at Home and Abroad. 
2Sb 
fixed, and are made of any roofing material, whether iron, slate^ 
tiles, Willesden paper, tScc. When the silos are either entirely 
or chiefly below ground, the roofs are often 10 or 12 feet high 
under the eaves, and the space underneath the roof and above 
the top of the silo is used for storing hay, straw, &c. 
FUling. — After the details of practice already given, it will 
only be necessary to gather together the threads of the subject, 
and to show their connection or antagonism. But as Filling 
the Silo," from the beginning of the process to the end of it, is 
really a succession of manipulations, and as the net result 
depends upon the harmonious relation of each one of the series 
to the rest, the gathering of the threads is not quite so simple 
as might at first sight appear. Putting aside for the present 
the purely agricultural questions of mowing and carting, I 
divide the process of filling as follows : (1) chopping (or 
leaving unchopped) ; (2) putting into the silo ; (3) treading ; 
(4) covering, and (5) weighting. The consensus of opinion 
on these several points may be easily stated. 
As to chopping, it is generally held that, while not absolutely 
necessary, it is very desirable, because it enables a larger quan- 
tity of fodder to be got into a given space, and also because 
(doubtless in consequence of the greater density of the mass) 
it facilitates the expulsion of the air from the silo. While 
agreeing with this general dictum, I must mention at once that 
my investigations have convinced me that no general rule can 
be laid down with regard to either chopping, treading, or 
weighting pe?' se. They must be taken as an indivisible trio, 
and even then the prudent farmer will carefully regard the state 
of his crops before he decides upon his precise mode of action — 
that is to say, if he wishes to obtain the best results. 
If a crop be pitted unchopped, it requires infinitely more 
treading and weighting than the same crop would require if 
chopped before pitting. It seems manifest that this stands to 
reason, because not only does the chopped grass, clover, &c., 
lie more closely together, and therefore gives less space for the 
air, which is the greatest enemy to silage ; but each cut of 
the chopper produces a wound from which, under pressure, the 
plant will bleed, and lose some of its nutritive value. 
Treading renders it easy for men and horses or bullocks to 
make a considerable impression upon grass, clover, tares, &c., 
after they have been chopped into half-inch lengths ; but a mass 
of whole red clover, tares, or Trifolium incarnatum, unless very 
wet, if pitted whole, would be somewhat elastic to the feet of both 
bipeds and quadrupeds. As a general rule, therefore, I have 
noticed that fodder pitted long has gone more rapidlj' into the 
later stages of fermentation than that pitted after having been 
chopped. The only exception that I can recollect was a sample 
