96 THE DAIRYMAX's MANUAL. 



cover it with strips of tarred paper well lapped, and 

 coyer this with common rough inch lumber. This will 

 keep out the air, and all that is necessary is to weight 

 this cover with a ton or two of hay, sawdust, or even 

 moist clay, to insure the cover remaining firmly upon the 

 mass beneath as it settles, and to prevent the entrance of 

 the air. Within three weeks the mass will cool down to 

 about eighty degrees, where it will remain — a fact that 

 guarantees it from danger of freezing. When ready to 

 feed, remove the cover entirely from one pit, and feed 

 evenly from the surface. It is not advisable to open 

 the door at the side of a silo all the way to the bottom, 

 and begin to shovel it from the floor. ■ This lets the air 

 into the side of the ensilage, and it commences to re-heat. 

 We have knowledge of two farmers at least who opened 

 at the side, and came very near losing the entire contents 

 of a pit, and only saved it by prompt leveling down of 

 the ensilage, and tramping it very hard and restoring it 

 to a level. The side door to a silo should be made in 

 sections of about eighteen inches each; these can be re- 

 moved one by one, as the surface level is lowered by 

 feeding. A great many silos are now built in the in- 

 terior of the big barn, using a whole or part of a bay. 

 Nearly five times as much forage can be put into a given 

 space in the form of ensilage as can be stored in the same 

 space if the crop is dried — fifty cubic feet of ensilage ^ 

 weighing a ton — 500 feet or more are requisite for a ton 

 of hay. 



'^ The value of ensilage as a stock ration is now undis- 

 puted. Nor can it be longer nrged that it has, if put np 

 ' sweet,' or reasonably so, any deleterious effect upon 

 milk or butter. The great question is : How can we get 

 it into the silo the cheapest and best ? The concurrent 

 testimony of the great ensilage feeders is that the crop 

 can be grown, harvested, and put into the silo for 81.25 

 per ton, all legitimate expenses included. And three 



