THE POLK SYSTEM 



15 



ing- it the same way that he had successfully treated green beet 

 leaves and beet pulp. The results of his works were published in 



the German and 

 French papers at 

 the time and the use 

 of thesilo was 

 strongly urged upon 

 the people of 

 France. The French 

 farmers wisely 

 heeded the good ad- 

 vice and built them- 

 selves many pits in 

 the earth for the 

 storing of green 

 forage. In 1877 

 Auguste Goffart, a 

 French farmer, 

 wrote a book giv- 

 ing the results of 

 twenty-five years 

 experience with the 

 method of preserv- 

 ing green forage in 

 air-tight pits. He 

 told little that was 

 new, but what he 

 told was so well put 

 and so well ar- 

 ranged that he now bears the distinction of being the Father of 

 Modern Silage. 



Now, when America is not first at anything she is always a very 

 close second, and in 1876 a progressive Maryland farmer named 

 Morris built a structure to contain silage. Shortly after the intro- 

 duction of the silo in America enthusiasts made many extravagant 

 claims for its usefulness and effectiveness which early experiments 

 failed to vindicate. These early experiments were crude and ex- 

 travagant, and the silo did not become popular at that time. In 



Silo of George Dick, Sycamore, III., Size: Diameter 16 

 feet, Height 40 feet. Polk Syitem 



"They are not built of pieces and they 

 cannot go to piece*. " 



