THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 271 



Ventilation. 



Carbon dioxide, a gas heavier than air, will collect above 

 fresh silage if not given an opportunity to flow away to a lower 

 point. This might be the case where the doors are not con- 

 tinuous and the gas is pocketed below a door. Care should 

 be used in beginning work in a silo after it has been standing 

 for a time partly filled with fresh silage. If silage is allowed 

 to fall into the silo for a time, the carbon dioxide will be 

 stirred up to such an extent that there will be no danger from 

 asphyxiation. Although many silos are provided with venti- 

 lators, it is doubtful if they are of any practical value what- 

 ever. Under usual conditions, after the silo is filled it is best 

 to prevent circulation of air above the silage. 



Filling the Silo. 



Best results are obtained where the silage is uniformly dis- 

 tributed throughout the silo and is carefully packed near the 

 walls and around the doors by tramping. If the corn is at 

 all dry, it will be found very beneficial to tramp thoroughly the 

 entire surface and in any case the top 8 feet of silage will be 

 materially improved by thoroughly tramping over the entire 

 surface. In each of these cases, the weight is not sufficient 

 to force the air out without the aid of tramping. Care should 

 be taken that the heavy and light portions shall be uniformly 

 mixed. Some silo owners are of the opinion that a great 

 amount of tramping is unnecessary, but the investigations of 

 the writers indicate that where tamping is not followed there 

 is always a certain amount of spoiled silage and that the money 

 spent for labor used in thoroughly tramping silage bring good 

 returns. When the silage is dry, water should be added at 

 the top in at least sufficient quantity to cause the silage to 

 settle well and to exclude the air. 



The Freezing of Siiage. 



It is desirable to prevent the freezing- of silage in the silo 

 during cold weather as far as possible. The silo of a construc- 

 tion to prevent freezing to the largest degree is the preferable 



