SIZE OF CUTTER REQUIRED. 179 



results will not follow. As the filling progresses, the cut material 

 should be leveled off and the common and most successful prac- 

 tice is to keep the material higher at the sides than at the center 

 and do all the tramping at and close to the sides, where the fric- 

 tion of the walls tends to prevent as rapid settling as takes place 

 at the center. In modern deep silos, the weight of the silage 

 accomplishes more than would any amount of tramping, and all 

 that is necessary, is to see that the cut material is rather evenly 

 distributed, for better results in feeding, and to assist the settling 

 by some tramping at the sides. With the new silo tube, this 

 distribution is really reduced to the mere guiding of the mouth of 

 the tube by hand. 



Tramping. 



Always bear in mind that the more thoroughly the air is ex- 

 cluded, the better will be the silage. This is accomplished by 

 adding water if the crop is over ripe and by a thorough tramp- 

 ing as the silo is being filled. Pay especial attention to the edges. 

 If you have spoiled silage around the edges of a good silo it is be- 

 cause it was not tramped sufficiently at this point. Keep one or 

 two men tramping continually at the extreme edges close to the 

 walls of the silo. A little more trouble and expense in proper 

 tramping will save much spoiled silage. Tramp the edges. 



Size of Cutter and Power Required- 



The cutter used in filling the silo should have ample capacity 

 to give satisfaction and do the work rapidly; a rather large cut- 

 ter is therefore better than a cutter that is barely large enough. 

 The size required depends on the rapidity with which it is desired 

 to fill the silo and on the power at hand. Where a steam engine 

 is available it is the cheapest power for filling large silos, as the 

 work can then be finished very rapidly. For small farms and 

 silos, the gasoline engine has rapidly replaced the two or three 

 horse tread powers formerly popular for carrier machines, and 

 the gasoline tractors of 12 to 25 horse are now used to a consid- 

 erable extent for blower machines. Ordinary steam threshing 

 engines will still be found most dependable, however. The filling 

 may be done as rapidly as possible, or may be done slowly, and 



