CHAPTER I. 



THE HISTORY OF SILOING. 



Any discussion of soiling crops that did not also 

 consider silos and silage would be incomplete, 

 since it is probably true that more green food is 

 fed in the United States in the form of silage than 

 in any other form. It would not be possible with 

 accuracy to state the number of silos in the United 

 States at the present time but it is probably not less 

 than one hundred thousand, and it is rapidly in- 

 creasing. There is probably no state in the Unio;i 

 without its quota of silos. This fact is very signifi- 

 cant when it is called to mind that over ground silos 

 had not been built in this country prior to 1876. 



Plan of the Discussion. — It will be the aim of 

 the Author to discuss this question from an un- 

 biased standpoint. In reading the various excellent 

 publications that have appeared on the subject in the 

 United States the thought is forced on the mind by 

 all or nearly all of them that they are in a sense pleas 

 for the silo. The men who have written them have 

 been enthusiastic advocates of the silo, and in their 

 enthusiasm they would seem to have overlooked or 

 kept in abeyance the fact, that silos are not equally 

 needed, or equally helpful in the various states of the 

 Union or even in all sections of each state. This 

 enthusiasm is not only pardonable but it has unques- 

 tionabl)'- been positively helpful in hastening the 



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