SILOS AND SILAGE 155 
development of our livestock industry that has come since the 
introduction of modern agricultural machinery (Figs. 30 and 31). 
The silo is most economical where the number of stock kept is 
sufficiently large to consume at least 100 tons of silage during the 
season. The investment in a silo and necessary machinery is rela- 
tively high for smaller silos, and the cost of storing and loss of silage 
through spoiling relatively larger than with large silos. The silo 
belongs with intensive farming, where the greatest profit results 
from keeping as ]arge a number of livestock as possible on a given 
acreage.* For small herds of, say, 12 head of cattle or less, the 
growing of roots where the land is suited to these crops may prove 
a more economical practice for supplying succulence in the rations 
fed than making silage. 
Fia. 31.—Battery of four cement silos on a California cattle ranch. Dimensions 20 feet in 
diameter, and 46 feet high, capacity about 350 tonseach. (Pacific Rural Press) 
SILAGE CROPS.—Indian corn is preéminently the great 
American silage crop and is, in general, better adapted for siloing 
purposes than any other agricultural crop. The reason for this is 
easily seen: The thick stems and broad leaves of the corn plant, 
when cut, pack well in the silo; corn is rich in starch and other 
non-saccharine carbohydrates, which insures silage of a moderate 
acidity, and it is relatively low in protein substances, so that the 
danger of undesirable fermentations in the silo is removed. The 
acids normally present in corn silage are lactic and acetic. Lactic 
> Bureau of Statistics, U, S.. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 73, 
p- 37, 
