ENSILAGE IN UNITED STATES. 219 



sawdust can be packed closely to the top, and thus make 

 the doorway air-tight. The concrete wall should be built 

 for 10 cents per cubic foot, and the silo need not cost 

 over $1.50 per ton capacity. 



PROGRESS OF ENSILAGE IN UNITED STATES. 



Having considered the rise and progress of this system 

 in Europe, let us see what progress it is making in this 

 country. Mr. Francis Morris, of Maryland, some six 

 years ago began pitting green corn in the German fashion, 

 and feeding upon ensilage for a short time in winter some 

 300 head of cattle. His was green corn ensilage only, and 

 his report was very favorable to its economy. He has 

 continued this practice up to the present, and still gives 

 favorable reports. Perhaps Mr. 0. B. Potter, of Sing Sing, 

 N. Y. , was the first in this country to build a masonry silo, 

 and he began to preserve corn ensilage about 1877, using a 

 covering of earth to compress the ensilage. His ensilage 

 progressed farther in fermentation than is generally ap- 

 proved, but still was found, as he reports, a very economical 

 food for stock. He has since wisely used clover to ensilage 

 with corn, so as to furnish a better-balanced ration than 

 corn alone, and after some two years' trial gives a favorable 

 report. His earth covering does not so effectually exclude 

 the air as the weighed plank covering. 



In 1879 Dr. J. M. Bailey, of Billerica, Mass., built the 

 first double silo of concrete masonry, and stored about 125 

 tons of corn ensilage, which, although somewhat belated 

 in storing, gave him much satisfaction in feeding. His 

 report stimulated inquiry and experiment in the new 

 process. 



At the beginning of 1880 this process was much discussed 

 by the agricultural press, and the result was the building 

 of some fifty or more silos in different parts of the country, 

 most of them substantial, and many of them in the most 



