142 Report on the Practice of Ensilage, 
been ensilaged had not been sewaged. Mr. Burnside, indeed, 
told me that its quality was remarkably good, and certainly the 
result was excellent. Although the weights put on gave a 
pressure of 1^ cwt. to the square foot, no liquid had been 
pressed out ; but it must be remembered that the grass was in a 
very dry state when it was put into the silo. There was a 
certain amount of mouldy silage at the sides, and especially 
near the doorway. 
3. Bev. C. H. Ford, Bishopton, Ferry Hill, Durham. — My silo is 15 feet 
long, 8 feet wide, and 9 feet deep, viz. 5 feet below ground and 4 feet above. 
The floor is composed of the best concrete, 12 inches in thickness. The walls 
below ground resting on the floor, being 15 inches thick of concrete, above 
ground they are of brick. The whole is thoroughly well lined and finished 
off with cement, the floor having no less than 4 inches of the best quality. 
In spite of these precautions, the water, by capillary attraction, pierced 
concrete and cement, and several inches thereof stood on the floor. I sunk 
a well, 6 feet deeper than the silo, broke up the floor with infinite labour, and 
drained it thoroughly into the well, recementiug the floor over the drains. 
This has kept the outside water from coming in, but, strange to say, the 
ensilage liquor finds its way into the drains, and renders the well water unfit 
for use. 
My soil is tenacious clay. On July 5 I filled the silo up to the top, 9 feet. 
It took 14 single horse-loads, estimated at 10 cwts. each, or 7 tons; next 
morning the mass, under a pressure of 6 tons, had sunk 3 feet; by July 9 it 
had sunk 4 feet. July 12. — Filled up silo again with 8 loads of grass 
estimated to weigh 4 tons. Put on 10 tons dead-weight of iron waste. 
The actual cost of labour in cutting and putting I5 acres of grass into silo, 
including taking off 6 tons of weight and putting on 10 tons, was lis. I pay 
my men 3s. per diem each ; the use of horses is not charged for. 
July 23. — Filled silo again. The mass had sunk 4 feet. Put in 3 tons of 
grass, covered up with 10 tons weight. This grass was oft' a much, poorer 
field, and so the crop was poor, though of fair quality. It came off I5 acres, 
and the cost of cutting, loading, and putting into silo, and putting weights ofl" 
and OD, was 10s. lOd., or 7s. per acre. 
August 20. — I had now ouly 2 feet 4 to fill up, and it was probably not 
worth the expense, commercially, but I wished to have it as full as possible. 
Mr. .Jenkins came from London to witness this operation. I put in 3 tons of 
clover, second crop, and covered up with 12 tons of dead weight. 
August 30. — I opened the silo again and had only 15 inches to fill up. I 
filled up with nearly 3 tons of second-crop clover, and had it well trodden by 
six pairs of human legs ; covered up with 12 tons. 
2\'ovember 13. — I opened the silo and found that it had sunk nearly 2 feet 
from tlie top. Mr. Jenkins will report on it, so it will, be unnecessary for 
me to say more than that the silage was excellent, no waste ; but he 
thought, and I agreed with him, that the pressure might have been much less 
for the clover. 
I did not cut the old-land grass into chaff, nor the clover. I used no bran 
and no salt. The young stock are doing remarkably well on this food and hay. 
I tried the following experiment with three cows, which calved respectively 
May 8, June 3, and September 10, two of them being heifers with one calf, 
the other having had two calves. 
On November 13, before the silo was opened, I had the milk of these three 
cows analysed. It was pronounced to be "fair average country milk." They 
were then going into the pasture, and getting bay aud pollard. 
