at Home and Abroad. 
169 
twenty or thirty years. Filling was done on August 6th, 13th and 20tli, cut 
wlien about ripe (on the last occasion over-ripe), and chopped to i-iiich 
lengths, about 4 lbs. of salt to the ton being added. After each filling 1 put 
on the boards and the whole of the weights, namely, 10 tons. I use steel 
ingots, weighing 50 lbs. each, as they are easy to remove. The object of this 
immediate weighting was to press the air out as soon as possible. The silo 
contains about 40 tons of material, and the cost of the labour for filling (three 
times) was 5/. 2s. ; then the boards cost 10s., and, as I could spare the steel 
ingots iVom my works, I only charge the carriage, say, 10s. Cutting is done 
vertically, the same as in the case of a haystack. I use the pitted fodder in the 
place of brewers' grains for milch cows, and prefer it to grains for forcing 
milk, and the milk is better in quality. As to its keeping qualities, I find 
that it can be consumed by degrees without deterioration. I shoiild say that 
if it has a pressure of about 200 lbs. to the square foot there will be no doubfc 
about its keeping. Mixed with other food I find it an excellent milk- 
jiroducer. The following are the details of the cost of dealing with the 40 tons 
of fodder used : — 
£ s. d. 
August 6, Os. ; 13, 9s. ; 20, 9s. ; mowing 17 0 
„ 6, 4s. ; 13, 4s. ; 20, 4s. ; carting 0 12 0 
„ 6, 9s. ; 13, 9s. ; 20, 9s. ; chopping 17 0 
., 6, 3s. ; 13, 3s. ; 20, 3s. ; pitting 0 9 0 
„■ 6, 9s. ; 13, 9s. ; 20, 9s. ; treading 17 0 
„ G, 13, 20, boarding .. .. 0 10 0 
„ 6, 13, 20, weighting 0 10 0 
Total .. 6 2 0 
flaking an average of a little over 5s. per ton. — December Ith, 1883. 
I visited Mr. Ashforth on January 26th, 1884 ; and an 
inspection of his silo, which contained an excellent specimen 
of pitted vetches, would lead any one who had compared notes 
to search for the causes of manifest differences in the measure 
of success attending the efforts of a number of people with this 
crop. Vetches appear to be a most difficult crop to preserve by 
ensilage, probably in consequence partly of the difficulty of 
expressing the air from between the stalks and pods, and partly 
of the fact that they are rarely cut until too ripe for a proper 
fermentation to be set up. Mr. Ashforth, however, had 
weighted the chopped vetches to the extent of about 200 lbs. to 
the square foot, in addition to putting with them a certain 
amount of salt. At any rate, the result was very satisfactory, 
and seemed to me instructive. On examination in the laboratory, 
a specimen of this silage was found to contain 78'4 per cent, of 
water, and a portion of it put into a wide-mouth stoppered 
bottle kept well from the date of its receipt, December 11th, 
1883, until this Report was completed — on Alarch 13th. 
20. Nr. J. Ikacocl-, The Ilohnes, Wintertoii Brigg, Lincolnshire. — The silo 
is 18 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, and is constructed above the 
level of the soil, being part of a well-built barn ; tlic walls are of limestone 
laid in good lime mortar, and are quite 20 inches thick; they were rather 
