CHAPTER II. 



THE BENEFITS FROM SILOING CROPS. 



The benefits from siloing crops are many. 

 Prominent among them are the following: — i, The 

 crops that are thus stored may be harvested in what 

 may be termed a wholesale way. 2, They may be 

 cured, without loss, in showery weather. 3, Green 

 food may thus be furnished all the year from this 

 one source. 4, The food is rendered more palatable 

 and in a sense more healthful when fed as a part of 

 a ration. 5, The silo is economical of space. 6, It 

 is also economical of labor when the food is being 

 fed to the stock. These benefits are however to 

 some extent offset by certain disadvantages. These 

 will be noticed as well as the benefits, and some prac- 

 tical deductions drawn from the discussion. 



Wholesale Harvesting of Crops. — When crops 

 are cured in the silo the labor of harvesting is of 

 necessity done in a wholesale way, that is to say, it is 

 usually done within a short period, with but little 

 interruption in the work, and with a minimum of 

 waste of time on the part of men and teams. The 

 necessity for first curing the food and then handling 

 it again in storing is thus obviated. But these bene- 

 fits are in a measure offset by the difficulty in se- 

 curing the necessary machinery and men to do the 

 work in season. Especially is this true with the 



258 

 Digitized by Microsoft® 



