Modern Silage Methods. 



INTRODUCTION. . 



Twenty-five years ago few farmers knew what a silo 

 was, and fewer still had ever seen a silo or fed silage to 

 their stock. Today silos are as common as barn buildings 

 In many farming districts in this country, and thousands of 

 farmers would want to quit farming if they could not have 

 silage to feed to their stock during the larger portion of 

 the year. Twenty-five years ago it would have been neces- 

 sary to begin a book describing the siloing system with 

 definitions, what is meant by silos and silage; now all 

 farmers who read agricultural papers or attend agricultural 

 or dairy conventions are at least familiar with these 

 words, even if they do not have a chance to become famil- 

 iar with the appearance and properties of silage. They 

 know that a SILO is an air-tight structure used for the 

 preservation of green, coarse fodder in a succulent con- 

 dition, and that SILAGE is the feed taken out of a silo. 



We shall later see which crops are adapted for silage 

 making, but want to state here at the outset that Indian 

 corn is pre-eminently the American crop suited to be pre- 

 served in silos, and that this crop is siloed far more than 

 all other kinds of crops put together. When the word 

 silage is mentioned we, therefore, instinctively think of 

 corn silage. We shall also follow this plan in the dis- 

 cussions in this book; when only silage is spoken of we 

 mean silage made from the corn plant; if made from 

 other crops the name of the crop is always given, as 

 clover silage, peavine silage, etc. 



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