PRESERVATION FOR STOCK FOOD 767 



used. If there is clanger of springs breaking into the pit, CHAP. 

 some provision for drainage may be found necessary. Rect- XX ' 

 angular pits are preferable to circular ones, because in the 

 former, when opened for use, the silage can be removed in 

 sections without uncovering the whole surface, thus preventing 

 loss from exposure to the atmosphere. Several small pits are 

 preferable to one very large one, because it may be desired to 

 reserve one or more of them for another year, and there need 

 be no damage to the silage through its having been kept over 

 if protected from the weather and from seepage of moisture ; 

 but once opened to the air, the contents do not keep. 



A pit 25 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 8 feet deep, containing 

 3,000 cubic feet, would hold about 55 tons of silage. If the 

 maize has been well cut and packed, a cubic foot should weigh 

 from 35 to 40 lbs. Some farmers put the maize stalks into the 

 pit whole, as they would on to the stack, but the usual method 

 is to cut them into lengths of i to ii inches with a chaff-cutter 

 (Fig. 240), which results in closer packing and a better quality 

 of silage ; in this form it is more easily removed from the pit, 

 and there is little or no waste in feeding, such as there is when 

 the material is left long. The time consumed in cutting is 

 well spent. The pit may be filled as rapidly as the maize can 

 be cut, or the filling may extend over a fairly long period, 

 without affecting the quality of the silage ; the usual method is 

 to put 2 or 3 feet of silage into each pit each day, allowing it to 

 heat and settle for a day or two (not more than three), when 

 another 2 or 3 feet may be added. To prevent loss ot time, two 

 or three pits, in close proximity, may be kept going by moving 

 the chaff-cutter from one to the other. For small pits the 

 cutting may be done by hand-power, but horse-gear or steam- 

 power are used for the larger. Much of the success of the 

 work depends on the management of the pit; the fodder 

 should be kept spread evenly over the surface as the cutting 

 proceeds and exceptional care should be taken to keep the 

 outsides well trodden ; if the mass at the edges of the pit 

 remains loosely packed, it will become mouldy and unfit for 

 food When the mass is a few feet deep a mule or horse is 

 kept walking about in the pit to tread it down. If the maize 

 is rather too mature and dry, a little water should be thrown 

 over the mass occasionally. The pit is filled to about a foot 



