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Cornell University
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The original of this book is in
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Silos and Ensilage.
THE PRESERVATION
OF
Fodder Corn and Other Green Fodder Crops.
BRINGING TOGETHER THE
Most Recent Information from Various Sources.
EDITED BY
DR. GEORGE THURBER,
OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST.
ILLUSTRATED.
NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.
1881.
on)
€
SAIS
T Se
. +83?
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Entered, sae to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
Iu the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washinyton.
CONTENTS.
wees
Page
INTRODUCTION 23-)22¢ moans eaieo ese pels stews eee
How is the Fodder Preserved. .---..----------.----- 9
CHAPTER I,
The Literature of Ensilage__..-._.----...----------------- 12
CuaPptTer II,
Raising Fodder Corn for Ensilage--.....-.-.-------------- 13
CuaPrer III.
Location of and Building the Silo_..--....-----.---------- 15
The Size ‘of the: Silo. ..2-228 sseecseieseevoseeses seas 19
CHAPTER IV.
Cutting and Storing the Fodder _-_...-...-.------.------. 20
The Proper Size to Cut Fodder_.......------------- 20
Filling ‘the Sil6:<.cs-.22cccceue.sentteeceeeseese ded. 21
Covering the Silo__._...---.---.-------------------- 22
Salt: and. Straw 2.c)0oseic62. obo besadcclecihancsen sede 22
CHAPTER V.
Concrete: Sil0s :<\22c2 sete seen Sas cist eee neeet ees eee Seles 23
Whitman & Burrell on______...-_-.---------------- 26
CHAPTER VI.
European Experiments in Ensilage _-..__..._...--.-.----- 27
CHAPTER VII.
Messrs. Buckley’s Experience in Ensilage........-----.--- 36
CHaptTer VIII.
Whitman & Burrell’s Silos... .---------.---------------.-. Al
(3)
4 CONTENTS,
CHAPTER IX.
Ensilage in Hungary...-----------~------.---------------+ 47
CHAPTER X.
The Ensilage of Brewers’ Grains.__.-....-.--------------- 51
CHaPTER XI.
The Ensilage of Other Crops than Corn _...-.-...-.------ 54
CHAPTER XII.
The Nutritive Value of Ensilage._.............-...-....-- 60
CHAPTER XIII.
Supplementary Notes on Ensilage ..............--..-. .-- 66
Increasing the Capacities of a Silo___..........._._- 66
Ensilage for Poultry.--...-.-....-.--------------.-- 67
The Chemistry of Ensilage -_......__......_..._---- 67
The Character of the Manure. ...____...._.________. 69
PREFACH.
The method of preserving green crops, especially those
of fodder corn, by means of Ensilage, is one that the
wide-awake farmer of the present day can not afford to-
ignore. The experiments already made in this country
show that this method of preserving green crops must,
it may be in an Americanized form, be adopted as a part
of our system of agriculture. The farmer who looks for
information on this subject finds it scattered through
the various agricultural journals, or in works which are
ostensibly upon Ensilage, but often largely devoted to
advertising other matters.
To bring together the facts concerning Ensilage that
are really important to the farmer, scattered through the
journals and elsewhere, and to present them in a com-
pact form, divested of all irrelevant matter, is the object
of the present work, which claims only to be a com-
pilation. In the earlier chapters the leading points are
presented, and these are illustrated by such accounts of
individual experience as seem most appropriate.
In a compilation like the present, any omission to
give credit must be regarded as accidental rather than
intentional.
That this little work may be of aid to those seeking
information on the subject of Ensilage is the wish of
Tue Epiror.
(5)
INTRODUCTION,
Within a very few years the term ‘‘ Ensilage”’ has ap-
peared in our agricultural journals, meaning the preserv-
ing of green fodder by placing it in Silos. In an intro-
duction to a work on Silos and Ensilage, it is well to
define the meaning of these terms. European writers
all give the word ‘‘Silo” as derived from the Spanish.
It means any underground place for preserving grain,
roots, or other farm products. In American usage the
term ‘‘ Ensilage* means the preservation of green fodder,
especially corn fodder in Silos. The term of M. Goffart,
“‘Ensilage de Mais,” has been abbreviated in this country
to Ensilage, and is supposed to apply solely to fodder
corn thus preserved, unless modified, by naming some other
crop, as ensilage of rye, ete.
In England the terms ‘‘ Pitting” and the ‘‘ Potting”
of fodder are sometimes used, to mean the same as
ensilage.
Ensilage is used, not only to indicate the process of
preserving fodder, but also as a noun, and applied by our
writers to the fodder that is thus preserved.
The process of ensilage consists in packing green corn
fodder, or any other succulent fodder, in close pits or
receptacles, called Silos. It is essential that the silos be
perfectly air-tight. They may be built in either of the
methods indicated in this work. They may be entirely
abore the ground, partly below the surface, or altogether
underground, in the form of a well or pit; the impor-
tant point being to have a thoroughly air-tight receptacle.
This method, which has come into prominence through
the experiments of M. Goffart, of Burtin, France, has
(7)
8 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
long been in use in other countries and for other materi-
als. Some fifteen years ago the ‘‘American Agriculturist”
gave an account of a method of preserving clover in Ger-
many. In October, 1873, that journal published an ac-
count, by a Hungarian correspondent, of the method of
storing fodder corn in pits as practised in Hungary.
Te August, 1874, was an account, from the same corre-
spondent, of the method of storing beets, and other roots,
cut and mixed with chaff, as followed in Hungary.
In April, 1875, pages 139-40, there was described and
illustrated “A Dairy Barn” in Westchester County,
N. Y., in which was a pit for the storage of brewers’
grains. Several thousand bushels of grains were here
kept in good condition for months, simply by excluding
the air.
About this time the preservation of green fodder
attracted much attention in Belgium and France, and
several articles, by farmers and professors in agricultural
schools, appeared in the ‘‘Journal d’Agriculture Pra-
tique,” Paris, the leading agricultural journal of France,
giving methods and reporting general success. The im-
portant portions of these articles were presented in a
condensed form in the ‘American Agriculturist” for
June, 1875, pages 222-223, with six illustrations showing
simple pits and extensive receptacles for the fodder,
built above ground, with the method of filling, ete.
In September, 1877, pages 335-336, was described
‘An American Silo.” This gave two illustrations of
the pit attached to the Westchester County, N. Y.,
barn, described in April, 1875, with hints as to the
utilization of such pits for the storing of corn fodder.
_ In 1877, M. Auguste Goffart, an eminent French agri-
culturist, published at Paris a work on “Ensilage.”
This was translated by J. B. Brown, of New York, and
published in 1879. Besides Goffart’s original work, this
has an appendix giving several other articles and notes
INTRODUCTION. 9
by that author and several of his countrymen, the expe-
rience of Francis Morris, cf Maryland, extracts from the
“American Agriculturist,” besides a note giving ‘‘ Con-
clusions of the Translator,” in which ke says: ‘‘'The
first notice of this matter in this country seems to have
been made in the ‘American Agriculturist’ of June,
1875.” As shown above, Mr. Brown was not exactly
right as to the date, though quite correct as to the fact.
Prof. M. Miles, then of the Illinois Industrial Uni-
versity, in 1875 experimented in the preservation of
broom-corn seed. He stored it in pits, just as turnips or
other roots are stored, putting on a layer of straw, and
covering this with some eight to twelve inches of earth.
Pits put up in September were opened the following
March, and were found in satisfactory condition ; where
the covering was only eight inches deep, the outer portion
was dry and moulded, forming a compact crust a few
inches thick, but the interior was fresh and bright, while
a covering of twelve inches of earth preserved it better.
A sample of this ensilaged seed, sent to us at the time,
was perfectly sweet, and had much the odor of brewers’
grains. What may be the feeding value of these imma-
ture seeds of Broom Corn is not determined ; cattle ate
them readily, and there would appear to be no difficulty
in keeping them perfectly well, should it be desirable.
HOW IS THE FODDER PRESERVED ?
It is well known that a mass of green fodder, if loosely
stacked up, will soon ferment, heat, and pass into decay.
In the silo, the fodder is closely packed, and in an air-
tight receptacle, and these conditions, instead of encour-
aging decay, prevent it, and favor the preservation of the
mass. Several chapters have been written on ‘The
Chemistry of the Silo,” but to understand them requires
10 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
a familiarity with chemistry not possessed by the average
farmer and general reader.
Every farmer knows that manure, another form of
vegetable matter, if allowed free access of air, will fer-
ment, heat, and decay. He also knows that manure, if
kept under cattle or sheep, and daily trodden down
through the winter, will come out in the spring quite
unchanged. ‘These are familiar illustrations of the well-
known fact that the presence of air is necessary to decay,
and that the complete exclusion of air tends to the pres-
ervation of perishable substances.
In the fodder corn we have a mass of succulent stems
and foliage in which preparation has been made for the
production of grain. These are filled with juices hold-
ing in solution the material that would soon be deposited
in the grain as starch, etc., but now largely in the form
of sugar. When the corn plant is cut and packed in
the silo, fermentation, the first step in decay, at once
begins. By th> action of the oxygen of the air on the
sugar and other contents of the stalks, etc., various
changes take place, one of which is to produce Carbonic
Acid. This acid is a gas, in which a candle ¢an not burn
or any animal live, and in which no further fermentation
can occur. If the silo is air-tight, the very first steps in
the fermentation of its contents produce a gas that acts
as a preservative and prevents further change. The
more compact the fodder corn, the less air will there be
among it, and the sooner will the fermentation step.
The fermentation not only acts upon and changes the
composition of the air within the silo, but the fodder
itself is acted upon and changed.
Sugar, when present in the juices of the corn, is at
first converted into alcohol ; and if fermentation contin-
ues far enough, acetic acid, or vinegar, will be formed
from the alcohol thus produced.
‘If the silo is properly air-tight, and its contents cut
INTRODUCTION. 11
fine and well packed and carefully covered, there can not
be sufficient air present to allow fermentation to go on to
an injurious extent.
The fact that injury may occur to the contents of the
silo from undue exposure to the air, should be kept in
mind at every step in filling the silo and in feeding its
contents.
At first it was supposed that the fodder was subjected
by the heat of fermentation to a kind of cooking, and
that its tissues were thus made tender. This idea is at
present abandoned, and it is known that the most success-
ful silos are those in which the least fermentation takes
place, and consequently the less heat is produced, hence
the contents are preserved so far as may be in the most
natural condition.
12 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
CHAPTER I.
THE LITERATURE OF ENSILAGE.
The Literature of Ensilage in this country is comprised
in the following works in the order of publication :
1st. Mr. J. B. Brown, of New York, translated and
published, in 1879, the original work of M. Auguste
Goffart, which gave his experiments, on an extended
scale, at his farm at Burtin, France, and for which M.
Goffart received the decoration of the Legion of Honor.
Besides giving a translation of M. Goffart’s writings, the
translator adds other interesting matter.
2d. In 1880 there appeared ‘‘The Book of Ensilage ;
or, The New Dispensation for Farmers, etc.,” by John
M. Bailey, Billerica, Mass. This work, of over two
hundred and twenty pages, gives the author’s experiments
at his place, ‘‘Winning Farm,” and contains much
matter not at all related to ensilage. In 1881, Mr. Bailey
published a ‘‘Farmer’s Edition” of the same work, in
which a large share of the irrelevant matter is omitted.
3d. ‘On Ensilage of Green Forage Crops in Silos,”
by H. R. Stevens, proprietor of Echo-Dale Farm, Dover,
Mass., Boston, published by the author.
As intermediate between: special treatises on ensilage,
and the many articles that have appeared in the agricul-
tural and other journals, may be mentioned a paper in
“The Journal of the American Agricultural Associa-
tion,” New York, 1881, entitled ‘‘ Mill’s System of En-
silage,” by Francis D. Moulton. This is an interesting
account of Mr. C. W. Mills’ experiments with ensilage at
‘‘Arrareek Farm,” Pompton, N. J. But there is nothing
in the article that shows Mr. Mills’ ‘system ” to be dif-
feront from the ordinary methods.
RAISING FODDER CORN FOR ENSILAGE. 13
The agricultural journals have devoted much space to
the subject of ensilage, and a file of any of the leading
papers for the past two or three years will be found to
contain much interesting matter on the subject. It is
the object of the present work to bring together all that
is important from the various sources.
CHAPTER II.
RAISING FODDER CORN FOR ENSILAGE.
To one about to undertake the preservation of fodder
corn by ensilage, the important points are: growing the
crop, building the silo, cutting and storing the fodder,
and the methods of feeding. All preparation in the way
of raising the crop must have been done some months
earlier than the date of the publication of this work ;
still, for the sake of completeness, we give a brief
chapter on raising the crop.
If, as now seems probable, the method of ensilage shall
be generally adopted and incorporated in our system of
agriculture, we shall soon be supplied with such imple-
ments as will facilitate all the work relating to it.
The readiness with which inventors and manufacturers
have met the demand for cutting implements, is an indi-
cation of what may be expected in other steps of the pro-
cess, so soon as the needs are made known. ‘Thus far,
the experiments in cultivation aud harvesting have been
made with the implements and machines already in use
on the farm. Not only may we look for new facilities in
the mechanical appliances, but for improvements in the
material, the kinds of corn best suited to the purpose.
14 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
One about to experiment with ensilage is met at the
outset by the question, ‘‘ What kind of corn shall I sow ?”
Here European experience is of no value as a guide, as
the varieties recommended there are not known here, and
we no doubt already have kinds of corn better suited to
the purpose than any known in Europe.
In the majority of the experiments in this country,
thus far, the variety sown has been the Southern White,
or “‘ Horse-tooth” Corn, <A recent variety, ‘‘ Blunt’s
Prolific,” has been highly commended, and a special kind
called ‘‘Mammoth Ensilage Corn” is advertised.
The greatest possible weight to the acre of quickly-
grown and succulent herbage is required. When the
plant has completed its growth, and commences to pre-
pare for a crop of, seed, it then becomes woody ; the nu-
tritive material in the stalk and leaves is diverted to the
grain, and there deposited in a different form.
The production of varieties best suited for ensilage
will no doubt soon follow, if we have not already such.
In January last the ‘‘ American Agriculturist ” figured
and described the ‘‘ Cuzco,” or “‘ Peruvian Corn,” which,
by its rapid and gigantic growth before showing either
tassel or ear, suggests that it may be useful in establishing
a variety of maize for ensilage, either through acclimation
by selection, or by crossing it upon other kinds of corn.
The cultivation of fodder corn for ensilage is not dif-
ferent from that where the crop is to be cured in the
usual manner. The land being thoroughly prepared and
highly manured, is laid out in rows, twenty to thirty-six
inches apart, and the corn dropped four to eight kernels
to the running foot, the distances depending upon the
size of the variety. The subsequent culture is the same
as usual. Several mention the great utility of the Thomas
Smoothing Harrow in keeping the crop clean until it is
eight to twelve inches high, or too tall for this treat-
ment. Some have raised satisfactory crops without the
LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 15
use of any other implement or tillage than that given by
this harrow, the corn soon smothering the weeds.
-The precise condition in which the fodder should be
harvested is not generally mentioned by those who have
given accounts of their operations, the date being usually
stated instead. Some say that they cut up the fodder
when ‘‘in tassel,” and others when the ears were “‘ partly
formed.” We should naturally expect to find the plant
itself the most nutritious just at flowering time, that is,
when it has ‘‘silked”; how far beyond this it may stand
with advantage, experiments are needed to determine.
In cutting’ up the corn, the sickle or corn knife is
generally preferred to a reaper, though we may expect in
due time to find these hand implements superseded by
more rapid machines, especially devised for the work.
CHAPTER III.
LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO.
lf one were to lay out a plan for buildings with reference
to feeding ensilage, he would make the silos the central
point around which all the rest would be arranged. But
our farms are already planned, the barns already built,
hence the silos must come in and form a part of an estab-
lished order of things. The silo is to preserve fodder
which is to be fed at the barn, hence its location must be
with reference to the most convenient feeding of its con-
tents. If, as is often the case, the barn has been built
near a bank, then this bank may be utilized for the silo,
placing this with reference to the feeding floor. The large
silos of Whitman & Burrell, at Little Falls, N. Y., were
16 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
so built that the roof of the barn could be extended to
cover the silos. In some cases it may be most convenient
to build the silo within the barn, or, where a basement
has been made for the reception of manure, it may be
better to convert the basement into silos, and dispose of
the manure elsewhere.
So long as our experimenters are not yet agreed as to
the best form of the silo, some holding that a deep and
narrow one, in the form of a pit or well, is better than a
long and shallow one upon the surface, the proper loca-
tion is difficult to determine. The essential points to
be observed in building a silo are given in the following
pages, and a consideration of these may help in determin-
ing the location.
It must be borne in mind that the silo is to be filled
and to be emptied. The filling is accomplished in a few
days, while the emptying, by feeding out its contents,
may extend through several months. Hence convenience
in feeding the contents must, other things being equal,
largely determine the location of the silo.
BUILDING A SILO.
It is unfortunate that the first accounts of ensilage
were by those who were not obliged to regard expense,
but, having abundant means, could construct such silos
as seemed to be required. We may add here, that much
is yet to be done in ‘‘ Americanizing ” the whole matter,
and we have no doubt that the experiments now being
made will greatly simplify, not only the building of the
silo, but every other step in the method. The wealthy
dairy man or other proprietor may make an investment
of a few thousands, if he sees that it will give a good
return in the feeding of his hundred or more cows,
while the farmer with five cows, who all the more needs
the benefits that this new method may bring, can not, as
LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 17
a general thing, afford the outlay of a few hundreds of
dollars. Before going into the particulars of building, it
may be well to consider what a silo is expected to do,
whatever may be the plan. In speaking of ensilage, we
now have reference to the preservation of fodder corn by
the method though, as will be seen, other farm crops
and products may be preserved in a similar manner.
The fodder corn, cut small, is packed in a receptacle
which is perfectly tight, so that it will not allow water to
enter from without, or gases to escape from within.
Could a glass jar be made of sufficient size it would be a
perfect silo. Large capacity, with perfectly air-tight and
water-tight walls, being the objects in view, the structure
will vary according to the locality and surroundings. In
some places a silo can be most cheaply built of stone; in
other places brick will be found the most available mate-
rial. In other localities still, concrete will be cheaper
than either stone or brick, and just as good. These,
stone, brick, and concrete, are all well understood build-
ing materials, and where one has the means to allow him
to avail himself of them, are no doubt the best. But
those who can not command either of these should not
be deprived of the benefits of ensilage. There are several
accounts of successful preservation of fodder corn in silos
excavated in a bank of heavy clay soil, in which the
fodder corn was packed directly against the earthern
walls. We do not recommend this method, as there are
many chances of failure. There are many localities
where the soil is of such a character that cisterns for
rain-water are built by making an excavation of proper
size and shape, and covering its interior with one or more
coats of cement mortar directly upon its earthern walls.
Wherever cisterns of this kind may be built, a silo may be
made in a similar manner.
Another modification is possible in wooded countries,
where log-barns and even log-houses are still built. A
18 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
silo may be Jaid up of logs as for a log-house, and by
taking special pains with the “‘chinking up,” with clay,
both inside and out, an air-tight and temporarily useful
silo may be constructed.
Silos have been built by partitioning off a space within
the barn, using two thicknesses of boards, and placing a
layer of tarred sheathing paper between the boards. It
is not likely that a silo with wooden walls can last a great
while, as a large mass of fermenting material in direct
contact with the boards will soon cause them to decay.
Another kind of silo is possible in lumber districts,
where slabs are cheap. A frame may be made with slabs
set up about a foot apart, to build a hollow wall, which
is to be filled in with stiff, clayey soil, to be put in grad-
ually and rammed down hard. By either of these, and
other make-shifts, which are, of course, only offered as
suggestions, those who can do no better may secure the
benefits of ensilage, as well as those who can erect more
permanent and more costly silos.
A detached silo must be provided with a roof. In
some cases it may be so placed that the roof of the barn
can be continued to extend over the silo, and thus mate-
Tially lessen the cost of building.
In building a silo, whether of brick, stone, concrete, or
other material, drainage is not to be forgotten, for to be
successful the silo must be not only air-tight but water-
tight. In building with brick or stone, the services of a
mason will usually be required. If the silo is of con-
crete, there is nothing in its structure that can not be
managed by a person of ordinary tact and ingenuity.
Probably the larger number of silos built in this country
will be of concrete, and, in view of the importance of
the subject, we give a separate chapter on building con-
crete walls.
x
LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 19
THE SIZE OF THE SILO
Of course will be determined by the number of animals.
The description of Whitman & Burrell’s, and other large _
silos will give some idea of the larger structures. It is
estimated that one cow requires for a year five hundred
and fifty cubic feet of ensilaged fodder, and if the cows
are pastured for half the year, then two hundred and
seventy-five cubic feet will be sufficient. Mr. Bailey es-
timates that to keep two cows for a year, a silo ten feet
wide, long and deep will hold sufficient. A silo twelve
feet wide, thirty feet long, and twelve feet deep, he esti-
mates will hold about eighty-seven tons, enough to win-
ter twelve to fifteen cows. Where stone is plenty, he
thinks that a silo of this size can be built at a cost, be-
sides the labor, of about fifty dollars. Silos have been
made by digging a pit, putting in the fodder as in pitting
roots, piling it as high as practicable, and then covering
with earth. The difficulty in this case is, that in open-
ing, the earth mixes with the fodder; besides there is a
trouble in keeping the covering tight as the contents set-
tle ; this method might answer where straw is plenty, and
a sufficient covering of that can be placed over the fodder
before putting on the earth.
20 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
CHAPTER IV.
CUTTING AND STORING THE FODDER.
While some have succeeded in preserving the fodder
corn in pits without first cutting, it 1s generally conceded
that it should be cut before storing. Already several ma-
chines, to be driven by horse or steam-power, have been
invented and are manufactured expressly for the purpose
of cutting fodder corn for ensilage.
THE PROPER SIZE TO CUT THE FODDER.
The fodder has been cut by different experimenters in
pieces varying from one inch down to one-fourth of an
inch, the majority regarding three-eighths of an inch as
the most desirable size. One object in cutting fine is to
insure the most compact storage possible and consequent
exclusion of air. The packing away should follow im-
mediately upon the cutting, in order that the juices of the
plant may not evaporate and be replaced by air. For the
same reason, there should be the least possible delay
between the field and the machine that is to cut it for
the silo. As Dr. Bailey properly suggests, “ tearing or
shredding the stalks would be much better than cutting,”
and leads us to hope that a machine for this purpose may
be forthcoming in due time. But at present the corn
must be cut, and for this there is no lack of suitable
appliances.
That the size of the pieces is of importance in other
respects than as regards the preservation of the fodder,
is shown by a case that recently came to our knowledge.
A friend informed us that one of his neighbors, who had
succeeded admirably in preserving the fodder, found that
CUTTING AND STORING THE FODDER. 21
after his cows had fed upon it for a while with evident
relish, they all at once seemed reluctant to eat it. An
examination showed that the gums of the cows were
badly cut and inflamed to such a degree that they were
unable to chew the fodder. This trouble was found to
be due to the fact that in the act of chewing, the short
pieces of fodder would generally be bitten endwise, and
the outer portions of the corn, which at the base of the
stalk might get very hard, being presented endwise to the
teeth, were so sharp as to lacerate the gums and the tender
parts of the mouth. This gentleman proposed to over-
come the difficulty by cutting the fodder longer; if the
pieces were longer than broad, the animal would take
hold of them in the usual way and bite against the cir-
cumference of the stalks rather than against the ends.
It is not probable that a difficulty of this kind could occur
unless the base of the stalks had become too hard and
firm for feeding in any form, and as many have fed the
short-cut fodder without any trouble of this kind, it is
a warning against letting the fodder get too old, rather
than a caution not to cut it too fine.
FILLING THE SILO.
Experimenters generally agree that about two feet in
depth daily is better than a more rapid filling of the silo
with the cut fodder. The form of the silo will govern
the rapidity of filling somewhat: if narrow and deep, it
may be necessary to fill in a greater depth daily.
The importance of thoroughly compaciing the fodder
is strongly enforced by all who have had any experience.
The fodder should be spread evenly, mixing leaves and
stalks as thoroughly as possible, and as the work proceeds .
be trodden down very closely and firmly. Where the silo
is of a size to allow it, horses or mules have been intro-
duced to do the trampling. The usual custom is to keep
22 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
one or two men in the silo to tramp down the fodder as
fast as it comes from the cutter. If during the night the
surface of the fodder in the silo has dried appreciably, it
should, upon resuming the filling the next day, be wetted
sufficiently to restore the original moisture ; this may be
most conveniently done by the use of garden watering pots.
COVERING THE SILO.
When the silo is filled, six or eight inches of straw are
laid over the top of the fodder, and upon this a covering
of two-inch plank, cut so short that they cannot bind
against the walls, as the contents settle. The plank cover
is then heavily weighted with whatever material may be
most available. Where large stones are at hand, these may
be used ; logs will answer ; boxes filled with gravel or with
earth, and even bags of grain have been used. Much of
the success of the process depends upon having sufficient
pressure. The weighting material must be of a kind that
will allow of its removal in part without disturbing the
rest.
SALT AND STRAW.
In the early experiments, salt was scattered among the
fodder, but this is now abandoned, as it is not necessary
to the preservation of the contents of the silo.
In some cases cut straw has been mixed with the fod-
der in filling the silo, some claiming that it is useful in
absorbing superabundant moisture. On grain farms,
where straw is abundant, it would be desirable to use a
portion of it in this manner, but experiments are needed
to show to what extent such a mixture may be made
without injury to the corn fodder, by preventing that
from being sufficiently compacted. One writer claims
that the feeding value of straw thus mixed with fodder
corn in the silo is greatly increased. This is one of the
CONCRETE SILOS. 23
unsettled points in ensilage, and one worthy of careful
investigation.
In some instances, where the quantity of fodder corn
was not sufficient to fill the silo, hay, especially rowen,
has been used to complete the filling. This was put in
as soon as cut, and when the silo was opened was found
to be in most excellent condition.
CHAPTER V.
CONCRETE SILOS
One of the best methods of laying concrete is by means
of planks to form the mold to hold the mortar, the
planks being held in place by posts set at the angles of
the wall, and at other points if necessary, and by clamps,
both the planks and the clamps being held in place by
wedges, all of which is shown in the accompanying en-
gravings. Figure 1 represents the planks in position,
and the posts set, held together at their tops by strips
nailed upon them, while at the ground they should be
held in position by stakes and braces. Figure 2 is a
diagram showing a section or ground plan of the same
things; a, 4, in both figure 1 and figure 2, are iron
clamps holding the middle of the planks in position in
case they are likely to spread apart. Figure 3 is a rep-
resentation of the walls while in process of erection.
Planks, planed on the side towards the walls, are pro-
vided sufficient for the entire circuit of the building, and
when in position the space between them is filled with
the mortar. When the mortar sets, which, with a pro-
portion of cement it will do very soon, then the planks
24 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
are raised and fixed in position by driving wedges between
the posts and the wall, as shown in figures 4 and 5, in
which a, a, are the wedges; 6, 0, the planks ; c, a clamp
“Fig. 1.—THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE POSTS,
holding the planks together, and wedged on one side, and
d, d, the posts. The posts will usually need to be braced
well to prevent their springing when the wedges are
driven tight enough to support the planks.
Figure 4 shows a section of the wall and one post with
rh
~
eg at i
Fig. 2.—4RRANGEMENT OF THE PLANKS.
the wedges, as looked down upon, and figure 5 is a per-
pendicular cross-section of the same, the letters refer to
CONCRETE SILOS. 25
the same parts in both engravings. The door frames are .
introduced in their places and held by braces until the
walls rise around them.
MatvERIALts UsEp.—It is best, unless indeed some
one in the neighborhood has had experience, to test be-
forehand the proportions of sand, gravel, and lime, or
LP ses ive Fag v
Vow in
n. Me
ee -
bind - = 'N
Fig. 3.—METHOD OF LAYING THE CONCRETE.
cement, which are best suited to the proposed work.
There is so much difference in the various kinds of lime
that proportions can only be given approximately.
Roughly the proportions may be stated as one part lime
to seven parts of other materials, half of which should be
clean washed sand. When sufficient materials are accu-
mulated upon the mixing board, they are first mixed dry
by repeated shoveling, then the lime, slaked to a creamy -
consistency, is added, and well mixed through the whole,
adding more water if necessary. The addition of one-
fourth cement, the lime being reduced to three-fourths
of one part, and the cement being added after the mortar
2
26 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
is mixed, makes a much quicker setting and harder con-
crete. When all cement and no lime is used, but a small
quantity can be mixed at a time, for it sets so quickly
that it could not be placed in position before it became
solid. The proportions for a smooth, solid concrete are:
one part Portland cement to five parts sharp sand. If
ZEN
Boe
Figs. 4 and 5.—RaIsING THE PLANKS.
mixed rather liquid, one-third or more, often nearly or
quite two-thirds, of the wall as completed, may consist
of gravel and coarse broken stones, put in while the
cement is being placed in the molds forming the walls.
WHITMAN & BURRELL ON CONCRETE SILOS.
These gentlemen, in their paper on silos, given else-
where, append the following directions for construct-
ing a silo of concrete: First, having excavated for the
silo, dig a trench all around the bottom and fill in
with cobble stones, and from one corner lead a drain,
if possible, so as to carry off all water. The trench
under the proposed walls of the silo being filled with
CONCRETE SILOS. 27
cobble stones, piace standards of scantling long enough
to extend twelve inches higher than the top of the wall
when it is finished. Place these standards on each side
of the proposed wall, and if you desire the wall to be
twenty inches thick, then place the standards twenty-
three inches apart, and place a pair of standards every
five or six feet around the entire foundation. Be par-
ticular to have these standards exactly plumb and exactly
in line. Fasten the bottoms of the standards firmly in
the ground, or by nailing a strip of wood across at the
bottom of the standards, and a little below where the
floor of the silo will be. Fasten the tops of the stand-
ards by a heavy cross-piece, securely nailed, and fasten
the pairs of standards in their plumb position by shores
reaching the bank outside. Now take plank, one and a
half inch thick and fourteen inches wide, and place them
edgeways inside the standards, twenty inches apart, thus
forming a box fourteen inches deep, and running all
along and around the entire foundation of the proposed
wall. Fill this box with alternate layers of cobble stone,
or any rough stone, etc., and mortar or concrete. First,
a layer of concrete mortar, and then a layer of stone,
not allowing the stones to come quite out to the boxing
plank, but having concrete over the edges, and the con-
crete must be tamped down solid. Prepare the concrete
as follows: Take one part of good cement, Portland is
the best probably, and mix with this four parts of sand,
and mix the cement thoroughly with the sand while dry,
and then mix four parts of clear gravel; make into a
thin mortar, and use at once. Put into the box an inch
or two of this mortar, and then bed in cobble stones;
then fill in with mortar, again covering the stones, and
again put in a layer of stone. When the box is filled
and the mortar ‘‘set,” so that the wall is firm, then raise
the box one foot, leaving two inches lap of plank on the
wall below, and go around again, raising the wall one foot
28 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
each day every second day, according to amount of labor
at hand. If one-half the bulk of fine-slaked quick-
lime is added to the water-lime, it will improve it, and
costs but little. If Rosendale or Akron cement is used,
instead of Portland, then the proportions should be as
follows: One barrel of good live cement, three barrels of
good sand, three barrels of good clean gravel. If no
gravel is obtainable, then use five barrels of sand to one
of cement, and bed in all the cobble stones possible.
Stone with rough edges are better than smooth, as they
bind the wall more thoroughly, but any flat stones found
about fields will do as well. A layer of loose cobble
stones should be placed against the outside of the wall
before the earth is brought against it, so as to have an
air space and a free passage for water.
CHAPTER VI.
EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS IN ENSILAGE.
The ‘‘ American Agriculturist ” for June, 1875, gave,
‘so far as we are aware, the first full account of the Euro-
pean methods of ensilage; the article is here reproduced
as a part of the history of the subject, and as giving the
methods followed in Europe at that time. . . . The
recent experiments in France and Germany in the pres-
ervation and feeding of fodder of various kinds are of
great value to our farmers. Their object is to economize
the use of cattle food. In almost every department of
industry it is the savings in labor and material that are
cheapening the cost of production, and at the same time
increasing the profits of the producers. In every opera-
EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS IN ENSILAGE. 29
tion in agriculture there is a vast scope for saving in both
labor and materials. Our method of feeding stock is very
wasteful ; the greater part of the fodder fed every winter
is expended in merely keeping the cattle alive. A loss of
weight or condition in all kinds of stock equal to from
ten to sixty per cent is suffered every winter. There is
no necessity for this; stock may be kept increasing in
weight during the winter, if the fodder is of the right
kind and the stock is properly housed and protected.
The feeding of poor, unpalatable fodder is the chief
cause of this loss. The appetite needs to be stimulated
at the season when the greatest draft is made upon the
physical condition of the ani-
mal; and to meet this need
there must not only be palata-
ble or enticing food, but there
must be plenty of it. Corn
fodder is largely depended upon
as food for stock over a great
extent of country, and its use
might be well nigh universal,
as no forage plant is soeasily === ===
grown as corn. Could it be pre- ig. 6 Prt Beronz covenme.
served fresh and green for six months or more, instead of
curing it and using it dry, its value would be greatly in-
creased. That it may be so preserved has been shown by
experiment, and the process is claimed to be easy and
very profitable. Of late years a great number of French,
Belgian, and German farmers have adopted the plan, and
some extensive stock-feeders have used it largely, with
the most favorable results. Several communications by
prominent farmers and professors of agriculture in farm
schools have been made to the ‘‘Journal of Practical
Agriculture,” of Paris, from which the following facts
have been condensed, and, by the aid of the illustrations,
the methods in use may be learned. In figures 6, 7, and
30 SILQS AND ENSILAGE.
8 are shown the pits, or silos, as they are filled with the
cut corn fodder, then covered with earth and pressed
down with its weight, and finally as- the cut fodder has
shrunk through fermentation to less than half its ori-
ginal bulk. These pits are about seventy-five feet long,
nine feet wide above, six feet wide at the bottom, and
six feet deep. The sides and ends are built up of masonry
laid in cement. In these pits the corn-stalks are laid
evenly with care in layers of about eight inches thick,’
after having been cut and exposed to the sun for two or
three days. During this time the stalks lose, by expos-
Fig. 7. PIT AFTER COVERING. Fig. 8.—PIT AFTER SIX MONTHS,
ure to the sun, two-fifths of their weight when first cut.
A quantity of salt is scattered over every layer equal to
about sixty-six pounds for each pit. [N. B. It should
be borne in mind that this is an account of the early
experiments ; the previous drying and the use of salt are
now abandoned. Late experience has shown that the
more succulent the fodder, the better it will keep.—Eb. ]
The three pits hold about eighty tons, or seventy-five
thousand kilos, of green fodder. The fodder is heaped
up, as shown in figure 6, to a hight of six feet above the
surface of the ground, and then covered with earth to a
thickness of two or three feet. On the 14th of Septem-
ber, 1872, this work was finished. On the 15th of April
EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS IN ENSILAGE. 31
following, one pit was opened, and the fodder was found
in perfect condition, except for an inch or two upon the
surface and the sides, where it was black and decayed.
Its color was yellow, its odor agreeable, but the stalks
‘aNOOUD WAOMY Lid JO MOIA ANA—'6 ‘SLT
had lost all their sweetness, and had acquired some de-
gree of acidity. Twenty-four beeves were then fed about
nine hundred pounds daily of the preserved fodder, or
nearly forty pounds per head on the average, which was
32 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
equal to about sixty pounds of fresh green fodder. The
fodder was eaten with great relish, and only some por-
tions of the harder stalks were left. The second pit was
consumed July 3d, having been preserved equally well
with the first. The third was not opened until the 20th
of April, 1874, eighteen months after covering. The
fodder was in as good order as that from the other pits,
excepting that the discolored and decayed layer was
somewhat thicker in this pit than in the others ; a result
attributed in a great degree to the gravelly and porous
character of the covering earth, the preservation being
due solely to the exclusion of air. In this instance the
fodder was preserved whole, and the cost of cutting
avoided. But when the fodder has to be cut for final
use, it has been found an economy to cut it before it is
stored. This system has been adopted by M. Piret, the
manager of a large estate owned by M. A. Houette, at
Bleneau, in Belgium. From his statement we find that
he made a small experiment in 1868 which was perfectly
successful, the cut fodder being withdrawn from the pit
in 1869 in excellent condition. In 1870 two pits of
masonry were erected above ground, protected at the
sides only by banks of earth. They were found equally
serviceable with those sunk below the surface, and much
more convenient. Following the statement of this gen-
tleman closely, we learn that bythe aid of about four
hundred and fifty pounds of superphosphate of lime per
acre, he has obtained, on fairly good soil, seventy-five
tons per acre of green fodder, although the average of
his crop was not more than forty-five tons per acre ; two
hundred and fifty tons of this was cut by a fodder cutter
driven by horse-power, cutting two tons per hour, and
stored in the pits as follows. The pit was built as shown
in figure 9, which represents the section, a dividing
wall in the center separating it into two parts. The cut
fodder, falling into the pit, was carried in baskets upon
EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS IN ENSILAGE. 33
a truck on a portable railway to the end of the pit, where
it was packed away in sections formed by a movable par-
‘CUTIE PNIGH Lid GO MBIA TAIS—‘OT ‘Shy
: ! Sl
about two pounds to the ton of fodder being added. This
pit is seen in figure 10, which represents it in a longitu-
dinal section, and in figure 11, which shows it in plan,
34 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
and in which one division is seen filled, and the other in
course of filling. When the pits are filled, the fodder is
covered with a layer of fine clay, nine inches thick, well
Fig. 11.—GrounpD PLAN OF PIT.
beaten down. In these figures the parts are shown by
the following letters: B, is the fodder cutter; C, the
rail track ; D, the exterior walls ; Z, the division wall ;
Ff, the filled compartment ; G, that in course of filling ;
EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS IN ENSILAGE. 35
Hf, the movable partition with a transverse bar, P, which
holds it in position ; J, the truck. The pit is shown in
figure 9, as covered with a roof of boards as protection
from the weather, a measure of economy strongly recom-
mended by M. Piret. In this figure the covering of clay
is shown on the top of the fodder. This is beaten down
frequently, as it may become cracked or disturbed by the
settlement of the mass beneath.
The cost of the process here described is represented
as being about three dollars per ton, including the cut-
ting, carrying, curing, and feeding of a crop equal to
nearly fifty tons per acre of green fodder, fifty thousand
kilos per hectare. This enormous yield appears almost
incredible to us, being a ton to less than four square
rods ; still we can not doubt but such a yield is not only
frequent, but that it is sometimes surpassed. It goes to
show that in the cultivation and use of this, our most
common crop, we come far short of the possible yield,
notwithstanding our favorable climate and the necessity
of every available economy to cheapen or increase its
production.
36 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
CHAPTER VII.
MESSRS. BUCKLEY’S EXPERIENCE IN ENSILAGE.
BY M. C. WELD, IN ‘‘AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST”? FOR NOY. 1880.
The good result which many persons obtained last year
in pitting corn fodder, leads this year to the making of
many pits, or silos, for this purpose, all over the country.
—————SS SS
SS
a
ES és
i 2am
L Se]
= IS
iB i
1
f
‘_ SS _———
Fig. 12.—sEvTIONAL VIEW OF STABLES AND FODBER PITS.
So that if there is the least question as to the utility of
this process for the preservation of corn fodder, it will
be soon set at rest by a thousand experimenters.
I was much interested in witnessing the filling of the
pits built by the Messrs. Buckley Brothers, of Port Jervis,
N. Y., whom I visited about the middle of September.
MESSRS. BUCKLEY’S EXPERIENCE IN ENSILAGE. 37
It has been their habit for many years to put in a large
area of sowed corn, which was cut and put up for curing
in stooks, and afterwards housed or stacked near the
barns. This year they have a larger area than usual, a
large part of which they put down in pits for winter
feeding. This matter of pitting or ensilaging corn
fodder has been carefully investigated by them, and they
have made, this year, two pits under the cow-barn floor.
These pits, figure 12, are twenty-two feet long, nine feet.
wide, and fifteen and a half feet deep, side by side, with
a two-foot wall between them. They are walled all
WO cow. STALLS
SSS)
HAY. BAY FEEDING FLOOR
SS ek
COW STALLS
—
Fig. 13.—FLOOR PLAN OF BARN, CATTLE STABLES, ETC.
around, and cemented water-tight. They would answer
well as cisterns. These two are just built, but there is
an old one, ten feet wide, fifty feet long, and seven feet
deep, which is under the feeding floor. The location of
these pits is shown in the accompanying plan, figure 13.
The cow-barn is one hundred and twenty feet long, by
thirty feet wide. The feeding floor is ten feet wide, and
the standing space for the cows is the same width on
each side. There is room for thirty-six cows in this
stable, up to the barn floor. The floor, the stalls, and all,
from side to side, was taken up for the filling of the pits,
but was relaid.
At the time I was there the work of filling was going
38 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
on in full blast. A pair of powerful mules were at work
in the horse-power. The feed-cutter stood directly be-
hind them, and eut the stalks in half-inch pieces, at the
rate of two tons an hour. It required three men to tend
the cutter, taking the corn from the wagon, feeding it to
the cutter, and seeing that it was properly shunted off
into the pits, where one man spread it as evenly as pos-
sible and trampled it down. At noon and evening half-
a-dozen men got into the tanks, and trampled the fodder
down as firmly as they could. One man and one team
were required to haul the fodder from the field. As soon
as a wagon load was brought into the barn, the team was
ungeared and hitched to the empty wagon. In the field,
the teamster assisted in the loading. There were three
men in the field cutting up the corn and loading the
wagon. Thus the labor required was as follows: Two
teams and one driver, four men in the barn, and three in
the field; eight men in all. With this force they were
putting in about twenty tons a day.
The stalks were rather dry; the juice did not squirt
out of them when they went through the cutter, and the
chaffings were not even moist to the touch. When
packed in the pits, a strong fermentation sets in very
soon. The corn that had been packed the day before
was steaming hot, no doubt having a temperature of one
hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty degrees
Fahrenheit. It had a vinous odor, which was very
sweet and pleasant. Mr. Charles Buckley gave us
the figures of the cost of these two pits, which is as
follows:
Digging, 112 days work at $1... ......ce cece cece ee $112.00
Masons! Dill ss cce ceases 4 aves savscaeuaiaietersraine eeieiece voted 94.44
Men to assist the masons, twelve days work........ 12.00
Bill for lime and cement. ..............cceeeeeevees 78.10
Total. Otay si2.002d.c50 eu eaisiere Sete eee’ arden naw $296.54
This does not include anything for stone, for the stones
MESSRS. BUCKLEY’S EXPERIENCE IN ENSILAGE. 39
taken out of the pit were sufficient for the walls, and
more too. Neither is any charge made for superinten-
dence, and no doubt it would be fair to add fully ten per
cent for the supervision and actual labor, which at one
time or another the farmer himself gave, or say three
hundred and twenty-five dollars in all. There were
fifty barrels of cement used, and about half as much
lime, part of which, eight barrels, was very good, and
the rest, fifty bushels, cheap and of a low grade.
The proportion of sand to cement and lime in the
mortar with which the walls were laid up, was about
two-thirds, but in coating over the surface, to make the
whole water-tight, nearly pure cement was used. Thus
the pits were filled, each one receiving its quota of ten
tons, more or less, being well trodden down, allowed to
settle over night, and again trodden down in the morning
before work, all hands being engaged in the trampling.
When full as possible, settled and trampled, and begin-
ning to heat in the top layers, it is covered with six
inches of long rye straw, any other straw will answer,
and this, with a layer of planks, cut to fit crossways, but
not so long as to bind. Stones are piled, or rather laid,
upon the planks, so that fully one hundred pounds to the
square foot rests upon the fodder. Thus it is left for
winter use. Filled full, one of these pits will hold sixty
tons. That is, containing as they do over three thou-
sand cubic feet, or two thousand four hundred bushels,
at fifty pounds to the bushel, which the compressed,
moist, and almost solid fodder will weigh ; this is equal
to one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, or sixty
tons.
As to the keeping, there can be no question, if the
work is properly done. A brisk fermentation comes on,
as we have seen, as it does in a tub of apple pulp for
making cider. If the air has very slight access it will go
on to ultimate decay ; but if it is kept out, the little air
40 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
at first present is driven off by the carbonic acid gas
which is formed, and the mass ceases to ferment, and re-
mains as if it were in an air-tight case. There is, how-
ever, a slight access of air upon the surface, and its action
upon the juices in the straw and upper layer of fodder is
just enough to maintain an atmosphere of carbonic gas
over the mass, and in the straw, which is like a rubber
blanket, confined as it is beneath the planks. The stable
will be replaced over the pits, and when the time comes
for feeding there will be no going out in storms and
‘“slush” and ice to haul in the fodder from out-of-door
pits, but the floor will be taken up over a sufficient space,
and enough feed removed from one end for two days,
when it will be packed down again and covered closely.
I think rubber blankets, tarpaulins, canvas, or any coarse
cloth painted with boiled oil, would be excellent to pack
close down upon the fodder to exclude the air. One
thing strikes me as very important, and that is, to know
for a certainty that there is no settling of carbonic acid
gas in the pit, after a considerable opening is made. A
man going into a place filled with this gas, as often occurs
in deep wells, is overpowered before he knows it, falls, and
drowns as surely as if he were under water, and is even
less likely’ to be resuscitated. The way to know whether
a man can enter with safety, is to lower a lantern, which,
if it burns freely, shows that there is not a dangerous
proportion of gas in the air of the pit.
WHITMAN & BURRELL’S SILOS. At
CHAPTER VIII.
WHITMAN & BURRELL’S SILOS.
Among the most enterprising experimenters with en-
silage are Messrs. Whitman & Burrell, dairymen at Little
Falls, N. Y. They have given very full accounts in
their local paper, the ‘‘ Little Falls Journal and Courier,”
from which we quote the essential portions of their article
of December 14, 1880:
Our new barn and silo are located on a side-hill. The
barn is ninety-two feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and has
three floors: First, the cow stable in the basement, nine
feet high, two rows of stanchions, twenty feet space
between the rows. About three feet four inches back
from the stanchions is a wrought-iron grating, three feet
three inches wide, after the plan of Prof. E. W. Stewart,
upon which the hind feet of the cows stand. Under the
grating is a trench, three feet two inches wide, and
twenty-eight inches deep ; this is laid in cement, and is
water-tight. All droppings from the cows pass through
the grating, and the urine is all saved, as well as the solid
excrement. There is a drive-way, eight feet wide, be-
tween these gratings. Sections of the gratings are on
hinges, and can be turned up, and the manure from the
pit loaded on to the sleigh or wagon. The vault has to
be cleaned out once in three or four weeks. Cows are
kept perfectly clean and dry, and we think the arrange-
ment is a good thing.
On the floor above the cows, also nine feet high, and
the same size as the cow stable, is the granary and room
for storage of all agricultural tools, implements, and
machinery. This floor also has entrances so that a team
can be driven in at one end and out at the other. The
42 SILOS AND ENSILAGE,
floor above is the main barn floor, and entrance is from
the side-hill right into the center of the barn. The silo
is on the hill-side next, to the barn, thus:
DRIVE-WAY TO SILo. SILo.
Pe ee ee ry
The bottom of the silo is on a level with the cow-
stable floor, and there are entrances into the silo from
both the cow-stable and the floor above. The top of the
silo is on a level with the upper or main floor of the
barn, so that the fodder can be taken out on either of
the three floors of the barn. You will appreciate the
convenience of this arrangement. The silo is built of
stone; the walls are three feet thick next to the bank,
and two feet thick next to the barn ; the roof of the barn
extends over the silo. All around the walls twelve inches
of cobble stone are filled in from top to bottom, so as to
prevent any water lodging against the walls. Capacity of
entire silo about four hundred tons, or two hundred tons
for each compartment,
On June Ist we put in about seven acres of corn, with
a drill, rows twenty-one inches apart, and dropping six
or eight kernels to a foot. In September we cut the same,
hauled to the silo as fast as we cut in the field, and with
a feed cutter of the largest size, or next to largest size, we
cut, at the rate of over one hundred loads per day, into
pieces three-sixteenths to one-quarter of an inch in
length, which was evenly distributed in the silos and
WHITMAN & BURRELL’S SILOS, 43
trodden down. The corn was large, stalks twelve to
fourteen feet high, single ones weighing five to five and
a half pounds, with ears on full of milk. Into one silo
we put sixteen feet, and into the other eleven feet. As
soon as filled, one taking three days and the other four,
we put on the covers. These are of plank, three feet
wide, sixteen feet long, and two inches thick, fitting to-
gether closely ; and upon these covers we put fifty tons
of stone to each silo, the stone having been picked ‘up on
the farm. Within a week one had settled to twelve and a
half feet and the other to eight and a half feet.
On the 26th of October we opened the silo having
eight and a half feet of ensilage, and found the fodder as
green and sweet as when first put in. We used no straw
under the covers, and yet right next to the boards the
corn was all right. We have fed the stock since October
26th, and they are all right, looking and feeding well.
One cubic foot of ensilage weighs forty-seven pounds.
We are feeding sixty-five pounds to each cow per day,
with four pounds of middlings and half a pound of oil-
meal, or cotton-seed meal. We had, before we began feed-
ing the ensilage out to the stock, two hundred and twelve
tons, and the exact cost of harvesting it, filling the silos,
putting on stone, etc., was two hundred and seventeen
dollars, allowing full wages for our own time, etc. We
are now going to feed fifty to fifty-five pounds to each
cow per day, and increase the grain to about six or seven
pounds for the cows still giving milk, and half as much
to the dry ones.
This two hundred and twelve tons from seven acres,
or a little over, is a large result, and is equal to seventy
odd tons of hay, costing but three dollars per ton, or ten
tons to the acre. We believe that by putting all the
manure back on the seven acres of land that we can get
up to forty and possibly fifty tons to the acre. We see
no reason now why the cows that are being fed on en-
44 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
silage will not continue to do well in condition and prod-
uct, and our plan now is to raise about fifteen acres of
corn next season, 1881, and this will be sufficient to fill
the silos full, giving us four hundred tons, and this will
keep forty cows three hundred and sixty-five days; but
as we shall pasture all of the side-hill during the summer
season, about twenty acres, the pasture will also grow
better, because the cows will drop more upon it than they
take from it. We think we can give the cows all they
will eat, morning and evening, of the ensilage, and keep
in this way fifty head the year round on fifteen acres of
corn and twenty acres of hill-side pasturage. ° We, how-
ever, immediately after taking off the corn early in Sep-
tember, plowed up the stubble and put in winter rye.
This came up finely, and we will top-dress it this winter,
and early in the spring give it a good bushing in. We
expect to cut the rye by June 1st or 5th, and cut that up
the same as we do the corn and store it in one of the
silos, then immediately plow the same seven acres and
put in corn; whether this will work remains to be seen.
But we have full confidence in the perpetual fertility of
this corn land, because it is to be replenished, not only
with what grew upon it, but from the grain fed with the
ensilage : for, by the plan we have adopted, the liquid
manure is as perfectly saved as the solid, and the most
accurate experiments show that the fertilizing matter of
the liquid is greater than in the solid manure. Prof.
Stewart reports that he has found the manure from one
cow, standing upon the self-cleaning platform, carried
fresh to the field, the liquid all absorbed by the soil,
equal to the manure from three cows saved in the old
way, by throwing into a pile and carrying it to the field
months afterward. In fact, there is no fertilizing matter
wasted or lost, except that carried off in the milk.
The beauty of the system is, that, instead of spreading
the manure from forty or fifty cows over two hundred
WHITMAN & BURRELL’S SILOS. 45
acres, we use it all on the fifteen acres that furnish the
fodder, and shortly the land must become very rich, and
then we can use the manure on other land. If we were
to build a silo on level land, we would excavate ten or
twelve feet below the surface, and then let the walls of
the silo run up ten feet, using the earth that was excav-
ated to make a bank about the walls above ground. We
would locate the silo close to the barn, making the top
of the silo on a level with the barn floor over the cows;
then, in feeding out the silo, the fodder could be easily
raised with any of the same appliances used for raising
and carrying hay, and with a track running to the
shutes, the car could be dumped so that the fodder would
be deposited in front of the stock. The walls of the silo
should be perfectly plumb and parallel, so that the, fol-
lowers, although fitting closely, can settle without bind-
ing when loaded with stone. As you build the silo walls,
point up as you proceed, both inside and outside, and
then plaster the entire inside, bottom as well as sides,
with Portland cement, as it is necessary that the silo
should be water-tight, like a cistern.
A cheaper way to build a silo, and one which Prof. E.
W. Stewart, of the ‘‘ Live Stock Journal,” advocates, is
to build it-of water-lime concrete.
We think that stone walls two feet thick, plastered
with Portland cement, are better than concrete, and
where people can afford to build of stone they had better
doso. Inregard to the size of silos, we would make them
twenty feet deep, and put them as much below ground as
possible, if good drainage can be had, banking up.around
the outside with the earth that is excavated, as before
stated. A silo thirty feet by sixteen feet, and twenty
feet deep, will be large enough to contain two hundred
tons of pressed ensilage, and this would keep thirty-five
cows six months, feeding about sixty pounds per day.
For one hundred cows, we would advise building a silo
46 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
one hundred feet long, dividing it into three compart-
ments by means of two cross walls, and then feed out
one ata time. ‘This would provide an empty silo in the
spring, which would be ready for the winter rye, clover,
June grass, etc., Hungarian can’t be grown early, which
could be harvested early in June, cut up same as the
corn fodder, and stored in the silos for summer feeding.
Our ideas are, that it is best to give the stock a good
feed from the silos every morning and night during the
summer in addition to pasturage. Now, as to whether
people can afford to put in silos, etc., we can only say
that on our upland farm we had, at the beginning of win-
ter, two hundred tons of hay. If we had putin fifteen or
twenty acres of corn, and cut and stored it in the silos,
we would now have been able to have spared.all of the
two hundred tons of hay, and, as the pric? is now
extreme, twenty dollars per ton, we would have received
for it enough to have paid all expenses of building both
barn and silo, besides raising and harvesting the corn
fodder, and we should have had fully as much manure
to put back on the farm as we will have now in feeding the
hay. But even if hay was but eight dollars to ten dol-
lars per ton, it would pay to put in the corn crop for
ensilage, and build the silo to contain it. The stock
would be kept as well upon the ensilage as upon hay, and
give as‘much manure, and the hay, if it were sold at eight
dollars to ten dollars per ton, would pay all expenses the
first year. The right kind of corn for seed costs eighty-
five cents to one dollar per bushel, and we hope to get a
feed-cutter capable of cutting ten to twelve tons per
hour, or one hundred tons per day, for about one hundred
and fifty dollars, and not require over a two-horse tread
power torun it. Corn ensilage is probably not a perfect
food for cows in milk. Linseed meal, or cotton seed
meal, with bran or oat meal, will produce a good flow of
milk. Fifty-five or sixty pounds of ensilage food, with
ENSILAGE IN HUNGARY. 44
three pounds of linseed meal, and four pounds of bran,
will answer satisfactorily.
CHAPTER IX.
ENSILAGE IN HUNGARY.
The preservation of green fodder crops has long been
practised in several countries of the Continent of Europe,
by essentially the same process as that now termed ensi-
lage, but under the names of ‘“‘ Sour Hay,” and ‘Sour
Keep.” In Germany, clover has long been preserved in
this manner, and especially have the leaves of the Sugar
Beet been kept in pits for winter feeding.
In October, 1873, the “‘ American Agriculturist”’ pub-
lished an article from its correspondent G. C., a farmer
in Hungary, entitled
“SOUR-FODDER MAKING,”
the essential portions of which, with the engraving are
here given: ‘‘ Although the writer is not acquainted with
American farming except by reading of the ‘American
Agriculturist,’ nevertheless I communicate a method of
preservation of juicy fodder peculiarly important for
corn-producing America.
“‘The corn is sown broadcast, or drilled in rows nine
to eighteen inches apart, two metzens to one Austrian
joch, or about 3.3 hectolitre to one hectare. [This
is nearly three and a half bushels to the acre.—Ep. |
The cultivation remains the same ; the field must be kept
free from weeds. At blossom time the corn is mown,
loaded into wagons, and hauled in. The home-brought
48 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
corn is put in large ditches, German Grube, Miethe, ten
or twenty rods long, and is here pressed in by a few men
walking on the green corn. The engraving, figure 14,
will explain the whole. The ditch is twelve feet deep,
twelve feet wide at the top, and six feet at the bottom.
The length will need to be sufficient to contain the fod-
der to be preserved. The ditch must be dug in dry
ground. When the ditch is filled, the green corn is built
like a stack upwards about ten feet over the level of the
==s S
SS Ss
== <—
SSS SS
}
I)
|
Y,
tt)
i
|
i
i
i
SS SSS
SSS SS SSS SSS
SSSSSSS8 SS SEssSs Js
Fig. 14.—SECTION OF HUNGARIAN DITCH,
ground, as shown in the engraving. The finished stack
is then covered with earth about two feet thick on every
side. It is best to cover the top of the stack at first, be-
cause the weight of the earth pressing down the green
corn, so much earth is not needed for covering as is the
case when the sides are covered at first.
“This sour-hay making enables us to store a large
quantity of juicy fodder for the winter, and if well
covered with earth it may be stored for a few years with-
out anyinjury. The most important of all is, the beasts
being once acquainted with this sour-hay, like it very
ENSILAGE IN HUNGARY. 49
much. With us, in Hungary, the sour-hay is cut and
mixed with corn meal, or some other ground grain, and
given to the cattle; but the sour-hay may be fed uncut
also.
“* In sections wherestones and bricks are to be obtained
cheaply, the sides of the ditch may be walled, but it is
not necessary.
“‘T should be very glad if these lines would serve to
encourage the sour-hay making of corn by the American
farmers.”
ENSILAGE OF ROOTS.
The following year the ‘‘ American Agriculturist,”
published, in August, 1874, another article from the same
Hungarian correspondent, in which he describes the
preservation of beets with chaff, giving this also the
name of ‘‘sour-fodder.” ‘‘ The chief necessity of every
dairy farm, or cheese and butter factory, is to feed a juicy
food to the cows at every season of the year; this is
easily provided for in the spring, summer, and autumn,
by feeding green rye, wheat, clover, a mixture of oats
and peas, corn, etc., but in the winter we have no other
milk-producing fodder than beets and corn sour-hay. It
is known to every farmer, how difficult is the preserving
of roots in the winter, and that large quantities of them
are injured and therefore spoil. To avoid this, we cure
the beets and other roots with chaff into sour-fodder.
This method of using root-fodder has been in use on
large farms in Hungary for some years, and has always
been successful. The method of making this so-called
sour-fodder is as follows: at first we have a ditch made
in a dry place [the ditch may be of the dimensions already
given for corn fodder.—Ep.] When the beets are taken
up in the usual manner they are hauled in, washed, and
cut with a machine. Then the pit may be divided into
3
50 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
sections, for instance, for a length of ten rods into five
sections, and by this division the labor is very much
facilitated, because the first section can be covered with
earth, while the second section is being filled. Whena
certain quantity of beets are cut, we place at first a layer
of chaff upon the ground of the first section, upon this
‘chaff is placed a layer of cut beets, in the proportion of
one pound of chaff to ten pounds of cut beets ; these two
layers are then solidly mixed with a fork; after having
done so, a layer of chaff and beets is again laid down,
and again well mixed. This is repeated until the mixture
reaches the top of the ditch; then it must be built up-
a =
Fig. 15,—PIT OF BEETS"AND CHAFF.
ward from six to nine feet above the level of the ground.
On the top of the stack are laid a few sheaves of rye-
straw, to prevent the fodder being mixed with earth ;
then the first section is covered with earth, commencing
the covering at first on the top of the stack. When the
first section is finished, the second and all following sec-
tions are managed in the same manner, as above described;
when the whole ditch is filled, we take care that the stack
is covered on every side with one and a half to two feet
of earth. This sour-fodder, mixed with corn meal or
THE ENSILAGE OF BREWERS’ GRAINS. 51
other feed, will be relished by the daintiest beast. The
engraving, figure 15, shows the whole arrangement. The
first and second section of the ditch is filled, the first one
is also covered with earth.”
CHAPTER X.
THE ENSILAGE OF BREWERS’ GRAINS,
In the ‘‘ American Agriculturist ” for September, 1877,
there was given a description of a silo for the preserva-
tion of Brewers’ Grains. This was attached to a dairy
barn at Katonah, Westchester Co., N. Y., and had at
that time been in successful use for many years. The
silo in this case is square and deep, and attached to the
barn. The engraving, figure 16, shows the shape and
method of construction of the silo, and at figure 17, the
manner in which it is used. It will be seen that the only
difference between the operation of this and the French
silo, is, that the former has not so dense and compact a
covering as the latter. A very close covering is not so
essential with brewers’ grains, as with corn fodder, be-
cause they pack much closer and exclude the air better
than the looser corn stalks ; but when the latter are cut
up into chaff, and thoroughly well pressed down, a mere
covering of planks, nicely jointed upon the edges, would
be sufficient for the exclusion of the air from the mass
below. It is always preferable to cut the fodder into
pieces, not longer than one inch, for the reason that it
then packs more closely and the preservation is more com-
plete. The silo, shown in figure 16, consists of a sort of
basement cellar, with the door opening into the cow-
52 SILOS AND ENSILAGE,
stable, and the rear sunk for the most part beneath the
ground ; a road passes to the end of it, where there isa
door, shown by dotted lines, for the purpose of receiving
the grains. The walls are of stone, and the floor is of
cement. The silo is covered with an ordinary shingle
roof. The grains are packed in solidly, until they reach
the level of the door at the top, when they are covered
with boards, and some straw is thrown over the boards.
a een ene ee en ee a Se nn ae eee
ZL i PEEP zz: Up
Fig. 16.—METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE SILO.
When the grains are required, the lower door is opened,
and the grains, as fresh as when put in, but somewhat
sour, are dug out for use. As the mass is cut away,
nothing is done to the surface which is left exposed to the
air ; but as the grains are very quickly used in this large
dairy, there is not time for them to be injured, and the
surface is made fresh every day by the removal of what
was left exposed the day before. The same method may
be applied to the preservation of corn fodder. As cut
THE ENSILAGE OF BREWERS’ GRAINS. 53
green fodder lies in a looser and more open mass than
grains, it would be necessary to have a cover as nearly im-
pervious to air as possible, for use when the silo is opened
and the preserved fodder is in course of consumption.
This may be easily done by means of wide planks, jointed
smoothly at the edges, which should be laid upon the
face of the mass of fodder as it is cut away. Pins may
be inserted in a few of these planks, upon which another
SSS == =<
Fig. 17.—MANNER OF COVERING.
plank may rest, and the whole cover may then be pressed
tightly against the fodder by means of a piece of timber
placed with one end against the wall, and the other end
resting upon the cross-plank, and thus made to act as a
wedge. This is shown in figure 17; It will be necessary
to cut away the mass of fodder smoothly and regularly,
leaving an even surface for the planks to rest against.
54 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ENSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN CORN.
The experiments with ensilage have been, in this coun-
try, at least, so generally made with Indian corn, that,
in the popular mind, the term is understood to refer to
the preservation of that crop. Reference has already
been made to the preservation of other crops, and some
examples have been given, including one of the success-
ful preservation of Brewers’ grains for a series of years in
a receptacle that is essentially a silo.
In Germany and France, where large areas are devoted
to the cultivation of the Beet as a source of sugar, the
closest economy is observed in every step. Indeed, the
success of this culture depends largely upon the proper
expenditure of the beet-root pulp after the factory has
extracted the sugar, or all that it can profitably remove.
Frost greatly diminishes the yield of sugar ; hence the
beets are topped and harvested before there is any danger
from this source. As a consequence, the leaves are in
excellent condition, being in nearly full growth. While
beet-leaves, and especially beet-pulp, contain a large
amount of earthy matter, salts of various kinds, that
unfit them as an exclusive food for animals, they are of
great value when properly mixed with feed of other
kinds, and their preservation is an important matter to
the farmer who cultivates the sugar-beet. The great
mass of beet-tops can not be fed out before it would
spoil, and ensilage comes in as an important aid in its
preservation. From the accounts given in European
works it appears that the beet leaves are merely packed
away in.pits, and directly in contact with the earth.
The farmer who delivers his beets at the sugar factory
THE ENSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN CORN. 55
bargains for the return of the pulp, and this valuable
cattle food has also been preserved with success by bury-
ing it in a similar manner.
The Beet-sugar industry is making a slow, but healthy
growth in this country, and the time is not far distant
when the preservation of the leaves and pulp by ensilage
will be of great importance.
Hungarian grass usually comes in to supplement a
short hay crop, and being sown late, it is cut late, and is
often in danger of being caught by frost before it can be
cut and cured. The few experiments that have been
made show that this grass may be preserved in silos, and
thus treated makes excellent fodder.
Mr. W. C. Strong, the well-known horticulturist of
Brighton, Mass., tried packing Hungarian grass in the
-silo, just as it came from the field, without cutting. The
attempt resulted in failure, there being so much air in-
cluded in the mass that decay took place. In other
Instances, where the grass was cut before storing, it kept
in a satisfactory manner, and made excellent ensilage.
Millet.—Under this name a variety of plants are eul-
tivated in this country, and there is much confusion in
‘the application of the term. The true Millet of Europe,
Panicum Miliecum, is rarely cultivated with us. It is
to this plant that the name, Millet, should be restricted,
and with all other grasses it should be used with a prefix.
The plant most generally cultivated in this country as
“* Millet ” is one of the forms of Setaria Italica, (also S.
Germanica, which is but another name for the same,)
and is a variety of the “‘ Hungarian grass.” The form
known as “Hungarian grass” runs more to foliage,
while those varieties known as “‘ Giant,” ‘‘ Hungarian,”
“¢ Bengal,” ‘‘Golden,” and other kinds of Millet, have
larger panicles, and produce more largely of seed or grain
than the others.
For the purposes of ensilage, the variety known as
56 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
Hungarian grass would be better than any of the forms
called Millet, as they are likely to give a large supply of
herbage.
The name of Millet, with the prefix ‘‘ Pearl,” that is,
“Pearl Millet,” has, within a few years, been given to a
plant well known in Southern localities as ‘‘ Cat-tail
Millet,” from a resemblance of its dense heads to those of
the real “‘ Cat-tail,” Typha latifolia.
“‘Pearl Millet” is properly Penicillaria spicata, and
belongs to a different genus from any other grass known
as Millet. The trials that have been made with it show
it to have value as a fodder plant. Like several other
grasses, which are large enough when well established,
this is very small at the start. When a stand is fairly
made, it grows on with great vigor, and allows several
cuttings to be made during the season, the number de-
pending upon the latitude. As a plant for ensilage it is
worthy of the attention of southern farmers.
Sorghum, in its different kinds, is worthy of considera-
tion as a plant for ensilage. Sorghum vulgare has devel-
oped into several distinct races. Those forms which are
grown for an unusual development of the seed panicle
are known as Broom Corn. Other varieties have been
produced in which the saccharine matter of the stalks is
developed to its highest point, and are cultivated for
syrup and sugar. Other varieties still are cultivated for
their grain, which, under the name of Durra, etc., are
the principal bread food of some oriental peoples. Of
late, some of these grain-producing forms have been
offered as forage plants, and it is likely that some of these
may be found of value for ensilage. Indeed, all of these
kinds of Sorghum, with the exception of Broom Corn,
are likely to give ensilage of great value, and should re-
ceive attention in those localities where their culture is
found profitable for feeding green or curing dry.
Rye sown for a forage crop is of great value, especially
THE ENSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN CORN. 57
on a dairy farm. It has the disadvantage of maturing
rapidly, and all at once; so soon as the heads begin to
form, the stalk becomes hard and woody, especially at
the lower part, and loses its nutritious qualities.
Where ensilage is practised to a large extent, it is well,
as Messrs. Whitman & Burrell propose, to have a silo
empty by the time the rye is in its best condition for
fodder, at which time it may be cut and stored, thus
preserving this valuable crop in its greatest perfection.
Both Oats and Wheat, cultivated for fodder crops, have
been successfully converted into ensilage. We have not
heard of the use of Oats and Peas as an ensilage crop.
This mixture is a favorite fodder crop with many farm-
ers, and converting it into ensilage would allow it to
be secured for future feeding at just the time of its great-
est perfection, which is before the formation of the grain
and seeds has materially diminished the nutritious value
of the herbage in either.
Among the kinds of forage that have been preserved
in silos in Europe is the foliage of the Jerusalem Arti-
choke, Helianthus tuberosus. A variety of this, called
the ‘‘ Brazilian Artichoke,” is most generally cultivated,
though it is ‘‘ Brazilian” only in name. It differs from
the old and well-known form in having shorter and
rounded tubers, which grow close around the base of the
plant, and these usually have a red skin. The variety
known as ‘ Brazilian” is regarded as vastly preferable to
the old form with long and scattered tubers.
This crop is coming into use in some parts of the
country, as affording a valuable food for swine. The
yield of tubers is often enormous, and as the harvesting
is done by the animals themselves it is cheaply raised.
- The crop is, however, a very exhausting one, there being
few plants that take from the soil and deposit in their
herbage such a large amount of potash as does this.
Wherever the Artichoke is grown, the stalks and foliage
58 SILOS AND ENSILAGE, s
should be returned to the soil in some form. The French
convert them into ensilage. Cattle and other animals
are remarkably fond of the recent foliage, and it will be
worth while for those who cultivate the crop for the
tubers to experiment in the saving of the herbage in
silos, either by itself, or mixed with corn or some other
plant, that its valuable constituents may be returned
to the land in the manure.
In the agriculture of the Southern States the Cow Pea
largely takes the place occupied by clover on northern
farms, both as a crop to be plowed under for green ma-
nuring, and as food for domestic animals.
The crop is not one that is cured into hay without diffi-
culty, as the large stems and foliage are very succulent
and heavy, and lie so compactly that there is danger of
moulding and decay. When made, the cow-pea hay needs
to be handled with care, as the leaves readily break away,
and every time it is moved the finer portions of the hay
become scattered ; consequently caution is required in
feeding it, or the rations will be very unequal. The por-
tions from the upper part of the mow will be little besides
bare stems, while that lower down will have more than
its proper share of the foliage. By preserving the cow-
pea in silos these difficulties would be avoided, and the
southern farmer will be thus enabled to provide his ani-
mals with this rich fodder in a vastly better condition than
is otherwise possible.
It is not necessary that the value of the cow pea, as an
ensilage crop, should be confined exclusively to the South-
ern States. Though it cannot be depended upon to ripen
its seeds in northern localities, it will, in the climate of
southern New York, yield an abundant crop of most
nutritious herbage. This plant is one which should re-
ceive the attention of those interested in ensilage. There
are some twenty or more named varieties of the cow pea
in cultivation in the Southern States, varying almost
THE ENSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN CORN. 59
as greatly in the size and color of the seeds as do the
garden beans. The plants differ much in size and vigor,
as well as in their disposition to run, and seek some sup-
port upon which to climb. Some, if provided with poles,
would climb to the hight of several feet, and these, in
field culture, twine about one another and form a dense
matted mass that prevents harvesting by the mowing
machine. Some varieties are preferred by southern
farmers for plowing under, others are considered best for
hay, and still other kinds for the production of ripened
peas.
The ‘‘Johnson Grass,” also in some localities called
** Guinea Grass,” and ‘‘ Means Grass,” is a tall perennial
species, Sorghum Halepense, with thick tuberous roots,
that is of late being planted extensively in the Southern
and some of the Middle States. It allows of several cut-
tings during the season, and is highly esteemed by those
who cultivate it, both for feeding green and for hay.
This is another plant that promises to have its value
greatly increased by being preserved in silos.
Buckwheat is one of the crops that has been suggested
as proper for ensilage, though we have no definite accounts
of its employment in this manner. It has the merit of
giving a fair crop upon poor land. The straw, after the
grain has been removed, is not regarded as especially val-
uable, and indeed, when fed to swine or used as bedding
for them, is apt to cause an eruption upon or irritation of
the skin. If stored in the silo, this should be done before
the grain has formed, just at flowering time, in order
that the herbage may be in the most nutritious condition.
Prickly Comfrey, Symphytum asperrimum, a plant that
has been rather slow in finding a place in our agriculture,
is in Europe commended as one useful for ensilage, espe-
cially to mix with fodder corn in the silo. We have seen
no definite accounts of experiments with this plant in
the form of ensilage. In some localities in Virginia, and
60 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
on some dairy farms in New England, it has been cul-
tivated to some extent. The chief merit claimed for it
is its abilty to furnish green fodder very early in spring
and late in the fall, and we enumerate it as one of those
plants that may possibly be of value in the silo.
CHAPTER XI.
THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE.
BY J. M. MOBRYDE, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE, ETC., UNIVERSITY OF
TENNESSEE.
The success of Ensilage appears to be fairly established
by experiments in many different localities, and is there-
fore no longer an open question. Concerning the nutri-
tive value of the new food, however, the views are many
and conflicting. We have enthusiastic farmers, on the
one hand, declaring that ensilage is almost equal, pound
for pound, to hay, that it is sufficient by, and of, itself
not only to sustain life, but to fatten, that it can hardly
be improved upon; and, on the other hand, scientists
assert that its value is to be estimated by its percentage
of dry matter alone. The first refer you to the results of
experiments where estimated amounts of this and other
stuffs were roughly fed to different farm animals of
various weights and ages; the second to the results of
recent analyses, showing that it contains eighty per cent
and upwards of water. The last affirm: ‘‘ Average
ensilage contains eighty-two and a half pounds of water
and seventeen and a half pounds of dry substance in one
hundred, and a ton of it, skillfully fed, will make twenty
pounds live weight of beef, which, at five and a half
THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE, ‘61
cents, would be one dollar and ten cents. The manure
might bring it up to one dollar and fifty cents per ton,
feeding value. In view of the above showing, the claim
that ensilage is a nutritious feeding stuff is simply pre-
posterous.” Now any one who will take the trouble to
make the necessary calculations from the data furnished
by No. 14, in Series 2d of the subjoined experiments,
will find that one thousand two hundred and twenty-
three pounds of ensilage made twenty-seven pounds of
beef, live weight, or about forty-three and three-quarter
pounds tothe ton. In other words, the estimated amount
is wide of the mark by upwards of one hundred per cent.
Again, the results of all the following experiments go to
show that ensilage is not of itself a perfect food, and that .
its nutritive value is greatly increased by the addition of
other matters.
I do not propose, however, to discuss in detail the ex-
periments of the several Series, my space is too limited
for this, but simply to ask that all those interested in the
subject will examine them, candidly and fairly, for them-
selves. I have said enough, I hope, to show the import-
ance of experiments carefully and accurately made, with-
out previous bias or prejudice. As such these are
offered, for no expense or labor was spared to make them
thorough and reliable. They are herewith submitted in
full and without reserve, along with the fewest possible
words explanatory of their history and bearing. It must
be premised that every pound of food was carefully
weighed, the animals were confined in separate stalls,
and were as nearly as possible alike in age, blood, and
general condition, except in Section II of Series 1st, de-
signed simply to test the life-sustaining power of ensi-
lage, and in Series 3d, establishing its forcing qualities
when properly combined with other foods.
In Sections II and III, Series 1st, the results of the
experiments are not as unfavorable to ensilage as they at
SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
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THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE.
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64 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
first sight appear; for it must be explained, first, that
the month of January, during which this Series was con-
tinued, was the coldest and most inclement experienced
in this section for years; second, that No. 14 was a cow,
dry upwards of a month prior to the commencement of
the tests, but which, about one week thereafter, came
back to her milk, she was finally dried off about the
middle of February; and, third, that No. 16 was a sin-
gularly savage and unthrifty two-year-old Shorthorn bull,
that ill-brooked the close confinement incident to the ex-
periment. Again, Nos. 1 and 4 of Section III were
yearlings, weaned only a week or so prior to January 2d.
They had received, up to within a few days of that time,
hay, meal, and slops. No. 1 refused its rations at first,
and never ate more than half of the amount allowed.
No. 3, after the first week, ate nearly all. The close cor-
respondence of the results of Nos. 3 and 5 in Section V,
and Nos. 8 and 11 in Section VI, is especially worthy of
notice, and makes these four experiments particularly
valuable. In No. 18 of Section VII the heavier loss is
perhaps explained by the greater flow of milk, as shown
by the same number in Section VIII. It was remarked
by several in attendance on the animals that those fed on
ensilage alone appeared to suffer much more from the
cold than the others. Here we have practice confirming
theory, for the conversion 0: a portion of the carbohy-
drates into acid and other principles, by the fermentation
incident to the process, and the consequent loss, compar-
ative, of the fat-formers, the fuel of the animal body,
would lead us to expect just such results.
In Series 2d the animals were the same as those desig-
nated by similar numbers in Series 1st. Each, No. 15
excepted, received during the interval between the two
Series a daily ration, per one thousand pounds of live
weight, of fifty pounds of ensilage, corn ; six pounds of
the best hay, and three pints of corn meal, and in this
THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE. 65
time, about six weeks, No. 15 gained forty pounds; No.
9, thirty-eight pounds ; No. 14, fifty-three pounds; No.
8, seventeen pounds; and No. 10, thirty-seven pounds.
The weather during the continuance of this Series was
damp and unfavorable, but by no means as cold as in the
January preceding, hence the better results in case of
No. 14, fed on ensilage alone. No. 9 demands a word or
so of explanation. Our farm animals relished the corn
ensilage from the start, but rejected the clover ensilage
at first, and it was several days before they became accus-
tomed to its use. This animal, No. 9, refused its rations
for a week, and in that time lost twenty-five pounds.
All the loss occurred in the first week. After that time,
becoming reconciled to the new food, it made steady and
continuous gains. This experiment enforces the neces-
sity of frequent weighings. It is evident that the highest
percentage of gain in both Series were made by animals
fed on mixed rations of ensilage and matters richer in
albuminoids.
In Series 3d, the animals were forced for the June
market, and all the dates save the first show the day
when each was sold to the butcher. In the interval be-
tween this Series and the preceding, all the animals ex-
cept No. 15 received the same rations as in the first
interval. No. 15 alone of all our farm animals, upward
of forty head, persistently refused the ensilage from the
first. It was therefore allotted the ration of hay in
Series Ist and 2d, and, in the first interval, three pints
of meal in addition. After the close of Series 2d, we
endeavored to force it to eat the ensilage, but without
success. Hence its loss of thirty pounds between the
last two Series. The rapid gain of No. 21, a thorough-
bred Shorthorn, three and four-fifth pounds per day, is
especially noteworthy. No. 14 was quite heavy with calf.
One striking fact greatly in favor of ensilage was noticed
during this Series. The animals, although receiving
66 SILOS AND ENSILAGE,
heavy and constantly increasing amounts of meal, never
became gorged. From the beginning to the end of the
Series their appetites were hearty and vigorous, their
bowels open but not too loose, their digestion good. One
word as to the cost of the rations. The price of meal
and hay, of course, varies in different localities. The
corn ensilage, from the planting to the final weighing
down in silos, cost us one dollar and fifty cents per ton,
or seven and a half cents per hundred-weight. This esti-
mate includes the price paid for fertilizers, interest on
land, ete.
[The experiments given above are worthy of the careful
consideration of all who are interested in the subject of
ensilage, and, with the explanations given of them, these
tables convey the story in a most compact form. Tables
with figures repel many persons, but there is no other
method by which facts like these can be presented so
compactly. The foregoing article, with the tables, is
from the ‘“‘American Agriculturist ” for August, 1881.
—Ep. }
CHAPTER XIII.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON ENSILAGE.
The following items, of interest to those who are in-
vestigating the subject of ensilage, not properly belonging
to either of the preceding chapters, are here brought to-
gether in a supplement.
INCREASING THE CAPACITY OF A SILO.
Cut fodder corn finally settles in the silo to two-thirds
or one-half its original bulk. If a silo be filled and
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON ENSILAGE. 6%
weights put on, the mass settles, and there is a great
waste of space. To obviate this, and to utilize the full
capacity of the silo, Mr. Mills proposes to erect a frame of
plank to extend above the upper edge of the masonry of
the silo to a hight corresponding to about half its depth.
After the silo proper, the enclosure of masonry, concrete,
or of whatever the structure may be built, is filled with
the material, this frame is to be put on, and the fillmg
continued into that. The covers and weights are to be
placed upon the contents, and after these have settled
down to the silo proper, the frame is to be removed and
the covering put on permanentiy.
ENSILAGE FOR POULTRY.
All who have had any experience with poultry are aware
of the great benefit that comes from a proper supply of
green vegetable food during the winter. This is ordi-
narily supplied by feeding cabbages, stored in the usual
manner, or roots. Those who have tried it, assert that
ensilage of Indian corn may be fed to fowls as an equiva-
lent for other green food at a much less expense than such
food can be supplied in any other form.
THE CHEMISTRY OF ENSILAGE.
Like other new methods in agriculture, ensilage has
its enthusiastic advocates, and its opponents, or, ‘at least,
those who are indifferent to it.
Much that has been written upon the subject is in a
style that may be considered as sensational, and calcu-
lated to repel the earnest seeker after facts, and convey
the impression that a method advocated in so extrava-
gant a manner may not be of real value.
It is claimed by those who are opposed to the method,
that chemical analysis shows that corn fodder is injured
by ensilage, and its feeding value lessened by the loss of
68 SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
important constituents. This statement rests mainly
upon the results obtained by Moser at the Vienna Experi-
ment Station, an abstract of whose article was presented
by Prof. H. P. Armsby, of the Sheffield Scientific School,
in the ‘‘Country Gentleman,” in November, 1880.
The summing up of the analyses of Moser shows that
the corn fodder, as treated by him, lost in the silo from
eight to thirty-eight per cent of albuminoids, and a loss
of thirteen to fifty-eight per cent of nitrogen-free extract,
such as starch, sugar, etc.
It should be stated that these analyses are not strictly
those of ensilage, but of corn fodder made into bundles,
placed in the silo at different depths, and surrounded by
the cut fodder. A portion of the bundles of fodder
were allowed to wilt for a few days before they were
buried in the cut fodder, a condition to which ensilage,
in this country at least, is not subjected. It is a wel!-
known fact that fermentation can not take place without
a loss in the material fermented. The object in ensilage
is not to encourage fermentation, but to check it. If
the silo is perfectly tight, fermentation will cease as soon
‘as the oxygen in the air that is inclosed in the cut fodder
is used up. The more perfect the process, the less will
be the fermentation, and, of course, the smaller the loss
in the constituents of the fodder. That there will be
some loss is inevitable, but it will not be claimed that
Moser’s analyses show what that loss is, in the best con-
structed and best managed silos. When that loss of
feeding constituents is accurately ascertained, we shall
then be able to judge whether or not it is counterbal-
anced by the advantages of ensilage.
The author of the article referred to, Prof. Armsby,
in his admirable ‘‘ Manual of Cattle Feeding,” remarks :
“Corn being a comparatively cheap crop, the losses of
material during the fermentation might be compensated
by the improved quality of the residue.”
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON ENSILAGE. 69
‘*Tt does not appear from Grandeau’s analyses, how-
ever, that there is any marked difference in this respect
between fresh maize and ensilage. If this is generally
the case, then fermented corn fodder has all the advan-
tages of the fresh fodder, and no others, except perhaps
as regards palatability, and ensilage is to be looked upon
simply as a method of preserving corn fodder; and the
question of its adoption is a purely economical one.”
THE CHARACTER OF THE MANURE.
In considering the advantages of ensilage, the superior
mechanical condition of the manure from animals fed
upon it, should not be overlooked. When ordinary corn
fodder is fed without cutting, the animals reject the hard
lower portions, and these go to the manure pile, adding
to its bulk rather than to its value, and making the
manure very difficult to handle-or to manage. The
fodder being cut fine for ensilage is all eaten. Should
any be rejected, and find its way into the manure, the
small size of the pieces make them unobjectionable.
ROSS
GIANT AND LITTLE GIANT CUTTERS
(Trade Mark of E. W. Ross & Co.)
FOR
ENSILAGEH.
= =
LONG TRIED & THOROUGHLY TESTED.
OF IMMENSE SIZE, WEIGHT, AND CAPACITY.
WEIGHING FROM 550 TO 2,200 LBS.
GUARANTEED
TO GIVE PERFECT SATISFACTION.
PRICES RANGING FROM $80 TO $300,
Will do from two to four times the work of any other Cutter in the
country. In use by the most thorough, practica], and largest Ensilag-
ists in the country, among whom are: Theo. A. Havemeyer, New York;
8. Remington, [lion, N. Y.; J. M. Bailey, Billerica, Mass.; E. Wright,
Pleasant Mills, N. J.; Francis Morris, Oakland Mills, Md.; A. C. Ste-
vens, Attica, N. Y., ctce., etc. Any quantity of testimonials furnished.
Send for circulars and prices to
E. W. ROSS & CO., Fulton, N. Y.
INDESTRUCTIBLE CHAIN CARRIER.
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