288 The Silo and Silage-stack Competition, 1885-86. 
grass, and 31 loads of green oats — in all about 50 tons. It measured 23 feet 
by 13 feet by 5 feet high, increasing to 7 feet in the centre, being built upon 
silage under a covered roof The oats were cut dry, but the clover was cut 
in the rain. Pressure was obtained by Rej'nolds's system, which has been 
previously described ; but upon cutting the outside of the stack the quality at 
the sides and for some distance in the interior was not found to be all that 
could be desired. 
The last stack in the western district was that of Mr. J. J. Carpenter, of 
Bannadon, near Bratton, Clovelly, Devon. It was 15 feet by 12 feet by 5 feet 
high, and consisted of a second cutting of clover and seeds, the produce of 
seven acres. The stack was built upon fir poles laid across three sleepers. On 
the top of the grass, when the stack is built, a number of planks are laid, and 
across these three beams, through which two chains attached to the beams on 
the ground are passed. These chains are also passed through other beams 
which are movable. Beneath the latter, and standing on the beams at the 
top of the rick, a screw-jack is placed, pressure being obtained when the jack 
is worked, inasmuch as when the movable beam providing the resisting power 
is lifted as high as it can go, the actual pressure-beam is forced down. When 
the jack has done its work, a bolt is passed through one of the links in the 
chain to prevent the pressure-beam from rising, and the jack is removed to 
the other end. The plan appears to be a feasible one, but the stack was cer- 
tainly not a success, as all the beams got out of position, and were lying on 
their angles. The top of the stack was covered with rushes and thatched in 
the ordinary way. The silage was nearly black, but it was sweet. A con- 
siderable quantity, too, was spoiled and mouldy at the sides and comers 
The beam used above the jack is provided with four legs to keep it in position. 
A silage stack would undoubtedly be of great service upon this gentleman's 
farm, which is in a very wild district upon Dartmoor. 
IV. — The North of Engl.\nd. By J, K. Fowler, 
of Great Missenden. 
Silos. 
Mr. Trepplin's Silos. — Mr. Baker and I arrived at Kenilworth on Novem- 
ber 12th, to inspect the silos of Mr. C. F. Trepplin, who farms 3000 acres of 
land, principally as a tenant under the Earl of Clarendon, and partly as an 
owner. He is a great believer in silage, having this year cured the produce 
of 900 acres under a variety of systems. In passing, we inspected^ silage 
made in an old clay-pit, by simply bricking around the sides and at the 
bottom, filling it with grass, as cut, without much consideration as to whether 
it was wet or dry when carted ; and when filled, the silage was merely covered 
over with earth to the depth of about 6 inches, and left open, that the cattle 
even walked over the top of it, from the adjoining field. Mr. Trepplin sent 
two entries. No. 1 was for a silo in a pre-existing barn, 42 feet long by 17 feet 
wide and 17 feet deep, filled and emptied from the floor and sides ; it is lined 
with battens and boards, adjoining the bay of the barn, which cost 17s. 
The floor, which was a sandy loam, had been excavated about 2 feet 6 inches, 
at a cost of 21. ; there was no drain ; the mowing of the grass cost from dd. to 
Is. per acre ; the silage was covered in with sand, which had to be removed 
from near the barn, and which is spread on the meadows when the silo is 
emptied in the winter, and the sand of no further use for the season. Entry 
No. 2 was for a silo, new on three sides, and on the fourth side a wall 
was raised 7 feet ; the size was 44 feet by 34 feet and 18J feet deep, with part 
of an old barn 15 feet by 15 feet adjoining ; it can be emptied from above, or 
