LOCATION' OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 15 



use of any other implement or tillage than that given by 

 this harrow, the corn soon smothering the weeds. 



The precise condition in which the fodder should be 

 harvested is not generally mentioned by those who have 

 given accounts of their operations, the date being usually 

 stated instead. Some say that they cut up the fodder 

 when " in tassel," and others when the ears were " partly 

 formed." "We should naturally expect to find the plant 

 itself the most nutritious just at flowering time, that is, 

 when it has "silked"; how far beyond this it may stand 

 with advantage, experiments are needed to determine. 



In cutting' up the corn, the sickle or com knife is 

 generally preferred to a reaper, though we may expect in 

 due time to find these hand implements superseded by 

 more rapid machines, especially devised for the work. 



CHAPTER III. 



LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 



If one were to lay out a plan for buildings with reference 

 to feeding ensilage, he would make the silos the central 

 point around which all the rest would be arranged. But 

 our farms are already planned, the barns already built, 

 hence the silos must come in and form a part of an estab- 

 lished order of things. The silo is to preserve fodder 

 which is to be fed at the barn, hence its location must be 

 with reference to the most convenient feedins; of its con- 

 tents. If, as is often the case, the barn has been built 

 near a bank, then this bank may be utilized for the silo, 

 placing this with reference to the feeding floor. The large 

 silos of Whitman & Burrell, at Little Falls, N. Y., were 



