THE FILLING PROCESS. 153 



adding the dry ear corn to the stover silage, it was found 

 that seventeen tons of whole-corn silage fed to sixteen 

 cows produced somewhat better results than fourteen tons 

 of stover silage, and more than two tons of dry ear corn, 

 both kinds of silage having been supplemented by the 

 same quantities of hay and grain feed. The yield of milk 

 from the cows was 4 per cent, higher on the whole corn 

 silage ration than on the stover silage ration, and the 

 yield of fat was 6.9 per cent, higher on the same ration. 

 It would seem then that the cheapest and best way of pre- 

 serving the corn crop for feeding purposes, at least in case 

 of milch cows, is to fill it directly into the silo; the greater 

 portion of the corn may be cut and siloed when the corn 

 is in the roasting-ear stage, and the corn plat which is to 

 furnish ear corn may be left in the field 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 rather 

 dry stalks. (See page 152.) 



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. 



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 an "Ohio" Ensilage Cutter. 



