86 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



with the maize called forth considerable criticism, but after a 

 careful reconsideration of the question he adhered to his opinion. 

 The transformation of the buried fodder embraces two import- 

 ant elements of advantage: i. The transformation of a part of 

 the starch and cellulose into sugar; and 2, the enlargement of 

 the azotized matter by the destruction of a portion of the fecula 

 of the cellulose. 



SIZE OF SILOS WITH REFERENCE TO NUMBER 

 OF ANIMALS. 



While ensilage may be kept more or less perfect in simple 

 pits, eventually the cost is reduced by the besf constructed silos. 

 The silos need not be expensive, but they must be built 

 thoroughly, because thorough building is cheap building in the 

 end. 



A cow will consume full ration from fifty to sixty pounds of 

 ensilage a day. A cubic foot of ensilage weighs forty to fifty 

 pounds, according to the material and pressure employed. One 

 and a third cubic feet daily will keep a cow; one cubic foot will 

 feed a sheep a week, and fully one and a half cubic feet will be 

 required daily for an ox. To feed a cow six months will require 

 about two hundred and fifty cubic feet of ensilage. If you have 

 two cows a silo ioxto feet, and 10 feet deep will hold about 

 twenty-five tons, and be ample for six month's feeding. A silo 

 10x10x30 feet would keep six cows on nearly full rations, or 

 double that number when other food is used to supplement the 

 ensilage. Hence, the dairyman feeding half rations, that is, half 

 ensilage and half other food, could feed thirty cows for six 

 months from a double silo, each compartment being 12x12 feet 

 and thirty feet long. An extra silo would tide double this num- 

 ber of cows over the usual six weeks of summer drougths. At 

 the time, some years ago, when the question of ensilage began 

 to attract general attention, impressed with my own experi- 

 ments in saving green fodder in earth pits, I brought together 

 from a variety of sources the following incorporation in the 



