New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 
37 
in the past to a certain extent, and have practiced less boldly than I 
have believed, and have recorded much work which had better been 
omitted. 
ENSILAGE. 
In our fourth annual report, page 43, we gave particulars of a trial 
with the silo, the material merely thrown in, and no pressure applied. 
The present report is a continuation of the trial. 
In 1886 the fodder corn was harvested on the dates and in the 
amounts as given below, being a mixture of the several races, viz.: 
dent, flint, sweet and pop. The weighings made of the material as 
ready for the silo : 
Aug. 16 6,089 lbs. 
Aug. 18 9,235 lbs. 
Aug. 19.. 5,106 lbs. 
Aug. 20 5,519 lbs. 
25,949 lbs., or 12.97 tons. 
The fodder was cut in about one inch lengths, and thrown into the 
silo indifferently, no treading being done except what was incidental 
to the leveling of the last cutting, which was done by a man with a 
fork. No covering was used. 
November 22 an examination was made. On the surface the fodder 
was found to be slightly dry; for eight inches below the surface decayed 
and blackish, and for the next four inches white and moldy. Below 
twelve inches, the ensilage is dry, hot and acidulous. At a depth of 
two feet, dry, acid, and the temperature 93°; at three feet, the temper- 
ature 86°, and at four feet 80°, and much moister than the upper 
layers, yet acid. 
January 31, 1887, the silo was again opened. The first foot of ensi- 
lage was black, rotten and compact, and just beneath was a very thin 
layer of white mold; below this the ensilage appeared bright and clean 
with no apparent decomposition. Odor at two feet strongly acid, and 
holding the intensity of smell to a depth of three feet. The tempera- 
ture at six inches was 63°, at twelve inches 73°, at eighteen inches 69°, 
and at twenty-four inches 65°. 
The facts in regard to these two trials of 1885 and 1886, are that no 
pressure was applied, and that the quality of the ensilage was fully as 
good at the period of using as has been that of ensilage from the same 
silo when put up under the most careful system of filling and weight- 
ing. The loss by surface rotting has been in these trials no greater 
