8 INTRODUCTION. 



History of the Silo. While the silo in one form or 

 another dates back to antiquity, it was not until the latter 

 part of the seventies that the building of silos intended 

 for manufacture of silage began in this country. In 

 1882 the United States Department of Agriculture could 

 find only ninety-one farmers in this country who used silos. 

 During the last twenty-five years, however, silos have 

 gradually become, general in all sections of the country 

 where dairying and stock-raising are important industries; 

 it is likely, if a census were taken of the number of silos 

 in this country today, that we would find between a half 

 and three-fourths of a million of them. The silo is today 

 considered a necessity on thousands of dairy farms, and we 

 find most of them in the states that rank first as dairy 

 states, viz.: New York, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsyl- 

 vania, etc. The farmers that have had most experience 

 with silage are the most enthusiastic advocates of the silo- 

 ing system, and the testimony of intelligent dairymen all 

 over the country is strongly in favor of the silo. Said a 

 New York farmer recently in one of our main agricultural 

 papers: "I would as soon try to farm without a barn as 

 without a silo," and another wrote, "I wouldn't take a 

 thousand dollars for my silo if I could not replace it." The 

 well-known agricultural writer, Joseph E. Wing, says: "No 

 stock feeder who grows corn can afford to ignore the 

 silo." "Buff Jersey," an Illinois dairy farmer and writer 

 on agricultural topics, declares his faith in silage as fol- 

 lows: "I am fully satisfied that silage is a better feed, 

 and a cheaper one, than our pastures." Another writer 

 says: "The silo to my mind presents so many advantages 

 over the system of soiling that it is bound to eventually 

 do away with the use of soiling crops." According to 

 the Cornell Experiment Station, the "silo, especially to the 

 dairy farmer, has become an almost necessary adjunct to 

 the equipment of the farm." 



Our first effort in writing this book will be to pre- 

 sent facts that will back up these statements, and show 

 the reader the many advantages of the silo, over other 



