PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH ENSILAGE. 83 



tion from the .air. The mass was carried up vertically, three feet 

 above the surface of the pit. The pit was open three days, and the 

 ensilage had settled down very much during that time. The clover 

 was covered with a few inches of chaff, boards were placed trans- 

 versely across this, and above all the required weight (about one 

 hundred pounds to the square foot of surface). This weight was 

 furnished by a covering of red clay. Clay generally weighs about 

 eighty pounds to the cubic foot. In a few days the mass had settled 

 down to the surface. A rough shed gives protection from the 

 weather. The whole cost of "pitting" the corn, cutting it down, 

 hauling it to the cutter, slicing it up, packing it away in the pit, etc., 

 as before stated, was only $11.25 for 17.45 tons (the yields of six- 

 teen experimental plats) , or about sixty-eight and three-fourths cents 

 per ton. The cost of " pitting " the clover, where the mower could 

 be used to cut it down and the horse-rake to gather it up, was some- 

 thing less. The weather was overcast during the whole process, and 

 hence very favorable. After the lapse of several weeks the mass is 

 only an inch or so below the surface of the pit, and it will settle no 

 more. 



As the pit had a capacity of two thousand cubic feet, and held but 

 sixty-eight thousand pounds of corn and clover, and was about full, 

 and could hold but little more, the pitted food, or ensilage, must have 

 weighed from thirty-four to thirty-five pounds to the cubic foot. 



The old pit, No. 1, was filled this year in the same manner as No. 2, 

 after being enlarged and made eight feet deep, six feet wide, and nine 

 feet long. Its capacity was three hundred and ninety-six cubic feet. 

 It was filled entirely with green clover, cut up and packed down like 

 the corn. It held fifteen thousand four hundred pounds. The set- 

 tling after the same lapse of time is no greater than in the case of 

 No. 2. Hence, the weight of a cubic foot of "pitted" clover is 

 about thirty-five pounds, the same as that of corn. A cubic foot of 

 the corn put up last year weighed about thirty pounds. Hence, it is 

 safe to put the weight of ensilage at from thirty-five to forty pounds 

 to the cubic foot. It is generally estimated as high as fifty pounds. 



Silo, or pit, No. 3 was eleven feet and a half deep, twenty feet 

 long, and ten feet wide, with a capacit} r of twenty-three hundred 

 cubic feet. It was our original intention to cement it within, the 

 cement to be applied directly to the clay walls. This method is 

 generall}' followed in the vicinity of this city in making cisterns, 

 and nearly always with success. But the pressure of other work, 



