200 ECONOMIC PLANTS 



food in the natural form. To appreciate this we need 

 only think of the difference between a ripe, juicy peach 

 and the dried fruit. In the drying or curing of hay or 

 other fodder water is the main element removed, but 

 with it go certain flavoring matters that make the food 

 pleasant to the taste. 



3. The silo furnishes a feed oj uniform quality readily 

 accessible and available the whole year. 



This is especially valuable in the case of milch cows 

 and sheep, which are particularly sensitive to change 

 in their feed. 



4. The silo furnishes the most economical means of 

 storage of fodder. 



A ton of hay stored in mow will occupy a space of 

 about 400 cubic feet, a ton of silage about 50 cubic feet. 

 Counting the amount of dry matter in the ton in the 

 mow and in the form of silage, to store the same amount 

 of food requires about three times as much room in the 

 form of hay as in silage form. 



In the case of field-cured fodder corn the silo is still 

 more economical. According to the figures of experts 

 an acre of fodder corn, field-cured, stored in the most 

 compact form possible, will occupy a space ten times as 

 great as in the form of silage. 



5. The silo preserves the fodder from rain. 



This prevents losses due to leaching out of nutrients 

 and molding after wetting. 



6. The silo carries the stock through the late summer 

 droughts if filled with clover or other green crops earlier 

 in the season. 



7. Silage makes it possible to keep two cows where one 

 was kept before. The same area of land will support 

 more stock than when pasturing is practiced. 



