66 



nir could be forced out tbe heating must cease, we endeavored to 

 make tbe check effective as soon as pDssible. 



The use of pressure does not seem to bs understood by some. 

 It is best explained when we reflect that the heating of any ma- 

 terial, as of green fodder, can only go on where air is supplied. 

 Cut off the supply of air and the heating must cease, just as cer- 

 tainly as a fire in a furnace will die out if the supply of air is cut 

 off. Again, to mmy the stone weights used are a great bugbear, 

 and they would offer a set of jackscrews as something more to 

 the purpose. To all such I would say that the stone need give 

 no trouble, for it is the smallest part of the work to place them. 

 "When not obtainable use cordwood or sacks of grain. 



After closing up the silo as described, there were scarcely any 

 signs ol the change going on in its contents. Occasionally there 

 was a slightly acid odor discernable, but this was not at all 

 marked. The contents settled until the top of the clover layer 

 was four feet below the top of the stone wall. The clover layer 

 was about a foot thick. We see, then, that the cut corn fodder 

 which, when fresh, filled the silo fourteen feet, sunk to ten feet. 



COST OF FILLING THE SILO. 



The cost of filling the silo was as follows : 



J8 days' work, at $L50 $j7 03 



8 days' work, at 1.75 14 00 



15 days' work, at 1.35 18 75 



15 days' teams, at $3 00 45 00 



Total $132 75 



The time oc^-upied in the work was about six days. As eighty 

 tons of clover and fodder went into the silo, the cost per ton for 

 putt!.~:g it in is over one dollar and sixty cents. This is fully 

 twice what it should have be^n, owing to the most aggravating 

 blunders. In the first place the Cycle ensilage cutter from the 

 New York Plow Company failed to work almost as soon as 

 it was started, and caused a loss of over half a day, while a 

 mechanic was employed to fix it. Again, relying upon the state- 

 ment that two horses in a tread power were sufficient to work it, 

 we made use of a power employed in sawing wood for the univer- 



