at Home and Abroad. 
141 
therefore it is desirable to give a little explanation of his 
experiments, although they have been conducted on only a 
small scale. Mr. Copley farms about 15 or 20 acres of his own 
land with his own hands as an amusement. He keeps four 
cows, and I should not be surprised to learn at any moment that 
he had become his own dairyman. In 1882 he built the first 
silo, and he was so far satisfied with the result, that in 1883 he 
built a second, as he has described above. The two are placed 
in what may be called a small barn, and they receive contribu- 
tions from the highways and byways, hedges and ditches, 
churchyards and meadows. Notwithstanding that in 1882 the 
fragrancy of the fodder was almost too powerful for delicate 
organisations, Mr. Copley's example was followed by Mr. 
Stobart, ]Mr. Ford, and others in the district j but of course 
with certain variations. All the motley mass collected by 
Mr. Copley is put in long — thistles and nettles, prickly comfrey, 
the haulm of Jerusalem artichokes, as well as the ordinary 
agricultural crops mentioned by Mr. Copley himself. The 
weights are raised and lowered by means of a chain and pulley, 
which arrangement is also used to hoist out the silage. As to 
the result, I must confess that the fodder was more than 
sufficiently fragrant at the time of my first visit, on August 21, 
1883, and its odour was still more pronounced on January 21, 
1884. Nevertheless, Mr. Copley was perfectly satisfied, as his 
cows ate readily as much as 84 lbs. of it per diem, and gave an 
abundant flow of milk, the butter from which was stated to be 
of excellent quality. 
2. Darlington Sewage Farm, per Mr. J. Burnside. — Our silo is 17 feet by 
17 feet, and is above the level of the ground. It is an old brick building, 
and was formerly used as a cow-bam. The walls are cemented round to their 
full height, and there is likewise a good cemented floor, with good walls 
18 inches thick. The cost of preparing the silo would be 30Z., the weights 
and planks about 45Z. additional. 
The silo was filled the first week in August with meadow-grass, mown 
•when ripe, and put in whole, with a little salt at intervals. 
This is our first year of trial. I shall be glad to give you more particulars 
after proving the feeding-quality of the silage. 
The material is compressed with metal weights. It consisted of 7 acres of 
meadow-grass in a very dry state, weighing 31 tons, and put in the day it was 
cut. The cost of cutting, raking up, carting, strewing it well about in the 
silo, men's beer, getting the weights on and off, then on again, with the 
planks, cost me 6Z. 
The pitted fodder is cut down in the same manner as hay. I cannot see 
why it will not keep several months, if you only tak? the weights off as you 
use the fodder. — Jan. 2oth, 1884. 
I visited this silo on January 22, when it was specially 
opened for my inspection. It may be necessary to state that, 
although the silo was on a sewage farm, the grass which had 
