at Home and Abroad. 
153 
permanent. The conversion of the cattle-pits into silos Nos. 2 and 3 cost 
about 30s. each. 
I commenced filling towards the end of June, and was about a month iu 
•completing the process. If the material sinks much now I shall put in a 
second cut of clover in September. I have successfully preserved vetches, 
clover, rye-grass, oats, and meadow-grass ; and I have bad numerous failures 
with other materials, such as mangold leaves, cabbages, comfrey, and artichoke 
stalks. I cut the crops to be ensilaged at the same time that I should cut 
them for hay, namely, when they are in flower. I have pitted them whole, 
and also chopped into inch lengths, but I do not find chopping to be necessary. 
The crop is best unmixed with either straw or salt; the former produces 
mould, as it is difficult to get the air out of dry straw. I think that it is 
impossible to fill a silo at one operation ; but the quicker it can be done the 
better, as if done very slowly there is apt to be mould at intervals. My 
method is to trample the fodder down as the silo is being filled, and then to 
pile up the fodder on the top as high as I can. When this sinks to the level 
of the pit's rnouth it is trampled down and filled as before, and this is con- 
tinued until the pit is full, or all the available fodder used up. It is then 
covered with planks and weights. In No. 1 silo I compress the material 
with a wooden lever weighted at the end. Nos. 2 and 3 I have weighted 
with logs of wood, and shall also put mangold-wurzel on the planks. I have 
no doubt that the greater the pressure that can be applied the better ; but 
the means of applying it must vary according to circumstances, and the 
materials available in the locality. 
In No. 1 pit this year 1 have put 28 large cartloads of grass, of an esti- 
mated value of 10?., and the cost of labour and horses was 31. 5s. 6d. In 
€ach of the pits Nos. 2 and 3 I have 24 loads of clover, the produce of 4 acres, 
and valued at 24?. ; the cost of labour and horses in filling both was 6?. I 
hardly know how to value the covering and compressing, as rough beech 
planks and logs cut on the estate have been used; but their value is at any 
rate trifling. The cost of emptying a silo would be about the same as that of 
cutting hay from a rick. 1 have no doubt that the best way is to cut it 
down vertically like hay, as the pressure can then be kept on the fodder left 
in the silo. 
I have found that the "silage" which I have been successful in pre- 
paring makes excellent food for cattle, especially for milch cows. It improves 
the colour of the butter, and most cows prefer it to any other food when it is 
well prepared. I find that horses and sheep will also eat it, but I have not 
fed them on it regularly. As to the effect of moisture, I would prefer that 
the crops should not be too succulent, as if they are they waste too much. 
I do not think that a little external moisture from rain on the crops before 
being pitted signifies much, but I prefer to pit them without rain wetting. If 
the crops are properly weighted, I do not see why the " silage " should not 
keep without deterioration several months while being consumed. If it is 
not tightly packed it must be consumed rapidly, or it will become mouldy. 
The keeping qualities are, in my opinion, all a matter of the exclusion of 
atmospheric air. If the fodder is heavily weighted, the air cannot enter ; if 
the air gets into the fodder, it heats and becomes mouldy at once. 
I have made no experiments worth recording in feeding pitted food to stock 
in conjunction with other feeding materials. I have fed cows with it and 
with a little hay for several weeks together, and found that they did well on 
it, and gave richer milk than on hay alone, or on hay with winter meadow 
pasture. — August 2ith, 1883. 
PS. — I have this season demonstrated, in feeding out of my silos, the great 
importance of cutting the silage vertically and not in horizontal slices. The 
