasselling contains 85 per cent, of water, and often 

 more ; at the time the kernels of the ear are glazing the 

 water is usually about 80 per cent., sometimes only 75. 

 This material, or any other green forage, may be dried to 

 advantage till it contains not to exceed 70 per cent, of water 

 before being pitted. It may be stated, as a rule, that the 

 less water in the material, down to half its weight, the better 

 the ensilage. I have seen a very good article of ensilage 

 made from rye straw and corn stalks, dry and poor, cut 

 up, mixed, thoroughly wet and then put into a silo under 

 pressure. 



The question of cutting the fodder in short pieces as it 

 goes into the silo, or putting it in whole, has been much 

 discussed and radical difference of opinion prevails. If pitted 

 whole, time, labor, and the cost of the cutting machinery 

 may be saved, — all large items. It is not difficult to pack 

 whole clover, cut with a mower and soon raked and hauled 

 in ; other of the small plants are also easily bandied. Corn 

 twelve to fifteen feet high presents greater difficulties. In a 

 small silo, it is next to impossible to pack it evenly ; in a 

 large one, it should be placed all one way, in lap layers and 

 closely packed. Long ensilage, as such may be called, is cut 

 out with an axe, a strong hay knife, or a special tool like a 

 pointed and sharpened spade ; all these operations are hard 

 work and a deal of it. The stalks may be taken out in 

 lengths of four or five feet and run through a fodder cutter. 

 For my own part, I much prefer cutting short, into about 

 half-inch lenijths, at time of storinsf, and I believe the labor 

 involved is not much greater, although concentrated and 

 necessitating extra help for a few days in September. 

 There is certainly some waste of butts and joints in feeding 



