162 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
£ August 17, 18ftS. 
into eatable silage. Hop bines should be ensiled directly the hops have 
been picked, while the sap is fresh. Maize and Sorghum saccharatum 
are valuable ensilage materials. 
Pbeparation of Materials. 
Grass, Clovers, Oats, Bye, Lucerne, Vetches, &c., require no prepara¬ 
tion. They are simply mown as closely as possible and carted to the silo, 
stack, or clamp, and put in, or on, and compressed as tightly as possible 
that the air may not penetrate between the layers. Hop-bines should 
be carted directly the hops have been picked, and much pressure applied 
to them. Where silos are available it would be well to cut hop-bines 
with the bine cutter used to cut them for manure, or they may be 
put into stacks or clamps whole, or cut into long lengths with this 
machine. Maize and Sorghum are usually chaffed in fairly large 
lengths when put into silos. Maize ensiled whole in stacks or clamps 
turns out well if properly managed, even though the stalks are very 
large and thick. 
Special machines may be obtained for chaffing silage materials, 
and elevators for stacking them. 
Methods of Ensilage. 
Since the publication of the Summary of Replies to Questions on 
Silos and Ensilage in Great Britain by the Agricultural Department in 
1885 (C.—4536), and the Reports of the Ensilage Commission (H. C.— 
308 of 1885 and H. C.—119 of 1886), there have been very important 
changes in the methods of ensilage. At that time the only mode of 
making silage was to put it into silos, or pits,—receptacles with sides 
of brick, stone, or concrete. These were often too expensive for tenant 
farmers. Here and there, however, heads of barns, out-houses, and 
other buildings were converted into silos at a small cost. On large 
holdings it would be necessary to have these in various parts of the 
farm as the carting of green forage long distances would be very costly. 
But since the inexpensive and simple stack and clamp systems have 
been introduced, regular pit-silos have not materially increased in 
numbers. 
Silos, 
Existing silos will naturally be made full use of in this emergency, 
and buildings that can be readily and economically converted may be 
made into temporary silos, as the silo system has certain advantages. 
There is generally not quite so much waste as in stacks and clamps, and 
it is easier to keep out air. 
To get sweet silage the silo should be filled somewhat slowly to 
obtain a temperature of from 130° to 160°, which neutralises the acid 
fermentation. If the temperature falls much below this, sour silage is 
produced. 
When silos are filled they are pressed down by machinery, or pressure 
is given by weights of various kinds that may be convenient, such as 
earth, bricks, stones upon planks and boards. Machinery for pressing 
has been patented by several manufacturers. 
Silage Stacks. 
In the wet weather of 1888, as it was impossible to make hay, 
attention was directed to the most inexpensive modes of making silage, 
and silage stacks of various shapes and sizes were hastily eonstructed in 
all parts of the country. Where ordinary care was taken the result was 
generally satisfactory, and the experience of practical men in later 
years warrants the recommendation of the adoption of the stack system 
at the present crisis. 
Silage stacks are made in the same way as ordinary haystacks. 
The materials are carted and stacked either in circular, square, or 
oblong stacks. It is important to have great and regular pressure, 
which may be adjusted, or adjusts itself, as the mass shrinks. If this 
is obtainable, the materials may be put together as quickly as may be 
convenient. There are several patented methods of pressing, as by 
chain pressure, hydraulic presses, and lever appliances. Before pressing 
the material should be carefully levelled. 
Silage stacks may also be made without special machinery. In this 
case the material cannot be put together so quickly, and every part 
must be most carefully and firmly trodden, especially that near the 
outsides. Poles may be pitched at the corners and sides of the stack, 
and braced together at the top to guide the stackmakers. A framework 
of four large planks may be made round the poles and drawn up as the 
stack progresses by pulleys fastened to each end of the bracing at the 
top. This will keep the stack in shape, and allow the outsides to be 
well trodden down. The boards may be used to cover the stack when 
made, and heavily weighted with bricks, stones, or other weighty 
substances. The whole must be covered with straw or other covering 
to keep out the wet. 
A well-known pioneer of the ensilage movement has given up silos 
and makes silage now entirely in round stacks. They are built slowly, 
and not pressed nor weighted until complete. Bough grasses or weeds 
are used to top up, and a layer of these is put at the bottom. The 
surface is trodden down, and sand or earth is laid on the top to a depth 
of about 6 inches. A trench is dug round the stack if the surface 
drainage is not good, the earth from this serving to cover the silage. 
“No mode of compression has been found so good,” this gentleman 
writes, “as earth or sand; it follows the ensilage down much better 
than any other mode of weighting. A little attention is necessary for 
a day or two, to see that it goes down without cracking. In building 
the stack it should be kept full in the middle, in order that it may finish 
convex.” He also recommends the use of a mixture consisting of a 
layer of one load of Oats, Peas, Beans, Vetches, and Italian Bye Grass, 
alternating with a layer of two cartloads of meadow grass, the whole 
being cut or chaffed before being ensiled. 
Dry earth may be spread either directly on the silage or on inter¬ 
vening sheets of Willesden paper. In this case no other covering will 
be required. 
Materials for silage-stack-making should be used whole as a rule, 
and carted at once after cutting. Hop bines and other coarse material 
may be chaffed advantageously in longish lengths with a hop-bine 
cutter. 
Silage Clamps. 
These are simple and inexpensive receptacles of the green crops 
enumerated above. They are advocated by practical men as most 
valuable, especially in times of emergency, and some stock-owners who 
have silos prefer to adopt clamps. 
They may be made on slightly sloping ground by stumping out the 
required size, the length exceeding the breadth, and carting material 
for silage within this area. The carts must be drawn on and over the 
heap precisely as when a manure mixen is made, and tipped where 
material is required to fill up. They must be drawn as closely to the 
sides as possible so as to give pressure there. When the middle has 
risen too high for further carting the sloping ends are cut off and the 
material thrown on to the clamp, and levelled, and firmly trodden in. 
The outsides may be pared off, and the material treated in the same 
way. Then dry earth should be laid evenly upon the clamp, to a depth 
of 8-10 inches, either with or without an intervening layer of rough 
herbage, bracken, or leaves. 
On dry soils a trench may be dug 3 feet deep, and of length and width 
according to the quantity of material. This may be packed tightly into 
the trench by the carts being led over it. A heavy roller drawn over 
the mass will help to consolidate it. The soil from the trench can be 
used for covering and weighting the clamp. Practical men say that 
the material cannot be too juicy and even wet to make good silage by 
this process. 
Old pits for chalking land, so numerous in chalk soil districts, forna 
capital receptacles for silage. The carts should be led over the mass, 
which must be finally left in a somewhat conical form, and covered 
with earth to a depth of from 10 to 12 inches. 
Where earth is used as a covering for silage stacks or clamps occa¬ 
sional inspection is necessary, as the earth sinks with the silage, and 
cracks are sometimes formed which must be filled up. , 
The Use and Value of Silage. 
Many stock-owners and cow-keepers make silage regularly and use 
it as a valuable addition to ordinary food for stock. In one instance an 
owner of forty-five dairy cows has for some years kept his cows almost 
entirely upon silage made in stacks, with an allowance of oil cake. There 
is much other testimony as to its value for feeding milch cows as well as 
breeding ewes. For fatting beasts it has been proved that well-made 
silage is at least of equal value with hay, and for lean stock of all kind's 
it may be used as a complete substitute for either hay or roots. Farm 
horses will do well on properly made silage. 
It can be given either by itself, either cut or whole, or it can be 
chaffed with straw or hay. In the exceptional condition of the scarcity 
of hay and the shortness of the straw of all crops, there will be little o^f 
these to spare for cutting into chaff, and silage may be given alone, and 
must prove of inestimable value for supplying the quantities of bulky 
food that are absolutely essential for the digestion of ruminants and to 
keep them in health. 
METEOBOLOGICAL OBSBBVATIONS. 
Oamdbn Squarb, Loxdon. 
Lat.51° 32' 40" N.; Loag. 0° 8' 0" W.: Altitude. Ill feet. 
Datb. 
9 A.M, 
In THE Day, 
Bain. 
1893, 
August. 
1 Barometer 
1 at 32'', and 
I Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Incha. 
Sunday ,. 
6 
30-135 
61-1 
55-4 
N.E. 
60-2 
70-9 
47-2 
96-9 
43-3 
-- 
Monday .. 
7 
30-085 
65-0 
60-4 
S.W. 
59-9 
78-0 
56-1 
126-0 
64-0 
— 
Tuesday .. 
8 
30153 
72-2 
62-2 
S. 
61-2 
84-9 
54-2 
125-1 
60 0 
— 
Wednesday 
9 
30083 
73-1 
65-1 
S.E. 
62-7 
83-0 
60-0 
121-9 
63-1 
0-010 
Thursday.. 
10 
29-931 
72-1 
65-8 
S.B. 
64-1 
82-6 
63-9 
123-9 
58-6 
-- 
Friday 
11 
30-115 
70-7 
63-9 
E. 
65-0 
81-7 
61-8 
1-9-2 
57-3 
0-077 
Saturday .. 
12 
30-183 
68-1 
65-4 
S.W. 
65-9 
79-8 
63-3 
126-2 
60-3 
— 
30-098 
68-9 
62 6 
62-7 
80-1 
58-1 
121-3 
53-8 
0-087 
REMARKS. 
6th.—Brilliant from sunrise to 9 A.M., then hazy; generally overcast in afternoon 
with occasional spots of rain. 
7th.—Overcast till nearly 11 A.M., bright and warm after. 
8th.—Generally sunny, but not clear. 
9th.—Almost cloudless throughout; much distant lightning in evening and nigh t. 
10th.—Mucb distant lightning and some thunder and rain in the small hours; hazy 
and oppressive in morning ; clear and hot after noon. 
11th,—Bright sunshine throughout. 
12th.—Rain from 3 A.M. to 4 -V.M.; overcast morning with drizzle at 10 A.M. sunny 
afternoon and evening. 
A sultry week with frequent haze and calm air. Temperature about 6° above the 
average, the minima in shade being higher than in any other week of the year.— 
G J. Symons. 
