INTRODUCTORY. 9 



other countries silos are being filled every year with "OHIO" silo 

 fillers manufactured by the publishers of this book. 



The silo stands today among the most important, practical and 

 profitable adjuncts of the farm. It is a, big dividend-paying in- 

 vestment — not an expense. It has long been considered a necessity 

 on thousands of dairy farms and we find most of them in the 

 states that rank first as dairy states, viz.: New York, Wis- 

 consin, Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania, etc. The farmers that have 

 had most experience with silage are the most enthusiastic advo- 

 cates of the siloing system, and the testimony of intellifeent dairy- 

 men all over the country is strongly in favor of the silo. Said a, 

 New York farmer recently in one of our main agricultural papers: 

 "I would as soon try to farm without a barn as without a silo," 

 and another wrote, "I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for my 

 silo if I could not replace It." Louis F. Swift, head of the Swift 

 Packing Co., says: 



"Probably the silo is one of the most important elements that 

 has been introduced into the stock feeding situation in late years. 

 Its value was first recognized in feeding for milk production; but 

 hundreds of tests conducted by state and federal experimient Sta- 

 tions and by individuals operating on a commercial scale, have 

 established the fact that ensilage is the key to profitable and 

 economic feeding for beef. Not only does it contribute immensely 

 to the health of cattle but, in combination with concentrates, it 

 results in astonishing gains of weight at greatly reduced cost. 

 The silo also has a most direct and important ^■elation to the fer- 

 tility of the farm. Then, too, it often operates as an insurance 

 against loss by reason of a short com season. Thete is ho sign 

 upon the skyline of American meat production and American 

 agriculture in general more important than the silo." 



Our first effort In writing this book will be to present facts 

 that will back up these statements, and show the reader the many 

 advantages of the silo over other systems of growing and curing 

 crops for the feeding of farm animals. We shall show that up- 

 to-date dairy or stock farming is well nigh impossible without 

 the aid of a silo. The silo enables us to feed live stock succulent 

 feeds the year around, and preserves the fodder in a better con- 

 dition and with less waste than any other system can. We shall 

 see the why and wherefore of this in the following pages, and 

 shall deal with the best way of making and feeding silage to 

 farm animals. We- wish to state at the outset that we do not 

 propose to make any claims for the silo that will not stand the 



