CORRESPONDENCE OF B. AUSTIN AVERT. 45 



I am fully satisfied that ensilage needs to be cut fine. I would say, 

 under no circumstances cut more than half an inch long. 



I commenced cutting my corn about the 1st of September last, and 

 immediately conveyed the same to the silo, where, on a platform, I 

 had erected two Daniels cutting-machines, run by a small stationary 

 engine, and so arranged that the corn dropped into the silo as it left 

 the cutters, where I had men stationed to spread it evenly, and to 

 insure thorough packing. I introduced a pair of small mules to 

 tramp the same, keeping them constantly stirring, and close to the 

 sides and ends of the silo. I had men and boys to tramp where the 

 mules could not reach. 



My silo is seventy feet long, twelve feet wide, and twelve feet 

 deep, containing, as per measurement, ten thousand and eighty cubic 

 feet, or two hundred and forty tons at forty-two feet per ton ; and the 

 actual cost (exclusive of constructing the silo) of the ensilage in 

 the silo is sixty cents per ton ; and with the benefit of last year's 

 experience, I feel confident I can reduce the expense of again filling 

 the silo, at least one-third, making the actual cost for the coming 

 year not to exceed forty cents per ton. 



My silo is constructed on a level with the cow-stalls, in the base- 

 ment of the barn. I think it would be full as well, if in dry soil, 

 that the silo be eighteen or twenty feet deep. 



I am not fully prepared to say that wood would not answer the 

 purpose in constructing a .silo ; but I am fully satisfied that stone of 

 concrete is the more available, with smooth sides to allow the weight 

 on the top of the silo to press evenly, and exclude all the air pos- 

 sible. I regard the short cutting, thorough tramping, and heavy 

 pressure on the top, the great essentials in preserving the food in 

 good condition to feed to advantage. 



I opened my silo about the 1st of November last, and commenced 

 to feed about one hundred head of cattle out of same at once. Not 

 one of any kind of stock on the farm refused it ; and all, with the 

 exception of the pair of mules, ate it very greedily. (I think the 

 mules must have been disgusted with the part they were obliged to 

 play in tramping it. ) Previous to opening the silo, I had been feed- 

 ing my cows on good hay ; and, after three days feeding of ensilage, 

 they had each increased, on an average, a quart of milk per day. I 

 commenced feeding about forty pounds per day, and increased to 

 about sixty, and just about what they would eat clean without waste. 



My mode of feeding the ensilage has been, to take out the same 



