138 Report on the Practice of Ensilage ^ 
left to allow the first portions of material to settle before the process is 
renewed ? 
13. Please give details with reasons for your mode of procedure ? 
14. In what manner do you compress the material placed in the silo ? 
15. If any mechanical contrivance is used, what amount of pressure is 
applied, how long is it continued, and why is this mode preferred ? 
16. What was the weight of the crops put into the silo, and please record 
the weight of the preserved material when taken out fit for use ? 
17. What is the expense in labour of filling the silo, and the expense in 
labour and materials of compressing, covering, &c., the contents? 
18. W'hat is the cost of emptying the silo ? How is this operation per- 
formed ? For instance, do you take the material ofl' in layers from the top, 
or do you cut it down vertically like hay in a stack ? 
19. What definite results have you obtained by this method of pitting 
fodder crops ? 
20. Have you found any result specially attributable to succulence of the 
crops, or to external moisture upon them before being pitted ? 
21. Can the fodder preserved by you in silos be consumed without 
deterioration if taken out by degrees during a period extending over several 
months, or must it be rapidly consumed after the contents of the silo have 
been once cut ? 
22. W^hat, in your opinion, is the reason why pitted fodder sometimes keeps 
free from mould and wholesome for several months after the silo has been 
opened ; and at other times does not keep sound even for a few days? 
23. Please add a general statement of your experience, especially with 
regard to the use of pitted fodder as food for stock, whether alone or in con- 
junction with other feeding materials. 
H. M. JENKINS, Secretary. 
N.B. — J/you have a fair sample of wliat was put into your silo I should 
be glad to receive a portion of it for Examination, and possibly for Analysis. 
In the following pages I give details furnished me by more 
than forty correspondents, of whom six are foreign * and the 
remainder British. A perusal of these records of practice will 
show how widely divergent are the methods pursued, and my 
notes will show how different in many cases are the results 
obtained. To facilitate reference I have adopted the following 
classification of the replies : — 
I. Silo without roof. 
II. Roofed Silos with Portable weights. 
A. Silage Unchopped. 
B. Silage partly Chopped. 
C. Silage entirely Chopped. 
III. Silos with Mechanical means of Compression. 
IV. Foreign Silos. 
A. France. 
B. The Netherlands. 
Under each of these headings I have given the answers to the 
* I have avoided giving any details of American practice in consequence of 
difl'crences in climate rendering them an uncertain guide to English farmera. 
