176 



HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 



until the corn is fully matured, when it may be husked, and the 

 stalks and leaves may be filled into the silo on top of the corn 

 siloed "ears and all." This will then need some heavy weighting 

 or one or two applications of water on top of the corn, to insure 

 a good quality of silage from the dry stalks. (See pages 175 

 and 185.) 



An experiment similar to the preceding one, conducted at the 

 Vermont Station, in which the product from six acres of land 

 was fed to dairy cows, gave similar results. We are justified in 

 concluding, therefore, that husking, shelling, and grinding the corn 

 (processes that may cost more than a quarter of the market 

 value of the meal) are labor and expense more than wasted, since 

 the cows do better on the corn siloed "ears and all" than on that 

 siloed after the ears were picked off and fed ground with it. 



Table XIII. Yield of Digestible Matter in Corn. 



The difference in the feeding value of the corn plant when 

 siloed with and without ears is well illustrated in Table XIII. pre- 

 sented by the Pennsylvania State College, which shows that 63 

 per cent, of the digestible food materials present in the corn plant 

 are found in the ears and 37 per cent, in the stover. 



The Filling Process. 



The corn, having been hauled from the field to the silo, has 

 still to be reduced to a fine, homogeneous mass, so that it will 

 pack well in the silo and will be convenient for feeding. 



In order to do this, the whole of the corn, ears and all, may be 

 run through a Silver's "Ohio" Silage Cutter. 



