212 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



SlLOS, 



We have above spoken of the recent improvements of 

 this system of ensilage, and some have regarded it as a re- 

 cent discovery, but it had been practiced by the Austro- 

 Ilungarian farmers, in their rude way, more than 50 years 

 before the French had turned their attention to it. The 

 Hungarians pitted their green fodder in the earth. Ac- 

 cording to some of the early Roman agricultural writers, 

 grain and fodder were pitted by the farmers of Italy at an 

 early period of history. The principle involved in the en- 

 silage system is, therefore, far from being new. The Hun- 

 garian and German silo was simply a pit dug in a dry place 

 in the earth, 8 to 10 feet wide at the top, 6 to 8 feet at the 

 bottom, 6 to 8 feet deep, and as long as suited the conven- 

 ience of the makers. 



The green fodder, rye, rape, vetch, clover, seradella, or 

 grass, etc., was laid in the pit, crosswise, trodden firmly, 

 and pitted three or four feet above the surface of the 

 ground, like the cone of a potato heap. This top was 

 covered with straw, leaves or brush, and the earth thrown 

 from the pit was banked upon and over the top to the 

 depth of 18 to 24 inches. This covering of earth was com- 

 pacted so firmly as to exclude the air, furnished a heavy 

 cover which settled with the fodder in the pit ; but in set- 

 tling it was liable to crack and let in the air, so that fre- 

 quent attention was required to fill these cracks and com- 

 press the earth. So the improvements made by Goffart 

 were the natural growth from the primitive method. We 

 mention these facts rather to strengthen the impression of 

 merit in the system, for, having been in practical use for a 

 thousand or more years, the question of economic value in 

 the preserved fodder must be considered as settled. 



The present form of silo is a very great improvement 

 upon the earth silo, and the ensilage must be correspond- 



