The Silo and Silage-stack Competition, 1885-80. 
303 
to several mechanical systems of pressing. Less waste was 
found where dead weights were used. During the second in- 
spection the utilisation of the contents of the silo appeared to 
be half-hearted. Whether this was due to the distance of the 
silo from the homestead, or to other causes, is not known. 
8. Mr. F. W. Earle, Edenhurst, Huyton, Liverpool. — Mr. 
Earle's silo is constructed of wood, at a moderate cost of 10s. per 
50 cubic feet of capacity.* It is an important question, however, 
to know the probable duration of wood in comparison with 
stone or bricks for such purposes. The filling here is rather 
expensive, as the fodder has to be lifted about 12 feet ; unless 
the barn-door was made large enough to admit of the loaded carts 
being drawn alongside the silo ; the emptying would be done at 
the floor-level. The pressing would be laborious on this system. 
The silage here was sweet and of an excellent quality, and 
delightfully fragrant. At about four feet from the floor-level a 
layer of silage was noticed of much darker colour, and contain- 
ing more moisture ; this, on analysis by Dr. Voelcker, was 
found to be decidedly acid ; but the bulk of the silage was sweet 
throughout. 
The utilisation of the silage on this farm was very judicious ; 
but the treading of the silage at the corners in filling the silo 
had not been thorough, resulting in considerable waste at these 
points. The ramming of the sides was especially desirable 
here on account of the partial dryness of the crop previous to 
pitting. This extra labour has been incurred in consequence 
of the complaints of the neighbours in previous years, that the 
strong smell of the acid silage caused them great inconvenience. 
Hence Mr. Earle's determination to secure sweet silage by 
getting rid of part of the natural moisture of the crop. He 
considers now that the change has been advantageous both to 
his neighbours and himself. 
The particulars of the feeding for milk-production at this 
farm are giren on page 304, for the purpose of comparison 
with Mr. Kirby's ration (p. 265), which contains acid silage. 
The amounts are per head per day ; the cows being well-bred 
Devons. 
It is seen that there is a great deficiency of fat in this ration 
as well as in that of Mr. Kirby's, and a large excess of carbo- 
hydrates, amounting to 9 lbs. per day per cow. It would 
not serve any purpose to carry this analysis much further, as we 
do not possess any data of the yield of milk or of its com- 
position. The albuminoid ratio is as 1 : 8, which is too high 
for cows in-milk, the standard being about 1 : 5. 
* For details see pp. 290-292. 
