62 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Mr. Larkin: Where did jou bind the bundle of corn that 

 feipoilcd, above or below the ears? 



Mr. Gurler: Below the ears, if I remember right. Mj 

 first work was done with the MeCormick binder; later on I 

 used the Deering. 



Mr. Judd: They bind below, both of them. When 1 

 bound above J found I met with same difficulty. When it 

 is bound below it is reasonable to suppose that it gets mor<^ 

 air. ]Jave you had any experience in cutting your dry fodder 

 and then dampening it and allowing fermentation to start? 



Mr. Gurler: Xo, I have not. I have been a good deal 

 interested in the different results in cutting and filling a mow 

 with corn in the fall. Some parties have had good success 

 and some have made a failure of it; the fodder would spoil. 

 I have come to the conclusion that one great cause of the 

 trouble is that the corn soaks up the dampness from the 

 ground, and the effect will be the same as when we put our 

 hay in wet. I just get in, twice a week, enough corn to last 

 three or four days at a time. Do not bring in any large 

 amount. 



Mr. Larldn: In putting in corn I have found good re 

 suits in putting it in a large barn on top of the hay mow, 

 and we set the corn all upright; then on top of that another 

 row upright. It ke])t in good condition, while that that was 

 laid down was not in first-rate condition. I think the ques- 

 tion of ventilation is quite an essential one and comes in here. 



Mr. Ilostetter: Has your silo rotted out at the bottom 

 yet, the one j^ou put right into the ground? 



Mr. Gurler: I have had no trouble. My first silo I built 

 with a single wall inside, selected good lumber and only put 

 one thickness of lumber inside. The one that I built two 

 years later I put on common surfaced lumber, and then tarred 

 paper and then matched lumber, and that one is going 

 to decay more rapidly than the first one. The one that was 

 built twelve or thirteen years ago, with just one thickness 

 of lumber Inside I examined a year ago and there was no 

 decay to amount to anything yet. I have kept close watch 

 of both my silos. I think it is a vital question for us to con- 

 sider whether we want to build in the old way at all. If I 



