40 R. R. STEVENS ON ENSILAGE. 



Q UES . What time of the year do you think most suitable to plant 

 corn for ensilage ? 



ANS. About the 20th of May. 



QUES. About what is the cost per acre of raising corn ready for 

 ensilage ? 



ANS. I can raise corn-fodder for thirty dollars per acre. This 

 includes whole cost of labor, and one-half cost of manure, balance 

 remaining for successive grass-crops. 



QUES. About how much corn-fodder for ensilage do you average 

 per acre? 



ANS. I weighed a portion of my field last fall, and found I had 

 at rate of fifty tons per acre. 



QUES. Do you plant or raise any grasses or grains for ensilage? 



ANS. I sowed three acres of winter rye last fall, which I propose 

 to ensilage as soon as in bloom, and use it for soiling milch cows in 

 August and September. 



QUES. What do you consider the best machine for cutting fodder 

 for ensilage ? 



ANS. The "Silver" and " Deming, No. 16," sold by Whitte- 

 more Brothers of Boston. 



QUES. What length do you consider suitable to cut the corn- 

 fodder ? 



ANS. I think three-eighths of an inch most suitable. 



QUES. Will you give me your experience with silos? 



ANS. I built an experimental silo in July, 1880, in the following 

 manner : I took out the floor in the end of my stable, for a space of 

 twelve feet each way ; I then excavated in the basement beneath, 

 which is nine feet deep, one foot, and placed four sticks of timber 

 on the bottom of this excavation, so that the inside face of the tim- 

 ber was plumb with the inside face of the sills of stable above. I 

 next procured twelve hundred feet one-inch pine boards, twelve feet 

 long, planed on one side and matched : these I placed perpendicular, 

 and nailed to the sills of stable and timbers below. After putting 

 on one thickness of boards around the silo, we carefully papered the 

 inside with tar- paper, and over this laid another thickness of boards, 

 and painted the joints with thick paint : on the bottom, or floor, we 

 laid a coat of cement, three-quarters of an inch thick. 



My silo was then done : it was in the form of a cube, the sides of 

 which were twelve feet, and the whole expense, including material 

 and labor, was thirty dollars. I will here state, that you may under- 



