640 BOARD OF AOinCULTURE. 



is known to be not only nearly twice as large, as compared 

 with that contained in an equal weight of green fodder corn 

 when just showing the tassels, but it is also known to be, 

 pound for pound, more nutritious ; for it contains more 

 starch, more sugar, more of valuable nitrogenous matter, etc. 



Accepting these views as correct, our silos have been filled, 

 for several years past, with fodder corn w^hich had just 

 reached the stas^e of growth when the kernels be2:in to jjlaze 

 over. The condition of the plants along the outside of the 

 corn-field served as guides. These plants are, as a rule, more 

 advanced in growth than those in the more protected parts 

 of the field. 



The fodder corn, when cut for the silo, Sept. 9, began 

 to acquire a slightly yellowish tint along the outside of 

 the field, yet was still green and succulent in the interior 

 parts ; the kernels were soft, their contents somewhat milky, 

 and their outside just beginning to glaze. 



A silo, five by fourteen feet, inside measure, and eleven 

 feet deep, was filled to a depth of from eight to nine feet, 

 as fast as the cut corn, 1| to 1.^ inches long, could be 

 supplied and tramped down. As soon as the amount of 

 corn assigned for that silo (9 tons) was filled in, the surface 

 was carefully covered with tarred paper and tight-fitting 

 boards, in the same manner as in the case of the first silo, 

 and at once pressed down with twenty-five barrels of sand. 

 A maximum registering thermometer was safely buried at a 

 depth of about three feet in the mass, to record the highest 

 temperature which the latter would reach during the time of 

 keeping the silo closed. 



The silo was re-opened for feeding, Jan. 4, 1887. The 

 record of the maximum thermometer buried in the cen- 

 tre of the silo showed 97° F., indicating but a slight in- 

 crease in temperature, as compared with the temperature on 

 the day when filled. The ensilage was of a good quality. 

 A comparison with the composition of the green fodder corn 

 which served for its manufacture, shows the usual changes 

 noticed in a silo which has been filled at once and closed 

 carefully without any material delay, to prevent a more 

 serious heating up of its contents ; namely, a decrease in 

 nitrogenous matter and crude cellulose, and an increase in 



