186 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 



for cover than dry substances, since they prevent evaporation 

 of water from the top layer; when this is dry air will be ad- 

 mitted to the fodder below, thus making it possible for putre- 

 factive bacteria and molds to continue the destructive work 

 begun by the fermentation bacteria, and causing more of the 

 silage to spoil. 



Silage will settle several feet in an ordinary silo. If possible, 

 after filling the silo full, let it settle for three or four days, and 

 then fill again to the top, wetting the top on each occasion with 

 about one and one-half gallons of water to every square foot 

 of surface. After your silo has been filled and the top thoroughly 

 wet, leave it alone. Do not get on top of it, and do not dig down 

 through the top to examine it. The more this is done, the more 

 silage you will lose. 



Use of Water in Filling Silos. During late years the practice 

 of applying water to the fodder in the silo has been followed in 

 a large number of cases. The surface is tramped thoroughly 

 and a considerable amount of water added. In applying the 

 method at the Wisconsin Station, Prof. King, a few days after 

 the completion of the filling of the silo, added water to the 

 fodder corn at the rate of about ten pounds per square foot of 

 surface, repeating the same process about ten days afterwards. 

 By this method a sticky, almost impervious layer of rotten silage, 

 a couple of inches thick, will form on the top, which will pre- 

 vent evaporation of water from the corn below, and will pre- 

 serve all but a few inches at the top. The method can be recom- 

 mended in cases where the corn or clover goes into the silo in 

 a rather dry condition, on account of drouth or extreme hot 

 weather, so as not to pack sufficiently by its own weight. While 

 weighting of the siloed fodder has long since been done away 

 with, it may still prove advantageous to resort to it where very 

 dry fodder is siloed, or in case of shallow silos. Under ordinary 

 conditions neither weighting nor application of water should be 

 necessary, but where the corn has become too mature and dried 

 up, on account of drouth, or delay in building the silo, it is a 

 great relief to know that good silage can be made from such 

 corn by an application of considerable water. Water is now 

 generally added by running a stream into the blower as the 

 cut corn is elevated into the silo or in the silo itself after each 



