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AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



of the clutch or screw kind, becomes evident. To avoid the 

 necessity of refilling, a super-silo, or over silo, removable at 

 will, has been usefully employed. By filling to the top of 

 this addition, sufficient material is provided so that the silo 

 itself may be full to the top after shrinkage, which should 

 not amount to more than one-third of the bulk, when the 

 material is cut and well trodden when first put in. 



The Crops Available. Corn, giving as it does so very 

 much more feed than any other crop, is ranked first ; then 



come oats, wheat, rye, sorghum, rye 

 or barley with vetches, lucerne, 

 rape, chicory, native grasses, corn- 

 stalks, variegated thistles, &c. ; in 

 fact, anything that affords food for 

 stock can be preserved in this way. 

 Oats, because of their qualities in 

 milk-giving material, form the 

 richest feed of all. When corn 

 stuff was put in green, the ensilage 

 was so juicy as to soak and soften 

 the more woody parts, so that the 

 stuff came out more evenly. 



Taking Out the Feed. When 

 put in whole, the ensilage has to be 

 cut out with a hay-knife or broad 

 axe in strips a foot wide, when it 

 is easily pitched out and put into 

 feed troughs. But the better 

 course is to cut the stuff before it is put into the silo or 

 stack, from which it can then be taken and fed like chaff. 



Form and Capacity of Silos. Experience in ensilage 

 making favours round silos, next square, so as to have the 

 least possible outside space. It is there where air or damp 

 are most in contact, and where ensilage becomes colored or 

 goes bad. Depth is a recommendation. Twelve feet is a 

 good depth, 20 feet better, the pressure being more effective 

 at the greater depth. Where the arrangement is such that 

 great depth is secured, and yet the stuff can be taken out 

 as near to the level where it is fed to stock, the less labour 

 is necessary. The weight of ensilage varies according to 



Enjoying a Look at his Ensilage 

 Crop. 



