at Home and Abroad. 
191 
I think the quantity I used was excessive, and that 1 lb. per cwt. would be 
sufficient. 
The silo -was filled at one operation, as quickly as possible, on two con- 
secutive days. But I had only green stuff enough to fill the pit to a depth 
of 7 feet 8 inches above the floor-level. The season was too far advanced to 
admit of more fodder being added after subsidence, as will be done next season. 
The chafl' was thrown into the silo direct from the chaff-cutter ; it was 
there carefully spread, salt sprinkled over each layer, and the whole thoroughly 
well trodden and rammed, in order to consolidate the silage and exclude the 
air ; the top was then roughly covered with shutters and boards ; 10 cwt. of 
bran was spread over the top of these, about 4 inches deep, and a few boards 
placed across the top of this, in order to distribute the weight more evenly. 
The bran was used the more completely to exclude the air ; but it is, I think, 
too costly for the purpose. The fodder was compressed by means of boxes 
(old wine-cases, &c.) filled with limestones ; the weight of these stones was 
about 85 tous, equal to a pressure of about 43 lbs. per square foot of surface. 
When opened at end of November, the silage had settled down from a 
depth of 7 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 3 inches, and was very compact and solid. 
The- quantity was estimated at about 20 tons. The present weight of one 
cubic foot of silage taken 2 feet from the bottom of the silo is 52 lbs.* 
The total expense of mowing, carting, chaffing, and filling the silo was as 
follows : — 
s. d. 
Mowing, 5 days at 3s 15 0 
Loading grass, 4 days at 3s 12 0 
Carting, 4 days (man) at 2s. 6d. ; 2 days (boy)) -^^^ q 
atls. Gd I 
Chaff-cutting, 2 days (man) at 3s. ; 4 days (boy)j 
at Is. The chaff-cutter was driven by water > 10 0 
power j 
Throwing chaff info silo, 2 days (man) at 2s. 6d. 5 0 
Spreading chaff, ramming, &c., 2 days (man),) g q 
2s. Qd. ; 4 days (woman), Is ) & s. d. 
3 4 0 
If carting be added, 3 horses in 3 carts, 2 days) 1 10 0 
each, 6 days at 5s \ " 
Equal to, saj^, 4s. 9c?. per ton 4 14 0 
The boards for covering cost 30s ; lOi cwt. straw and carriage 4?. 
The cost of emptying the silo is almost nil. We cut the silage dow n in 
sections from top to bottom, like hay in a stack. It comes off in compact 
layers, and is easily broken up for mixing with the dry chaff. The main 
result is a succulent food to take the place of roots altogether in early winter 
for mixing with chaff; and it does not, like roots, impart an unpleasant taste 
to milk and butter. It is much less expensive to grow than roots, and the 
process will enable the farmer in wet districts like Wales to save many a 
crop of seed and other hay grass, which would otherwise be spoiled by 
weather, and at much less cost than haymaking. 
I have found no special result due to succulence of crops or external 
moisture upon them. I carried much of my grass in heavy rain ; but this I 
think a mistake, as extraneous water is not needed ; but the more succulent 
* Giving a total weight of 22 tons of silage, if 52 lbs. may be taken as the 
average weight of a cubic foot. — H. M. J. 
