COVERING THE SILO FODDER. 187 



food and should not be used by any farmer who cares for the 

 quality of his products. The wet or green materials are better 

 for cover than dry substances, since they prevent evaporation 

 of water from the top layer; when this is dry, air will be ad- 

 mitted to the fodder below, thus , making it possible for putre- 

 factive bacteria and molds to continue the destructive worli 

 begun by the fermentation bacteria, and causing more of the 

 silage to spoil. 



Silage will settle several feet in an ordinary silo. If possible, 

 after filling the silo full, let it settle for three or four days, and 

 then fill again to the top, wetting the top on each occasion with 

 about one and one-half gallons of water to every square foot 

 of surface. After your silo has been filled and the top thoroughly 

 wet, leave it alone. Do not get on top of It, and do not dig down 

 through the top to examine it. The more this is done, the more 

 silage you will lose. 



Silo Roof Extensions. — These have come into favor because 

 they permit of having a full silo after settling, without the neces- 

 sity of refilling, and they enable the trampers to continue their 

 work to extreme top of silo. One style consists of a permanent 

 sectional roof, the sections being hinged to top of silo and when 

 opened to vertical position they form an extension of six or eight 

 feet which may be filled to the top. Canvas, burlap, or chicken 

 wire may be attached to these vertical sections to form a wall. 

 After the silage has settled, the roof is closed into place. Any 

 home made extension might serve to hold the silage until it 

 settled. With silage worth $5 a ton an unfilled space equivalent 

 to 20 tons could easily cause a loss of $100 unless the user has his 

 own silo filler for refilling as desired or makes use of the extension 

 roof. 



Use of Water in Filling Silos. — During late years the practice 

 of applying water to the fodder in the silo has been followed in 

 a large number of cases. The surface is tramped thoroughly 

 and a considerable amount of water added. In applying the 

 method at the Wisconsin Station, Prof. King, a few days after 

 the completion of the filling of the silo, added water to the 

 fodder corn at the rate of about ten pounds per square foot of 

 surface, repeating the same process about ten days afterwards. 

 By this method a sticky, almost impervious layer of rotten silage, 

 a couple of inches thick, will form on the top, which will pre- 



