74 
Report or the First Assistant of the 
be undesirable, as the weight of the fodder placed in the stack was so 
great as to bend the beams, especially where the greatest space beneath 
stack and ground occurred. Further, when great pressure was brought 
to bear upon the beams, they did not endure the strain as well as was 
expected, and would have broken off had not a cross stringer been 
placed beneath them, around which the chains were passed. The south 
end of the stack was elevated twelve inches above the surface of the 
ground. 
Before the fodder was placed on the platform, a layer of straw about 
eight inches deep was scattered evenly over it. In the afternoon of 
August 25, timothy grass was placed to the extent of 1,889 lbs. upon 
the platform. On the twenty-sixth, well ripened Alfalfa was thrown on 
the timothy, 2,723 lbs. being placed over it, and additional to this, 
7,500 lbs. of Hungarian grass that had passed the bloom into the milk 
state. The Alfalfa was considerably wilted, while the timothy and 
Hungarian were quite fresh. The next day, August 27, the stack was 
completed by adding 1,800 lbs. more of Hungarian grass, and 5,865 
lbs. of timothy, orchard, lawn and such other grasses as could be 
secured upon the place. The stack at this time had reached a height 
of eight feet, with other dimensions of fourteen feet, and contained 
19,777 lbs. of green stuff, all of the available grass at hand. 
After giving the sides of the stack a thorough raking down, planks, 
as at the bottom, were laid over the top of the stack, and across these 
three more stringers of the same size as the others were placed, and 
over which medium-sized cable chains ten feet long were passed. 
One end of the chain should have a strong two-inch ring, and the other 
end a grab-hook. Over the opposite ends of the stringers were placed 
chains to which the hooks of the gear could be attached. Connecting 
the lever with the gear, the beams were brought under pressure gradu- 
ally from opposite ends, and thus the stack was compressed. But the 
cross-beams were found to be too slender, so that six by six ones were 
obtained, and these found to be none too large. The most desirable 
cross-timbers would be of tough stringers from the forest, with one 
side hewn flat. 
"While no temperatures were taken of the degree of heat in the stack, 
it was noted that within a week the contents were exceedingly hot, and 
rapidly settled, finally lowering to a height of four and one-half feet. 
On September 30 the silo was cut into for a distance of about five feet 
from the south side, and to the bottom planks. At the top the ensilage 
was decayed from six to twelve inches in depth, not being rotten or 
offensive in the general acceptance of the term, but much discolored, 
and rather dry. The greatest loss came from the sides, which were 
