MAIZE 



MAIZE 



415 



Fig. 634. 

 One-hole com-sliellei. 



thin boards bent around a circle of studs, every 

 board forming a hoop, — ^the so-called Wisconsin 

 idea. Now the silo almost universally has taken 

 the form of a tank-like vessel built of wooden 

 staves, usually two inches thick, tongued and 

 grooved and drawn tight together by round iron 

 hoops fitted with devices 

 for shortening them as 

 may be necessary. There 

 is every indication that 

 this represents the final 

 step in the evolution of 

 the silo, and that in its 

 essential character this 

 will remain the perma- 

 nent form. Possibly as 

 the years go by, the 

 difficulty in securing 

 suitable lumber may re- 

 sult in the general adop- 

 tion of concrete, built in 

 cylindrical form, with 

 heavy wire or light iron 

 rods laid in the mold to 

 strengthen it. 

 Hemlock, pine, cedar and cypress are all used 

 extensively in silo construction. The cypress is 

 doubtless best, but its price is rapidly making it 

 almost prohibitory. We have not as yet much data 

 regarding the life of the stave silo, but even hem- 

 lock endures for as much as fifteen years, providing 

 the silo stands empty during the warm months, in 

 a dry, airy place. When filled and kept for sum- 

 mer feeding, thus remaining damp, its life is 

 greatly shortened. 



Cultural methods. 



Varieties and quantity of seed. — The best varie- 

 ties of corn and the thickness of planting for 

 silage are a somewhat different problem from 

 when the ripe grain is the only object. When the 

 crop is intended for the silo, the feeding value of 

 the stalks is no less important than that of the grain, 

 and the question really resolves itself into : What 

 varieties and how much seed will afford the great- 

 est quantity of digestible nutrients per acre ? In 

 general we may say that the best condition of the 

 crop for the silo does not demand complete ripe- 

 ness, so that it is advisable to use one of the larger 

 and later varieties of corn even in the North, as . 

 this will give greater tonnage. Thus, near the 

 northern limit of the corn-belt, where only the flint 

 type of corn is raised for grain, it is generally 

 best to plant one of the dent varieties for the silo. 

 Usually it is best to plant the largest variety of 

 corn that will become reasonably mature in the 

 locality. 



The same line of reasoning applies to the ques- 

 tion of the thickness of the stand. Many more 

 stalks will be advisable for silage than when the 

 crop is raised for the grain alone. In fact, the 

 Illinois station arrived at the conclusion that the 

 greatest amount of nutrients would be secured 

 when the corn was planted so thickly that the ears 

 were choked down to not more than -half their 



natural size. Under Illinois conditions the most 

 sound grain was secured by a seeding of about ten 

 thousand stalks per acre, but for silage purposes 

 at least twice as many are advisable, or say a 

 stalk every seven inches when planted in rows 

 three and one-half feet apart. This number would 

 be supplied by seven to nine quarts of seed per 

 acre, provided germination were perfect and no 

 plants were destroyed ; but the writer, after con- 

 siderable experience in growing corn for the silo 

 on high lands in eastern New York, has arrived at 

 about eleven quarts of seed per acre, preferring to 

 err on the side of too thick planting rather than 

 long unoccupied spaces. This, of course, provides 

 for a considerable margin for poor seed, and the 

 cutworm and the crow. 



Method of seeding. — Corn for silage is usually 

 drilled in with a regular one-horse corn drill, one 

 row at a time, or with a common eleven-hoe grain 

 drill, with all the hoes but two removed. This 

 implement will do very satisfactory work, planting 

 two rows at a time, about forty -two inches 

 apart. 



Manuring. — The silo is an outgrowth of the 

 dairy industry, and wherever it is found large 

 quantities of stable manure are available. The 

 almost universal practice is to grow corn on sod 

 ground — old meadows — to which manure has been 

 applied in the preceding winter months. 



Rotation. — Generally the special dairy-farmer 

 employs a rotation of corn for the silo, oats and 

 grass, the seeding being made with the oats, and 

 the mowing kept for two or more years. 



Companion cropping. — It has long been realized 

 that the most serious defect of the corn plant is 

 that it carries too small a percentage of protein to 

 give the best results in feeding, and efforts have 

 been made to grow other crops in combination with 



A mounted com-slieller. 



the corn to be cut into the silo with it. Cowpeas 

 in the South and soybeans in the North have some- 

 times been planted with the corn, and they have 

 resulted in an increase of the total food constitu- 

 ents per acre and at the same time have given a 

 product of greater value for milk production. This 

 is a very suggestive field for experimentation. 



