170 
Report on the Practice of Ensilage, 
roughly finished, so I plastered them over with Portland cement and good 
lime-mortar. I have not had any other experience. The cost was trifling, 
as the barn was formed ready; the building is a very durable one. The 
silo was filled on the 16th of July quite full with Italian rye-grass, having 
a little trefoil in it, cut in the same condition as for haymaking, viz. when 
done flowering. It was pitted in a chopped state, from j-incli to |-inch lengths. 
I do not mix anything with the grass or seeds. 
The silo was filled at one operation as follows: — In the first place, 
I had a hired chaff-cutter, and wanted to make the most of it. I also 
wished to mix the silage with cut straw and wheat-chafi", another reason 
why I wished to fill it at one operation. I have an idea that it will not 
be so good where the division takes place, that is, between the operations, 
because the vajiour from fermentation will be sure to condense on the top and 
spoil some of the grass. The material is compressed first by treading with 
boys and men ; two men with dung-spuds to level it about, and two boys 
ranning about actively. When fresh knives are put on the chafl-cutter and 
oiling is going on, the four men that carry the chafl' into the silo go in to 
tread for five minutes. I cannot give you any idea about the weight that was 
put into the silo, and shall not be able to tell you what weight comes out. 
We paid Is. ^d. per day for engine and cutter, had four men to carry the cut 
stuff into the silo at 2s. 6c/. per day, one man at 2s. to help to tread down, 
two boys at Is. each per day, and one man at 2s. Qd. to tread down. There 
was a boarded floor to the place or silo, which w^e hoisted up to the top of the 
barn by njeans of pulley-blocks, and left it suspended until the silo was full, 
then let it down on the grass, and covered it with five loads of burnt soil or 
brick ashes. The cost per acre may be thus stated : — 
Mowing, 2s. ; carting, 3s. ; chopping, 5s. 5d ; pitting, treading, boarding, 
and weighting, together 3s. \id. ; making a total of 14s. 2d. per acre. 
My plan of emptying is to have a sort of double doorway filled in with 
sawdust and movable boards, and, as the silage is cut, I anticipate we 
shall work into it from below, like tunnelling. We opened the silo on the 
29th of Xovember from below, as described above — that is, when the boards 
were removed, we tunnelled through the silo, and used it up as it dragged 
out with a dung drag. The results were : — in the first place to prevent the 
fodder being spoiled by bad weather in trying to make it into hay, and in the 
next jjlace to have a better and more succulent food for the stock, and thus 
do away with the almost absolute necessity of using roots, which is expensive, 
and in wet winters such miserable work on a clay farm, and I think a losing 
game as well. ISIy experiment was made with rather drj'- grass, that is to say, 
the morning was dry, no dew at all when we commenced cutting the grass, 
and the day continued dry, but without sun, so there was no external 
moisture on the grass. As to the keeping qualities of the fodder, I think that, 
if my plan is followed out, to keep the weight on the top, and work from one 
end, taking what is wanted from the breastwork every day, no deterioration 
will take place. We were about a month at ours, and we could not tell any 
difference in it. The horse-feeders would have it for their horses without my 
consent, and a very careful stock feeder I have had for years gave it to all tne 
young calves. If the pitted fodder gets air into it, it will begin to must soon, 
and when once that begins, I believe the must will gradually spn ad. The 
whole secret is, I think, in cutting the grass by a hired chaff-cutter, if a 
farmer has not got one suflBciently powerful of his own, and then treading it 
down vrell, and thus getting it as solid as possible; then putting plenty of 
pressure on it as soon as po.ssible, onlj' removing it as you work from the end. 
As soon as I opened my silo, I fed two Alderneys on the silage entirely, also 
some young calves; tiie other stock was fed with one-third silage, one- 
third hay, and one-third oat-straw. We had been feeding pulped swedes and 
