at Home and Abroad. 
207 
As I have seen only a model of this machine, I cannot say 
anything as to its capabilities, but the patentees inform me that 
they have a silo on view at their works fitted completely with 
their appliances. 
Before leaving this part of the subject I should mention that 
" portable silos " are made by Messrs. W. H. Lascelles & Co., 
of 121, Bunhill Row, London. They have been described and 
illustrated in ' The Field,' and can be seen at the Company's 
works in London, therefore I need not dwell upon them in this 
Report. 
IV. — Foreign Silos. 
A. FRA^XE. 
1. Vicomte Arthur de ChezeUes, Domaine da BouIIcaunie, pres Chaumont- 
en-Vexin (Oise). — The silo is 62 metres (206 feet) long, 4^ metres (15 feet) 
high, and 65 metres (21 J feet) broad, which allows vehicles to move ahout in 
it with facility. It is entirely below the level of the soil, and is constructed 
of masonry covered with a coating of cement. The walls are 85 centimetres 
(about 2f feet) thick at the bottom, and 55 centimetres (about 1^ feet) at the 
top. I commenced by an uncovered silo, and succeeded very well by covering 
the same with a mass of straw. But I soon recognised the necessity of shel- 
tering this same straw under a roof, and by this means to make a large shed 
where I could place my wheat and oats instead of stacking them. The silo 
cost 4000 francs (160?.), the covering 6000 fr. (240?.); total, 10,000 fr. 
(400?.) Thus made it should last for an indefinite time.* It was filled this 
year (1883) towards the 25th of May, and the filling was finished with the 
second crop towards the 15th of August, and with maize towards the 15th of 
September. 
I preserve crops of all kinds in the silo, such as red cloTer, Trifolium 
incarnatum, sainfoin, lucerne, and meadow-grass, winter and summer 
vetches, maize, &c. According to my experience, all crops should be 
mown and pitted a few days before ripeness, and when they are full of 
sap. They are pitted in a chopped state, the average length of the 
cuttings being from 4 to 8 centimetres (about 1\ in. to 2| in.). No dry 
substance is ever mixed with the green food at the time of pitting. About 
3 to 4 kilogrammes (about 62 to 8j lbs.) of salt are sprinkled on a sm-face of 
8 metres (26 feet). The silo is filled in sections of 8 metres (26 feet) length 
as quickly as possible. The crops are trodden as they are put in, more espe- 
cially along the side of the walls. The pitting of the crops is hurried, so as to 
avoid introducing air into the mass, and to airive slowly at a lactic fermenta- 
tion, to be foUowed by the alcoholic stage, and then to arrest it there so as to 
avoid the acetic fermentation. The material is compressed by the treading of 
the men employed in levelling the pitted fodder, and also by the stamping of the 
oxen and horses, which I make pass over the silo in going and returning from 
work. The produce, per hectare (2^ acres), when placed in the silo is about 
24,000 kilogrammes (24 tons). Once pressed, this produce occupies 23 cubic 
metres, weighing about 800 kilos. (16 cwt.) the metre.f It has been proved 
* I am indebted to the conrtesy of the editor of ' The Field,' for allowing me 
to reproduce the illustrations of M. de Chezelles's silo given on p. 208. 
t Taking the cubic metre to be 36 cubic feet, this would give a weight of 
about 50 lbs. per cubic foot. — H. M. J. 
