156 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



shredder I was obliged to run at a time when it wasn't profitable, 

 just after a heavy rain. That that was shredded before the 

 storm kept very well, but the other, a great portion of it, spoiled. 

 This machine is a shredder and snapper, not a busker. 



Mr. Boyd: In the case where it spoiled, was the fodder 

 stacked before you commenced to shred it.'^ . 



Mr. Murphy: No, sir, nor husked of course. It was car- 

 ried right in from the field. 



Mr. Boyd: That accounts for the moisture. 



Mr. Murphy: Yes, I know that. It was low ground where 

 it stood and both the capilliary attraction in the stalk and the 

 water outside acted upon the corn. I could not use my own 

 time with the machine. 



Mr. Spies: Did you ever try to put whole corn, the entire 

 stalks into the silo.^ I read that in New Jersey they have filled 

 a silo in that way and have fed from it for two years, and they 

 claim it came out well. 



Mr. Murphy: I never did that, I cut before I put into my 

 silo. I had the feed cutter already to cut my dry corn. My 

 silo is of wood. 



Mr. Spies: I read that in France particularly they have been 

 trying brick silos, and the silage seemed to spoil next to the 

 walls. I have thought that it was because the heat of the silage 

 was conducted through the wall and passed up before it was 

 allowed to heat up high enough. 



Mr. Murphy: I agree with you, because the best kept 

 ensilage runs up to a very high temperature. The silage must 

 be very thoroughly mixed in the silo. I visited in 1892 a silo 

 in Carroll County, where they were having trouble with the 

 silage that winter. It was a large silo, six or eight squares 

 and we found spots all over moulded six or eight or or ten 

 inches deep, while in other places it was just as nice as I 

 ever saw. We got down on our knees and went to examining 

 some of the different spots and we concluded that the man who 

 had done the pitching had been negligent, there were solid 

 spots and then there where places where the leaves and light 

 parts would be together in another spot instead of mixing the 



