GIFT OF
MRS. JOHN W. GILMORE

UNIVERSITY FARM

LIBRARY OF
JOHN 7f. GILMORE

*-//'

(S - f"

COLCORD'S SYSTEM

OF

PRESERVING GREEN FORAGE

HEAT OR FERMENTATION

EY THE USE OF

THE SILO GOVERNOR

BY

SAMUEL M. COLCORD
DOVER MASS.

CHICAGO ILL.
HOWARD & WILSON PUBLISHING Co.

1889
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

LIBRARY

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
DAVIS

COPYRIGHT

BY SAMUEL M. COLCORD
1889

DEDICATION.

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO THE HOWARD & WlLSON
PUBLISHING COMPANY* CHICAGO, FROM MY WARM RE-
GARD AND GRATITUDE TO THEM AS THE FIRST PERSONS

TO PERCEIVE AND CANDIDLY ACKNOWLEDGE, THROUGH
THE COLUMNS OF THEIR VALUABLE JOURNAL, THE GREAT
IMPORTANCE AND MERIT OF MY SYSTEM OF PERFECTLY
PRESERVING GREEN FORAGE.

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

PACK

PREFACE, 7

THE SYSTEM AND DEVICE, 13

OF SILOS, 15

FILLING AND EMPTYING THE SILO, 19

THE FEED-BOX, 21

CUT OF THE FEED-BOX, 24

DESCRIPTION OF THE FEED-BOX, 25

WEIGHTING THE SILO, 26

THE CROP TO PRESERVE, 30

MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP, 31

FERMENTATION IN SILOS, 34

THE SILO GOVERNOR, 37

CUT OF SILO GOVERNOR, 41

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILO GOVERNOR, 42

A HALF EMPTY SILO, 48

SILAGE versus DRY FODDER. By Professor Arnold, . 48
EXPERIMENTS WITH ENSILAGE. By Dr. E. L. Sturte-

vant, Director of the State Experimental Station at

Geneva, N.Y., 50

THE OPINIONS OF EMINENT AGRICULTURISTS, ... 51
SWEET FORAGE IN WINTER. From the Farm, Field,

and Stockman 53

MY EXPERIMENT SILO, 55

BUILDING SILOS, 64

DIRECTIONS FOR PUTTING IN AND REMOVING THE SILO

GOVERNOR, 69

CUT OF THE TABLE-TOP CORN-CART, 74

DESCRIPTION OF THE TABLE-TOP CORN-CART, .... 75

FAULTY SILOS AND FAULTY MANIPULATIONS, ... 76

6 Contents

PAGE

REMEDY FOR FAULTY SILOS, 80

ENSILAGE AND ITS IMPORTANCE. From the Dairy

World, 82

ELIMINATING THE AIR, 85

PRESERVING GREEN FOOD. Something New and Impor-
tant in Live Stock Economy. From the Indiana

Farmer, 1887, 85

THE COLCORD ENSILAGE EXPERIMENTS. From the

Farm, Field, and Stockman, 1888, 87

WHAT MY NEIGHBORS SAY, 90

WHAT THE BUTCHER SAYS, 97

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE, 99

WHAT LARGE DAIRYMEN SAY, 108

PRESERVED GREEN FORAGE FED TO YOUNG CALVES, . no
THE SILO GOVERNOR. From the Massachusetts Plough-
man, 112

ABOUT FERTILIZERS, 115

SILOS AND ENSILAGE. From the New England Farmer, 122
SWEET ENSILAGE. From the New England Farmer, 127
ENSILAGE A PROMOTER OF DIGESTION AND ASSIMI-
LATION, 130

COLCORD'S PRESERVED GREEN FORAGE. From the

Farm, Field, and Stockman, 1889, 132

EXPERIMENTS WITH MILK AND CREAM. From the

Farm, Field, and Stockman, 1888, 138

PATENT SILAGE. From the Rural New Yorker, ... 141
A SUGGESTION FOR THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. From
the New England Farmer and Rural New Yorker,

1889, 142

THE PRESERVATION OF ENSILAGE. From the Report of
the State Board of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, in

1888. By S. M. Colcord, 143

PROGRESS MADE IN PRESERVING GREEN FORAGE IN

SILOS, 157

PREFACE.

THIS little treatise is designed to give full in-
formation and explanation of Colcord's method
and device for Preserving Green Forage; and
I have endeavored to write in plain, direct
language, so that all persons interested in the
subject may be able to readily understand and
work by this system without difficulty.

The treatise is arranged to give our present
knowledge on its first pages ; then the means
pursued by which the knowledge was obtained;
the proofs, tests, experiments, progressive ex-
perience, theories, and certificates are given
later on. This arrangement necessarily causes
considerable repetition, as well as apparent
contradiction ; but, as much of the matter em-
braced in this treatise has been published from
time to time, as facts have been developed, I
prefer to reprint some of the original articles,
with the comments made by the press at the
time of their first appearance, remarking that

8 Preface

any investigator will be a lucky man who will
investigate as many years as I have and not
find occasion to change his theories and opin-
ions quite as often as I have done.

It should be remembered that it consumes
one whole year's time to make each experi-
ment, or each class of experiments, and that
it is necessary to verify the work in our own
silo by the labors of other men with other
silos. My silo, manipulations, and results are
always open to the investigations of others.

Everybody ought to know how utterly im-
possible it is for any one man to make success-
ful experiments in opposite directions at the
same time, with opposite systems, theories,
and modes of operation: one with heat, an-
other without heat; one cutting forage very
fine, another packing it in whole ; one weight-
ing with portable weights of bags, boxes, or
barrels, another pressing with screws ; one cut-
ting down vertically, another forking off from
the whole top ; one making an ensilage more
or less repulsively odorous, another pressing
out juice in quantity, bringing it throughout
to the top of the silo, removing the air and
free gases, and producing a wholesome, nutri-
tious food, without waste or odor.

I take great pleasure in thanking the press

Preface 9

for what they have done to bring my system
and device to the notice of agriculturists ; espe-
cially the Farm, Field, and Stockman, the Dairy
World, the Indiana Farmer, the New England
Farmer, the Rural New Yorker, the State
Board of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, in their
Report of 1888, the Scientific American, and
several papers in foreign languages that have
volunteered to publish and illustrate this in-
vention as a public benefit ; also, those papers
that have advertised my system and governor,
without admitting me to their editorial columns,
although they state that they advertise nothing
that they cannot recommend.

All the editorial and other matter herein
presented as copied from those papers has
been published for the benefit of the readers
of the above-named papers without expense to
me, excepting the use of my engravings for
illustration.

I also insert, with these previously published
accounts, the remarks of the former editor of
the Massachusetts Ploughman in relation to
the meeting and investigations of the farmers
as to the merits of the silo governor, at which
meeting the following closing remarks were
made by Mr. Ware: —

" The chairman of the meeting, at its open-

io Preface

ing, stated that what was wanted was real
experience instead of theory. It is but fair
to state that Mr. Colcord has confined his
remarks to practical experience and proofs,
with corroborating testimony about the gov-
ernor."

It may seem contradictory, or merely a mat-
ter of opinion, that capillary attraction should
be stated as the cause of bringing the juice
from the bottom to the top of the silo, and
holding it there, when it is also stated that
carbonic acid had taken the place of the air
in the silo, and that under pressure the car-
bonic acid was absorbed by the juice, causing
a partial vacuum, which is the cause of the
rising of the juice to the top of the silo ; but
both these statements are true, either separately
or combined.

When I had 30 inches of juice at the bot-
tom of the silo, and was pressing heavily, it
happened that the juice began to disappear
very rapidly. I did not believe that capillary
attraction could be the cause of it, and sup-
posed that the pressure had burst a hole in
the bottom of the silo ; but, when the silo was
empty, I could find no leak. I allowed the
water from the aqueduct to run into the silo
for an entire day, kept the water in it for a

Preface 1 1

month, and found the silo perfectly tight. I
then remembered that, before the silo was
opened, carbonic acid had disappeared, and
that acetic acid had remained in, or continued
to come to the top of the perpendicular pipe
above the silo. This was proof positive of
what had taken place.

We wash down the walls of the silo with
water, using for that purpose a long-handled
whitewash brush. This water is all drawn off
through the governor drip pipe, and this is
what is meant by using the governor to draw
off water. We never put water into the forage;
the corn contains more than we have occasion
to use, and this year (1889) we have been feed-
ing as high as 100 pounds daily of juice, but
reduced the rations to 50 pounds until the
excess of juice was used up.

The difference in the corn crop between
1887 and 1888 was very marked, and accounts
for much of the difference in our results. The
last year's crop was badly frost-bitten, quite
immature, gathered and packed very wet, con-
sequently it required much less pressure and
gave a much larger proportion of free juice;
but the screws and the governor entirely con-
trolled these inequalities, and, so far as the
preservation was concerned, the result was
perfectly satisfactory.

1 2 Preface

I will here express my thanks to those gen-
tlemen who have encouraged me to prosecute
my investigations, also to those who have
given the governor a fair trial and are now
giving me their aid and encouragement. I
wish also to draw the particular attention of
the reader to the certificate of the marketman
who butchers my cows, fatted upon this forage
and wheat bran, (no corn meal being used);
also to the New York Experiment Station, in
making the experiment of mixing acetic acid
with green corn forage. It is valuable as
showing the good effects of a limited quantity
of acetic acid, and coincides with my experi-
ence. But I don't think it safe to recommend
such large addition of acetic acid, as a steady
diet, to ensilage as commonly prepared; the
cows, as a general thing, get too much of it.

Seeing little or nothing more to be accom-
plished, I now offer this as my Perfected Sys-
tem of making Preserved Green Forage without
Heat or Fermention.

SAMUEL M. COLCORD,

DOVER, MASS.

THE SYSTEM AND DEVICE.

THE name of " ensilage " has been applied
to all kinds of green forage crops that have
passed through silos. It was first introduced
into this country about twelve years ago,
through the publications of Monsieur Auguste
Goffart, of Sologne, France. The art of pre-
serving green forage without desiccation has
often been attempted, and has been traced
back to remote antiquity; but to M. Goffart
belong the invention and introduction of
ensilage through silos, and to him we accord
the honor. Any person who has made a study
of his theory and practice, and who has studied
the art as practised in this country up to the
present time, will agree with me that the closer
one follows M. Goffart's system, and the less
he follows the professed improvements on his
system, as practically illustrated in this coun-
try, the better will be his ensilage. And I
feel warranted in making the assertion that

14 . Colcord^s System of

M. Goffart was producing better ensilage in
France, twelve years ago, than is being made
by a vast majority of his followers in this
country to-day, notwithstanding all their ex-
periments and attempted improvements upon
his system.

M. Goffart, in his writings, makes this state-
ment : —

" The end to be attained is to prevent ALL
KINDS OF FERMENTATION, before and after en-
silage. Fermentation preserves nothing ; on
the contrary, it is always a preliminary step
towards a decomposition more or less putrid^
towards a REAL DESTRUCTION."

M. Goffart always worked to attain the end
above expressed, as nearly as possible ; and,
although he claimed a perfect system and was
very particular in his manipulations, his writ-
ings show that he 'never fully realized the end
he sought, but always speaks of his ensilage
as heating up when exposed to the air, taking
on the alcoholic fermentation, then running
into the acetic, and finally passing into the
( lactic and other putrid fermentations. This
would not, could not, have been the case if he
had never had heat and fermentation in his
silo.

My experience is that, when there has been

Preserving Green Forage 15

no fermentation in the silo, the forage does
not heat up and pass through the alcoholic
and acetic fermentation to lactic and putrid,
but sometimes takes on a mouldy condition,
which develops black rot and causes destruc-
tion in that way. This may be called fermen-
tation, but it is not a true fermentation.

That I have succeeded, after years of study
and costly experimenting, in perfectly remov-
ing air from the silo, preventing heat and
fermentation, and Preserving Green Forage
Corn in perfection, will be demonstrated in the
following pages.

OF SILOS.

A really good silo must be tight and strong
and impervious to air and water. It should
have a good foundation, perfectly drained and
perfectly perpendicular, smooth, level-faced
walls. If these conditions are fulfilled, it is
not very material of what they are made ; but,
when made of masonry, all forms of lime must
be excluded, as acetic acid dissolves the lime.
Cement must be used instead of lime mortar.

Good silos are somewhat expensive ; but
true economy points in the direction of dura-
bility, convenience and assured success. Their

1 6 Colcord's System of

attachment to the barn, for convenience, should
be provided for ; and also the means for press-
ing the forage, which is a very important item
in economy, time, and convenience. Pressing
by jack-screws, if properly arranged, is the
most simple, convenient, economical, and suc-
cessful. It is accomplished by putting iron
rods, 1 34 inches in diameter, in the centre of
the side walls, from fhe foundation up to from
4 to 6 feet above the top of the silo, said rods
being made with broad flanges on their lower
ends, and long screws on their upper ends
provided to receive double nuts and large
washers, these rods to be placed in rows
commencing and ending 4 feet from each end
of the silo, and not more than 8 feet apart,
arranged on both sides alike. The opposite
rods should be tied together across the top,
with 8x8 timbers provided with holes, so that
they may slip loosely upon the rods. The cap
of the wall should be 6 x 8 timber, set back 2
inches from the inside face of the walls, to
receive the 2-inch plank placed around the top
of the silo for the purpose of building a light
annex, or head-room, from 3 to 6 feet higher
'than the silo proper, said annex to be filled
with forage and answering the purpose of so
much solid wall. The forage placed in the

Preserving Green Forage 17

annex, when pressed, will all come down inside
the solid walls. Under strong pressure, these
walls are held up very firmly by the iron rods,
the timber across the top acting as a spring
upon the forage. In this way, we feel sure of
the strength of our walls, and we can get all
the pressure we want. The governors convey
the abundance of juice to all parts of the silo
evenly. 2x8 plank studding, to support the
roof of the silo, should be placed upon the cap,
so as to support the planks placed round the
top, and bring them just level with the silo
wall. In this way, all time, trouble, and ex-
pense of weighting are avoided. In weighting,
when the governor is used, it requires about
100 pounds to each square foot of surface,
which is equal to 200 or 300 pounds where
there is no governor.

In the very centre of the bottom of the silo
is placed one end of the drip pipe (seen in cuts,
Figs, i, 2, letter k, page 41, to come flush
with the surface of the bottom. This pipe
should be about 3 inches long, made of rj£-
inch pipe, screwed into an elbow at the bottom
of the silo, and from this elbow should run a
horizontal pipe declining 6 inches to any con-
venient place outside and from underneath the
wall. This pipe should end in a J. to turn up,

1 8 Colcord's System of

with a stop-cock in the end of the J_ to draw
off the juice, and an upright pipe from the _L
to come up outside the silo (see cut, Figs, i, 2,
letter 1, p. 41), for the escape of the air and
gases. The drip pipe forms a part of the silo
governor, and the stop-cock comes over a little
well for convenience in drawing off juice.

It is usual to have 8 or 9 feet head-room
above the silo wall, for convenience, and to fill
the silo above the wall up into the annex, for
economy. This head-room is also useful for
storing the plank covering for the silo; the
planks that go around the top of the silo to
build the annex ; the 6x8 timber that runs the
length of the silo across the cover upon which
the jack-screws are placed, and any other tim-
ber or article of use. The jack-screws and
blocking are placed upon the cap between the
studding, so that all the timber and tools are
kept at the top where they are wanted and
do not have to be lowered or hoisted. Each
plank, as it is removed, is placed in the head-
room ; and, when the forage is all fed out,
everything is in place for the next season,
and the silo is entirely empty. Viewed from
the bottom, it appears impossible for any one
to get at the top for theft or disarrangement.

Preserving Green Forage 19

FILLING AND EMPTYING THE SILO.

We do not care to tread down the corn as
we fill the silo, but only keep it level and walk
over it for the purpose of finding soft spots,
which we fill up level. When we get the silo
full, we tread it hard and level, rounding it up
over the top, even above the cross timbers,
and allow it to remain until the next morning,
when we level it and tread again ; then put on
cover, and then the 6x8 cross timbers 2 feet
from the side walls, placing the jack-screws
between the timbers. The governor being in
place, we drop a thermometer, appended to a
string, into the governor, to the centre of the
silo. We also put a stick in the upright pipe
of the bottom governor, said stick being long
enough to touch the bottom of the pipe, for
the purpose of measuring the juice. We take
this measure daily ; also take the temperature
daily, and press as often as required. All the
corn is cut to half-inch pieces, and is therefore
a homogeneous mass. When we press it, we
mark a long stick to feet and inches, setting it
opposite to one of the screws. We then turn
down that screw to the mark we wish them all
to go to, taking the stick to the next screw,
and so on, pressing all alike, measuring from
the top of the silo around the wall. By so

2O Colcord's System of

doing, we press all the contents of the silo to
a uniform density, the forage slipping in the
silo, and finding its level and density like mor-
tar in a bucket.

Now, we are supposed to have a silo full of
this preserved forage, 20 feet deep, consisting
of from i to 400 tons. We have a door
4*4 x 6 feet, in one end of the silo, said door
opening upon the barn floor, the door-sill being
10 feet from the bottom of the silo. We now
roll the door to one side, and find some boards
tacked onto the edges of 2 x 8 plank, fastened
with 4-inch lag-screws to the 3x12 inch door
jams, on each side, leaving the 2-inch matched
plank flush with the inside of the silo. We
remove the boards, then the wet sand between
the boards and plank, then the side plank,
fastened with the lag-screws, then the inside
plank, the removal of which presents a solid
wall of green forage, with every particle of it
in perfect preservation and ready to feed out,
the doorway having been secured air-tight.
We cut this preserved forage down, vertically
and evenly, with a sharp lightning-hay-knife,
leaving a solid, smooth face, which prevents
the air from getting into the forage. We then
discover that more than half the feed has to be
elevated from i to 10 feet to the barn floor.

Preserving Green Forage 21

We find that we can easily elevate or depress
the cross timbers upon the iron rods any re-
quired distance, blocking the ends between the
cap and the washers. We then run a line of
6x6 timber the whole length of the silo upon
the 8x8 cross timbers in the centre, securing
them with lo-inch lag-screws. We fasten the
hangers of the track to the bottom of the 6x6
timber in the centre with 4-inch lag-screws.
We then place the 3/6 x 3 inch iron in the slots
at the bottom of the hangers, fastening them
by turning up the set-screws, and the track is
complete. This track is furnished with a
double-roller troll, and is quickly put up by
any one of ordinary capacity, and is easily
changed or removed with very little time or
trouble. The double-roller troll, with the
track and hangers, is made by R. J. Davies,
Creek Square, Boston, and costs from $15
to $20.

THE FEED-BOX.

A feed-box, made of stock \y2 inches
thick, 2 feet deep, 4 feet wide outside at the
top, and 3 1-3 feet wide outside at the bottom,
with perpendicular ends grooved into sides
5 feet long, i y2 inches from the ends, with

22 Colcord^s System of

the bottom projecting i^ inches all around,
securely nailed on, will hold enough to feed
25 head of cattle. Being in constant use, it
should be well ironed all around the top and
down the ends, at the sides, and securely fast-
ened together by ^ iron rods, with nuts upon
each end, three of them across each end, going
through irons on the outside. This box is
suspended (see cut, p. 24) on a y2 ton compen-
sated chain hoist by a chain on each side of
the box, with a ring in the centre, the ends
of the chains going through the eye of an iron
at the top of the box, the other end of the
iron being fastened to the 3/& rod running
across the outside ends of the box in the
centre ; also, by bolts near the chain, so that
the chains will be in line from the ring in the
centre to the 3/% r°ds supporting the box from
the four corners at the centre, the rings in the
centre being hooked to the chain hoist.

An iron axle, with wheels 6^4 inches in
diameter, is securely fastened across the bottom
of the box, 22 inches from one end; the wheels
have i y2 inch tread, and run close to the box,
and have a wooden shield to protect them from
the chain. The other end of the box should
be run upon a good strong castor in the centre.
This will enable the box to turn and run in
any direction from the silo to every cow.

Preserving Green Forage 23

With this device, one man can feed all the
cattle with less labor than in any other way ;
in fact, it seems more like sport than work.
The box runs the whole length of the silo, and
remains just where we want it, full or empty,
at any elevation we may be removing the
forage from the face of the cut. We do not
have to lug any of it. Thus arranged, the
device seems to be indestructible, and time,
trouble, and labor reduced to the minimum.
There is no waste, litter, or odor about the
barn or silo. The box rolls out of the silo
upon a Fairbanks scale, every ration is weighed,
and it is all eaten up clean.

The cattle require only about one-half the
usual quantity of water: ours drink no cold
water, and the results are shown at the milk-
pail, the scales,- and the manure pit. In fact,
so quickly and quietly is this shown in prac-
tical operation that it takes less time to show
it than it does to tell and explain it.

Colcord's System of

THE FEED-BOX.

Preserving Green Forage 25

DESCRIPTION OF THE FEED-BOX.

The cut represqnts a feed-box capable of
holding the rations for 25 head of cattle, show-
ing its construction, also the compensated
chain hoist and the double-roller troll which
runs upon the track over the silo. When the
box is lowered upon the barn floor, the chains
are unhooked from the hoist, and the rings,
by which it is shown as suspended, are placed
in the hooks upon each side of the box, leaving
the top of the box perfectly free and without
any obstruction, the wheels at the bottom
allowing the box to turn and run in any direc-
tion. In practical use, it works perfectly, and
is found to be the most convenient and expe-
ditious way of conveying the forage from the
silo to the cattle.

The feed-box is hoisted and lowered by an
endless chain. Said chain is shown in the cut
as hanging loosely against the sides of the
box ; but quite a large portion of its length is
omitted in the cut, for the purpose of saving
the room it would occupy on the page of the
book. The two broken ends from which the
omitted portion was severed are shown in
the cut as hanging a little below the bottom
of the box.

26 Colcord's System of

WEIGHTING THE SILO.

Weighting has always been the great objec-
tion to silos: how to put on and take off 20
to 40 tons of weight, when time is precious,
and to do it cleanly and neatly, keeping dirt,
stones, chips, etc., .out of the forage, and not
making a litter about the barn, to say nothing
of the continual expense, especially when the
weighting has to be hoisted and lowered.
Boxes and barrels are constantly coming to
pieces, and not convenient to handle. Of
course, the weight upon the forage is what we
must have, and the cheapest way to get it
there is by some thought to be the best ; but,
in taking the weight off, it is very important
to keep it upon every plank that you do not
take off, to enable you to make the vertical cut
on the forage when removing it to feed out
I will here suggest the best method of weight-
ing. Take a piece of board, i inch thick, 12
inches long, and 16 inches wide, for the bottom
of a box, 2 pieces 18 inches long and 24 inches
wide for the sides, and 2 pieces 25 inches long
and 10 inches wide for the ends. Place the
sides on the upper surface of the bottom, and
the ends on the vertical ends of the bottom;
nail them firmly together, and you will have a

Preserving Green Forage 27

box in which none of the nails will be driven
into the wood parallel with the grain, and each
attachment will act as a cleat across the boards,
to prevent their warping or splitting. These
boxes are intended to be placed close together
upon the 2x12 inch plank covering the silo,
said boxes having no cleats on the outside.
Put cleats 2^ inches wide, bevelled at the top,
across the ends on the inside of the box. Two
men can use these cleats as handles, and also
to hoist with, by using an A shaped iron having
an eye in its top, and turned out one inch each
side at the bottom, to go under the cleats.
They may be filled with sand or loam for
bedding and to absorb liquid manure, or may
be used for gravel for weighting only. For
strength, durability, and convenience, they are
unrivalled. The word "long," as used above,
means measuring with the grain, and the word
"wide" means measuring crosswise of the
grain. As it is sometimes very difficult to find
boards 24 inches wide crosswise of the grain,
4 pieces 18 inches long and 12 inches wide
will serve to make the sides, instead of the
1 8 x 24 inch stuff.

Two hundred and fifty boxes, made in the
above manner, at 25 cents each, would cost
$62.50. Flour barrels would cost about half

28 Colcord's System of

that price, and iron rods and jack-screws would
cost about $62.50. The boxes would last 31
years, or $2.00 a year; the barrels, 3 years, or
$10.00 a year; the screws and rods, 70 years,
or, say, $1.00 a year. But the time, accuracy,
and convenience of the screws wrould more
than double the economy of the boxes or
barrels, and should be reckoned at only 50
cents a year. I esteem the value of the rods,
for strength and security, fully equal to their
value in pressing the forage; and, if I were
building a cheap wooden silo, I should put
them in, first building a good 1 8-inch cement
wall, 3 feet high, upon a good foundation, well
drained, setting my wood silo upon it, putting
a timber between each rod and the inside
double boarding, with 2 x 12 inch studding,
filled around the bottom with cement and
gravel, and between the out and inside board-
ing with sawdust to keep out the frost. I
would also spike 2-inch plank firmly around
the outside, at the top, middle, and bottom,
because you want to be sure of your 8 or 10
months' food for your cattle, and silos are so
difficult and expensive to repair, if the walls
give way. Built in this way, wooden silos are
easily converted into cement ones, which are
sure to be wanted in the future, and are always
permanent and require no repairs.

Preserving Green Forage 29

There are other methods of getting pressure,
— with levers, also with water; but these are
no cheaper and not so convenient, because
with jack-screws, costing from $2 to $4 each,
you can remove the screws and blocking at
pleasure, and set them back as you cut down,
keeping the pressure on, which is a great
advantage. But with water, even if you have
an aqueduct to run the water in and out the
barrels with a hose, the water may freeze; and
the barrels are always in the way and cost
more than to press with screws and rods.

It does not work well to have a double cover
running lengthwise and crosswise the silo, for
you cannot remove part of it at a time. The
best cover is 2-inch plank, laid directly upon
the forage, with 6x6 timber laid across length-
wise, about 3 feet from the side walls, to keep
the plank level. Uncover no faster than you
cut down. I have found by repeated examina-
tions that, when you uncover the whole top to
feed out, by forking it off, the top, owing
to exposure to the air, is about twice as sour
as it is about 2 feet below where you fork from,
so that the stock get twice as much acid as
there is any occasion for, and often more than
is healthy.

30 Colcord's System of

THE CROP TO PRESERVE.

Almost any kind of green forage can be
preserved in silos. The general conditions to
be observed, in putting it in the silo, are to
have it a homogeneous mass when pressed.
For this reason it should be cut fine, especially
when the stalks are coarse and hard like corn.
It is much better to have but one kind of fod-
der in the silo at the same time, for the reason
that the softest kind, if more than one variety
is used, will pack quicker, and hard enough to
prevent the escape of air and gas. The air
and gas will collect in spots, and set up heat
and fermentation ; but, if the mass is in uni-
form condition, evenly spread and pressed, the
air may all be removed from it without diffi-
culty, which will insure good preserved forage.

There may be cases where there is a heavy
crop of coarse marsh grass, fresh or salt, which
does not require cultivation, and is convenient
to the silo, that would pay to cut up and pre-
serve, in which case it would greatly enhance
its value for feeding.

There are sections at the South where some
heavy crops grow without cultivation that
would make good feed for cattle, and would

Preserving Green Forage 31

be greatly increased in feeding value by pres-
ervation in the silo, but which would be com-
paratively valueless preserved by desiccation.
A case in point is the Roman wormwood, the
common ragweed of the North, which I have
known to be ensiloed, and is said to have made
a very palatable food. But to raise a crop of
anything else for the silo, on land upon which
Indian corn will grow, seems to be a waste of
time and money. It is better to plough under
the crop of weeds before they go to seed,
and plant a crop of mammoth ensilage corn.
When you do this, you are feeding the land
as well as the cattle, at the same time, much
more economically.

MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP.

Indian corn, above all other plants, is the
crop for the silo, because it is the best food, is
greatly increased in feeding value by soaking
in its own juice in the silo under pressure, is
a great appetizer in this form, is more assimi-
lable as food, and the plant, or corn, in the
milk does not have the injurious effect of corn-
meal. From 20 to 40 tons can be raised to
the acre of land, 3 tons of it being equal in
feeding value to i ton' of hay. It is easily

32 Colcord^s System of

planted in drills, 3 feet apart, one kernel every
6 inches, by an Eclipse Corn Planter, which
plants 500 pounds of fertilizer in the drill, at
the same time covering it and the corn, and
rolling it all, at one operation, at the rate of
4 acres daily.

The best results I have had in crops have
been obtained by using J. A. Tucker & Co.'s
Bay State Superphosphates, 500 pounds being
spread broadcast upon small loads of manure
by a manure spreader, harrowed in, 500 pounds
also in the drill, as above stated; and I will
here add that one of the best things about the
Eclipse Planter is that every kernel of the
corn comes up evenly, and the crows will never
pull up any of it.

About the seed I plant, I have had the best
results from C. H. Thompson & Co.'s " Mam-
moth Ensilage " and the " Red Cob Ensilage "
from St. Louis. When there is a good oppor-
tunity to market sweet corn, the best of it can
be selected for market, leaving the forage in
good condition for the silo. The best variety
I have found for this purpose is " Stowel's
Evergreen."

In estimating the capacity of the silo, after
the forage is heavily pressed, a cubic foot will
weigh about 50 pounds, usually a trifle under,

Preserving Green Forage 33

so that it is very easy to calculate how much
to plant, how much to feed, and how long it
will last.

The "Dr. Bailey's Ensilage Cutter" will cut
and elevate from 40 to 100 tons daily, with a
6 to 8 horse-power engine and boiler. The
corn can be harvested and put into the silo in
almost any weather, hot or cold, dry or wet
(unless it rains too hard to work in the field),
with less trouble, in less time, more security,
and greater surety of perfect preservation, than
any fodder crop can be harvested in any other
way.

We have the statement of M. Goffart, who
has tried it for many years, that Indian corn
can be raised continuously, year after year,
upon the same ground, by spreading upon the
manure piles, each week, 100 pounds of ground
bone to the equivalent of manure used upon
an acre of land. I give my authority for this
statement, because I have not tried it in this
way. M. Goffart also states that he raises
about 40 tons of fodder corn to the acre, upon
land fertilized in this way, upon the same land
continuously, and the forage keeps his cattle
in perfect health year after year.

34 Colcor&s System of

FERMENTATION IN SILOS.

Chemistry teaches us that fermentation
takes place in the following order: first, the
saccharine; second, the alcoholic; third, the
acetic ; fourth, the lactic ; then a variety of
other fermentations, either in quick succession
or found to exist at the same time in the same
substance. These transformations are accom-
panied with heat. At the fourth change, the
heat is generally above 86°, and germs of
bacteria are developed, and we have true fer-
mentation, with continued evolution of Car-
bonic and Acetic Acids, in connection with a
variety of putrid fermentations. These con-
tinue with rapid decomposition and recomposi-
tion, with increasing heat, until the mass goes
to destruction, more or less quickly.

In silos, these germs of bacteria are sup-
posed to get into the silos with the air, at the
time of filling. They develop very rapidly,
and multiply indefinitely, by subdivision. The
germs will germinate into living activity at 86°
of heat, and will germinate after exposure to
a heat of 212° for some hours; but the devel-
oped bacteria will be killed at a temperature
as low as 122°. Bacteria live upon oxygen,

Preserving Green Forage 35

which they may get from the air, or they may
get it from the sugar and starch in the corn,
direct, without air. They live and thrive in an
atmosphere of carbonic acid.

Now, with this explanation, how is it possu
ble for corn to be placed with safety in a silo
slowly, when mixed with all the air possible to
get in with it, heating in the centre enough
to kill bacteria, and toward the sides the
proper temperature to develop germs into the
greatest activity, the bacteria in the mean time
multiplying indefinitely by subdivision in the
best medium, sugar and starch, for supporting
their life, — I ask how is it possible to stop
such fermentation before the contents of the
silo spoil ?

On the other hand, suppose the heat does
not rise above 86°, true fermentation does not
take place, but the action of the air upon the
forage, with moisture, develops a fungus growth
upon the outside of the forage, which may
continue, passing through mould and black
rot to destruction. This often happens in
corn fodder when the process of desiccation
has been imperfectly performed, but true fer-
mentation in the silo evolves and often ends
in a light or dirty yellow residuum, with foul
odors, more or less pronounced, nauseating

36 Colcord's System of

and offensive. These conditions are usually
found after heat and fermentation, just in pro-
portion to the amount of air taken into and
retained in the silo.

I have endeavored to give a rationale, as I
understand it, of the process of fermentation
found in the silo. But in my practical obser-
tions I have found that, as quickly as I could
fill my silo, Carbonic Acid was also there, in
quantity, the morning after the first day, and
Acetic Acid, in quantity, the morning after
the second day. My natural senses did not
detect the presence of the saccharine or alco-
holic fermentation. I did not get up in the
night to call the roll, but found the substitutes
in the morning, and have never since seen the
delinquents to know them. I don't propose to
contradict science, but I do propose to apply
and use it according to my experience, and the
HARD, COLD FACTS which have confronted me.
I know that, if I get all the air out of my silo,
I do not have heat or fermentation, conse-
quently no loss of fodder and no foul odor;
and I have come to look upon Carbonic and
Acetic Acids as MY FRIENDS, in consequence of
their early calls and assistance, in helping me
to develop and perfect my system of perfectly
Preserving Green Forage in its best condition.

Preserving Green Forage 37

THE SILO GOVERNOR.

Whenever forage is pressed in a silo, it
packs where it is most dense, and becomes
so hard that the air can neither get out of
the corn nor out of the silo. It therefore re-
mains in, and is pressed into the forage, which
causes it to heat and ferment; it also prevents
the corn from settling as it should, and acts
as an air cushion, which causes lateral press-
ure upon the silo walls, and prevents settling
enough to get juice at the bottom, and bring-
ing it throughout the mass to the top. We
therefore lose the great benefit of having a
quantity of free juice in the silo, which benefit
consists in reducing the temperature, making
the forage soft and pulpy, rendering it more
assimilable, and greatly increasing its feeding
value. After Carbonic Acid has performed
its office of displacing the air from the silo,
it is absorbed by the juice, causing a partial
vacuum, which causes the juice to rise gradu-
ally to the top, and is kept there, under press-
ure, by absorption and capillary attraction.

These operations are all brought about
and controlled by the silo governor. Its
action commences on the first day of filling,

38 Colcord^s System of

and goes on continuously for about two
months, when the silo is ready to be opened.
Briefly stated, it collects the air from all parts
of the silo, conveying it to the outside. When
the Carbonic Acid appears, being heavier than
air, it sinks to the bottom as it permeates the
forage, displacing the air, which it does grad-
ually and quietly, without mixing with it : the
silo governor alao conveys the surplus quantity
of Carbonic Acid outside, in the same manner;
it also operates in the same way with Acetic
Acid. These two acids and air are the only
gases we have to contend with when we use
the governor, which so perfectly removes and
governs them that we never have heat or
fermentation ; consequently, no decomposition
or development of foul odors. We keep a
thermometer in the centre of the silo, and
examine it frequently: we also measure the
quantity of juice in the bottom of the silo
daily, or as often as is necessary, by running
a long stick down to the bottom of the per-
pendicular pipe of the lower governor. We
get all the juice wanted from the corn, allow-
ing it to accumulate on the bottom 20 to 30
inches deep. This last season, we had 6
inches of juice before we could put on the
cover to press; the year before, we had 2
inches. This year we had a surplus of juice,

Preserving Green Forage 39

and have been feeding from 50 to 100 pounds
daily, mixed with the shorts, to our milkers.
This juice was drawn off, clear, sweet, and
odorless, from the bottom of the silo.

The governor collects and distributes the
juice to and from all parts of the silo, and con-
veys the surplus from the centre to the outside,
under the cemented bottom, to be drawn off
as wanted. In making ensilage where no
governor is used, it is seldom that any juice
collects in the silo, even with i to 200 pounds'
weight upon each square foot of surface ; so
that pressing green forage by this system
requires not half the pressure to produce
better results, with much greater economy.
In controlling the operations inside the silo,
we are guided quite as much by the quantity
and quality of the juice as by the gases, odor,
and temperature.

Carbonic Acid is perfectly wholesome in
the stomach, and performs a good use in the
silo; but it is necessary to be very careful
working in a silo where it is, as no breathing
animal can live in an atmosphere of it more
than a few minutes. Acetic Acid is also very
plentiful in the silo, and quite wholesome. It
is the acid that causes the sour taste in every
silo ; and we are apt to get too much of it, as
it is readily absorbed by the juice. But a

4<D Colcord^s System of

great deal of it is taken out, through the
governor, in a gaseous or vapor state. When
this acid remains in a silo that has had no
heat or fermentation in it, it is quite pure, and
renders the - food more palatable ; but, when
fermentation is present, it becomes decom-
posed, loses its acidity, and assists in produc-
ing foul odors, with a nauseous, putrid smell
and taste. This state of things, more or less
pronounced, is what constitutes the difference
in the quality of ensilage ; and its effects are
noticed in the taste and smell, the foul odor
imparted to the silo and barn, and upon the
hands and clothing. Even the small quantity
which the cattle can eat of it produces a
nauseating effect ; and the bad effect produced
by it in milk, cream, and butter, especially
when fed to delicate children, is positively
unhealthy, not only to them, but to man or
beast. Such a condition may be easily and
entirely avoided in the preservation of green
forage, and never exists where there is no
heat or fermentation, or where the governors
are used, in a good silo, to prevent it.

With good smooth walls, held up with iron
rods built into them, with the governor to take
out the air and gases, we have but little lateral
pressure ; and yet we bring immense vertical
pressure to bear directly and uniformly, which

Preserving Green Forage

condenses the forage, without impacted strata
in the mass, giving us results, without fear of
accident, not obtainable by any other means.

CUT OF SILO GOVERNOR.

fig!

42 Cole orcl's System of

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILO GOVERNOR.

Figure i is a top view of a silo ready to
receive the ensilage, and showing a portion of
my apparatus resting on the floor.

Figure 2 is a vertical section cut on the line
xx of Figure i.

Figure 3 is a portion of pipe, on an enlarged
scale, taken from1 one of the front corners of
the apparatus, and placed bottom side up to
show the air holes on its under side.

Figure 4 is a top view, on an enlarged scale,
of a portion of the bottom of the silo before
the principal portion of my apparatus has been
placed in position, showing the upturned end
of the drip pipe, and the strainer in its mouth.

Figure 5 is a section of portion of pipe and
elbow, on an enlarged scale, showing the
wooden peg which prevents the pipe from
turning in its bearings.

I construct my apparatus as follows : I take
iron pipes a a of any dimensions desired, and
join them together so as to form a frame A,
with a continuous air connection (which also
communicates with the drip pipe b], by screw-
ing each of the ends of the pipe a and a, into
its connecting elbow 8 or coupling 9, as shown

Preserving Green Forage 43

at c. The ends 10 and 12 of the pipes a are
thrust or telescoped into their connecting
elbow 8 and their couplings 9, as shown in
Figures i, 3, and 5. All the horizontal pipes,
except the drip pipe b, which runs toward the
side wall of the silo B, are perforated on their
under side with holes about one-fourth of an
inch in diameter, and about six inches distant
from each other, as seen in Figures 3 and. 5;
the ends 10 of the pipes a are each held in
position by a small wooden peg or pin £, as
shown in Figures f, 3, and 5.

A T-coupling f is screwed on to the project-
ing end of the drip pipe b, and the vertical pipe
g is screwed into the upright branch of said
coupling f; the vertical pipe g affording an
outlet or means of escape from the silo for the
air and gases. The pipes a a, which extend
transversely across the centre of frame A,
from side to side, are screwed into the coup-
lings 9, 9 and z, the downward branch of the
latter coupling fitting loosely within the up-
turned end of the drip pipe b. The water,
juices, etc., from the forage, are drawn off
when desired through the drip pipe b, the outer
end of which is provided with a stopper k;
but a faucet may be employed instead of the
stopper, if preferred.

44 Colcord's System of

The mouth of the vertical pipe g I close with
a stopper /, or with a cap.

If the silo has a capacity of over 150 tons, or
is more than fifteen feet deep, the apparatus
for the bottom of the silo being in place, the
cut corn is piled upon it in the usual way; and,
when the silo is about half full, another appa-
ratus, or frame A, not differing materially from
that on the bottom of the silo, excepting that
its vertical pipe m, which performs the same
office as the vertical pipe g, and also has its
mouth closed by a stopper, rises from the in-
side of the silo, as seen in Figure 2.

For the better support of the second frame
A, and to prevent the small holes at the bot-
tom of the pipe from becoming stopped with
the forage, it is placed on a skeleton plat-
form n, Figure 2, composed of narrow strips
of furring ; and upon this platform n, with the
frame upon it, the cut corn is piled until the
silo is filled. To secure the second frame A
in its place on the skeleton platform n, nails or
staples are driven into the platform for that
purpose. As soon as the silo is filled, the ordi-
nary planks are put upon the top of the for-
age, and the weight placed on said plank.
Nothing should be put between the forage
and the plank.

Preserving Green Forage 45

When the freshly cut corn is placed in the
silo, it has not yet had time to become much
wilted, if, indeed, it is wilted at all. Conse-
quently, the air which remains in contact with
it there, is in a much freer condition than it is
after it has wilted ; for through the operation
of wilting the said air becomes much more in-
timately associated with it, and much more
difficult to separate from it. Therefore, dur-
ing the process of filling the silo containing
my apparatus, a large portion of the air in
contact with the forage will be taken into
the pipes a a, and escape into the surround-
ing atmosphere through the vertical pipes g
and m.

The parts of the governor are now made to
be screwed together, which is found to be pref-
erable to " sleeving " them together, as was
formerly done. Right-hand screws are used
at every joint, excepting the right and left
couplings at the cross-sections.

* We take the perpendicular pipes from any
part of the governors. When used to take
temperature, they are taken up through the
centre of the silo. The cut in Figure 2 repre-
sents a pipe taken up at one side, about 6
inches from the wall.

In opening the silo to remove the forage,

46 Colcord's System of

when the first part of the frame A of the ap-
paratus is reached, the pipe a nearest to the
front end r of the silo B is pulled away from
its connections with the adjacent longitudinal
pipes a, and the latter are then also removed,
the pegs e, which held the pipes a in position,
having been first taken out, or broken off.

As the work of discharging the silo pro-
ceeds, on arriving at the central portion, the
pipes a, with their couplings 9, 9, z, after pegs
e have been removed, can be pulled out and
lifted from their place, and their adjacent lon-
gitudinal pipes a drawn out, leaving only the
pipe a at the rear part of the silo to be re-
moved when reached.

In building a new silo, I place the drip pipe
<5, Figure 2, so that its upturned end will be
flush with the surface of the bottom of the
silo. Just below the surface of its upturned
end, I place a strainer s, Figures 2 and 4,
which will allow water and juice to pass freely,
but will arrest coarse pieces of matter.

When liquid rises in the pipe g, it can be
drawn off by removing the stopper k.

The silo governor has air passages within
three to four feet of every part of the forage
to the outside of the silo, from which to dis-
charge the air, not only after it is packed, but
while it is being filled.

Preserving Green Forage 47

Air can be taken out of the silo in larger
quantities from the bottom and central parts
of the silo than can escape from the top.

While the air is going out of the silo, there
can be no ingress; and, as soon as egress
ceases, the air passages should be closed, by
stopping the mouths of the perpendicular pipes
g and m.

The governor will take off the lateral press-
ure from the walls. There will be nothing
like the pressure of an air cushion in the nat-
ure of hydrostatic pressure. But there must
be weight enough upon the ensilage to press
it to such a degree that it may be cut verti-
cally from top to bottom, leaving a smooth,
solid front to prevent the ingress and action of
the air.

Colcord's System of

A HALF EMPTY SILO.

The following cut is introduced for the sole
purpose of showing the situation of the two
governors when one-half the ensilage has been
removed. It also shows the vertical pipes.

SILAGE versus DRY FODDER.

Professor Arnold, being asked why three
tons of good silage have a feeding value of one
ton of the best hay, replied that in green

Preserving Green Forage 49

succulent foods the cellular tissues have not
been converted into woody fibre, and in masti-
cation and digestion all of the nutritive sub-
stances in these cells are quickly acted upon
by the saliva of the mouth, and then the gas-
tric juices of the stomach, and all the nutri-
ment is assimilated with only a minimum
expenditure of force by the animal economy
to digest it. The natural moisture of the
plants, when green, also acts as a compensa-
tion, and requires but little beyond the gastric
juice to make the food fluid enough for diges-
tion. With dry food, nature is heavily taxed
at all points t to make good the loss of the
juices or moisture of the food. The secretions
of the mouth are called upon to moisten the
dry food. The woody fibre of the plants must
be broken down and disintegrated by the power
of gastric juice to set free the real nutriment of
the food. This force is several times greater
than is necessary when succulent food is fed.
All this extra expenditure of force must be
supplied by the animal, and therefore calls for
an increased amount of food to make good this
demand, or else the animal falls off in flesh.

50 Colcord^s System of

EXPERIMENTS WITH ENSILAGE.

At the annual meeting of the New York
State Agricultural Society, recently held at
Albany, Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, director of the
State Experimental Station at Geneva, read a
paper on ensilage, an abstract of which we give
herewith : —

In the experiments carried out last year at
the station, sweet food, purposely acidified
with a measured quantity of acetic acid in
about the same proportion as analysis showed
to exist in ensilage, gave better results in
milk and by live weight than Hid the same
food without the acid ; and the doubling of
the acid ration was followed by an increased
improvement in quantity of product. A care-
ful examination into the kinds of food fed
during the various periods showed that one
apparent effect .of the acid was to improve the
appetite of the cows and cause them to eat a
slightly larger ration than they had been using
previously. We are thus led to believe that,
so long as the acid fed is not in a proportion
beyond proper condimental relations, it is a
valuable adjunct to food. When we notice
that the use of ensilage as sole food has not

Preserving Green Forage 51

produced a satisfactory condition in the ani-
mals thus fed, we fully believe that the feeding
of the acid beyond its condimental proportions
is not advisable. We are led to believe that
ensilage must be considered as a valuable food
when judiciously fed; and in the hands of a
judicious feeder it may possess a value superior
to that of the raw material, inasmuch as it
contains the same amount of nutrition in addi-
tion to a certain condimental effect upon the
animal.

THE OPINIONS OF EMINENT AGRI-
CULTURISTS.

The following certificate from gentlemen
eminently and reputably known for their prac-
tical knowledge of agriculture and the applica-
tion of business intelligence in their operations
will be interesting in connection with the sub-
ject of ensilage. It reads as follows : —

"The undersigned, having made and fed
ensilage for several years, believing that we
have arrived at certain and uniform success,
offer to those who are in doubt, this

CERTIFICATE.

" This certifies that we are making ensilage
without heat or fermentation, in air-tight silos,

52 Colcord's System of

cutting the corn in one-half to three-quarter
inch lengths, weighting 100 pounds to the
square foot, and with this pressure getting one
foot or more of juice in the bottom of the silo.
We remove the air from the silo by using Col-
cord's Silo Governor, which causes a heavy
vertical, with very little lateral, pressure. We
obtain as uniform results cold, moist, soft, and
pulpy ensilage, of the natural color of the corn,
without offensive odor, imparting no odor to
the silo, barn, hands, or clothing, but often of a
bright, sweet smell, and sometimes the odor of
nice, dry corn fodder. We feed an average of
60 pounds daily to each cow, and our cattle
eat it all without any waste.

"We regard Mr. Colcord's system as the'
true, if not the only true, method of ensilaging
green forage crops, and recommend it as sure,
uniform, economical, and less troublesome than
any other. By using this system, with the
governor," according to directions, any one may
be sure of success with ensilage.

"EDMUND M. WOOD, Boston, Mass.
"T. E. RUGGLES, Milton, Mass.
"CHARLES L. COPELAND, Milton, Mass.
"C. A. DAVIS, Natick, Mass.
" BERNARD MONAGHAN, Dedham, Mass."

Preserving Green Forage 53

[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman.]

SWEET FORAGE IN WINTER.

COLCORD'S GOVERNOR IN PRACTICAL USE. — PAR-
TICULARS FROM MR. COLCORD HIMSELF.

GENERAL C. H. HOWARD:

Sir, — I never planted corn any better, culti-
vated better, or manured better than this year;
but the season here has been unusually bad
for corn, — cold and wet to a degree I have
never seen before. The corn did not grow.
It was two feet less in height, the leaves were
about half the usual size, and the stalks small :
it was badly frost-bitten about September i.

During the months of September and Octo-
ber, the rain was as continuous as the rainy
season of California or some parts of the
South. Very little corn around here ripened,
and nearly all the fodder spoiled in curing.

I cut mine into the silo September 18 to 24.
It rained all that week except half a day. We
were four days putting it in. It rained so
hard 2 days that we could not work. It aver-
aged 13 tons to the acre (last year 19 tons).
All the corn was in the milk. It was put in
very wet, cut to half-inch. I put in 3 gov-

54 Colcord's System of

ernors, i on the bottom, i in the centre, and i
inverted immediately under the plank cover-
ing, because I used the same splined cover
that I did last year. When the silo was 2/$
full, there were 6 inches of juice all over the
bottom: no carbonic or acetic acid this year.
Last year both \vere very abundant. The
juice is sweet, but would test slightly acid.
The temperature in the centre of the silo is
76° to 78° '(last year 72°). There are 18
inches of juice in the bottom, (last year 30
inches). I can get any quantity I want at any
time.

The top is kept perfectly level with ten
jack-screws. It is under perfect control, and
no trouble to press it. I can discover no foul
odors, and think it is ripening or curing very
nicely.

I hope to be able about December i to send
you a sample of the juice and a sample of the
preserved forage : if I do, I shall press out the
juice from 2 or 3 pounds of the forage near to
the top of the silo, bottle it, and pack it in the
identical forage I press it from. I don't under-
stand why I should have no acid in it this year
and so much last year, and what the difference
will be when I come to open the silo. If this
turns out good, it will settle the question of

Preserving Green Forage 55

being able to be sure of the corn crop every
year. It seems impossible to have another
year as bad as this ; and I could see no objec-
tion to the acid I had in it last year, and all
my experiments went to prove it. I shall
weigh all my stock when I begin to feed it,
and every thirty days after, and note the differ-
ence in milk and flesh. The difference must
be in the quality of the crop, although there is
6° higher temperature this year.. I am trying
to find out about that capillary attraction.
Last year the juice went up about i inch a day
after I ceased to press it: this year I am not
pressing so heavy, and it doesn't appear to
rise so fast. My last month of feeding last year
showed quite an increase in feeding value.*

MY EXPERIMENT SILO.

In building my silo, I took nearly level
ground, laying it out to build an air-tight pit
12 x 32 x 20 feet, excavated 5 feet, putting in
the foundation of cobble-stone 20 inches wide,
1 8 inches below the bottom of the silo, with
a 4-inch land drain around the outside, pour-
ing over the foundation thin, mixed cement.
After it became firm and level, I erected a

* This article was published soon after the silo was filled. Later
on, carbonic and acetic acids put in an appearance.

56 Cole or (fs System of

staging 1 8 feet high. The upright timbers
next to and on both sides of the wall to be
built were 6x6 spruce timber, 5 feet apart,
securely fastened across the pit by 2 x 8 plank,
sawed exactly to one length, securely fastened
near the top, bottom, and centre by one 6-inch
round spike in the centre of each 6-x-6-inch
cross connection, to give a perfectly flat, firm
bearing. The planks running lengthwise were
fastened to the uprights in the same manner,
care being taken to have the uprights per-
fectly perpendicular, without variation in
distance between the walls. To insure per-
fect accuracy, the inside uprights were spiked
together and raised in pairs. Straight timber
was selected, and as far as possible straight-
grained; the diagonal braces of i x 6 fence
boards were used.

After the inside staging was up, the outside
timbers were raised and placed opposite the
inside ones, leaving space for the 1 8-inch wall
and the plank on each side, also for laths ^
inch thick to be placed between the plank and
the uprights, to be taken out each time the
plank is raised. The inside and outside up-
right timbers, also the outside 4x4 staging,
were securely fastened together with i x 6
fence board, 6 feet long. Thus the inside

Preserving Green Forage 57

and outside stagings were securely fastened
together, the connections being sawed away
as the wall was built up between the stagings.
The wall planks were 18 inches wide, planed
to even thickness. These were placed all
around the pit and mitred at the corners.
Between these planks the wall was built up
daily from 12 to 16 inches.

When the inside staging was removed, there
was not a variation of J/6 inch in the length of
the walls from top to bottom or from end to
end.

I was thus particular in building, because I
was trying to make an air-tight pit, in which
I could exhaust, which was equal to packing
384 square feet of covering tight enough to
exhaust 6,528 cubic feet, which every one said
I could not do.

The mortar was composed of one part
cement, two parts coarse sand, two parts
small, clean cobble-stone, two parts small
broken stone, and water in the proportion
of about 30 gallons to each barrel of cement.
This was taken to the pit in buckets, poured
in and packed with trowels, to keep the
stones from the plank. Iron rods i% inches
in diameter, with strong flanges at the bottom,
terminating 4 feet above the top of the wall,

58 Colcord's System of

with long screws and double i^-inch nuts,
were built into the centre of the side walls
from the foundation up. These rods should
be placed about 8 feet apart, commencing
4 feet from the end walls.

Eight by eight spruce timber was used
to connect opposite rods across the top of
the pit; i^-inch holes were bored through the
timbers, to allow them to slide freely on the
rods; cast-iron washers i% x 6 inches were
used under the nuts. When the wall was
up half-way, all around level, 2x6 planks
were set up on the outside of the wall between
the 6x6 upright timbers and the building
plank, for the purpose of setting the upper
half of the wall in 6 inches all around the out-
side, leaving the part yet to be built 1 2 inches
thick. In the 6-inch ledge at the bottom, re-
served to build upon, was placed a strip of 2
x 2 all around to fasten the woodwork to.

Before we commenced laying up the wall,
a drip or drain pipe \y2 inches in diameter
was placed at the bottom, from the exact
centre of the pit to one of the corners, to
come out into a well 3 feet deep. This out-
side end was placed 8 inches below the bottora
of the pit, with a X turning up 3 inches inside
the face of the wall. Into this _L was screwed

Preserving Green Forage 59

an upright i %-inch pipe, which was built into
the wall, coming out at the top of the 6-inch
ledge upon the barn floor, terminating 2 feet
above the floor with a plug and side stop-cock,
arranged to collect the gases for examination,
to sound the depth of' juice and draw it off
at the bottom over the well, also for general
purposes of examination. The end of the
drip pipe at the centre of the pit terminated
in an elbow, with 3 inches of pipe coming up
through the cemented bottom and flush with
it. These pipes are a part of the governor,
which in this pit is a frame of i-inch iron pipe
26 feet long and 6 feet wide, perforated with
%-inch holes every 6 inches, arranged to
sleeve together at the corners, in the centre,
and at the sides 6^ feet from the ends, and
put together in such a way that the whole of
it can be put in in fifteen minutes, and every
part of it is taken out separately, as it is found
in taking the forage from the pit; it is also
placed so that the forage cannot stop up the
54-inch air holes. In the centre of this frame
is a X that turns down 3 inches into the drip
pipe. In practical use, this is all of the bot-
tom governor.

The governor being in place, we cut the
corn in J^-inch lengths, fill the pit a little

60 Colcord's System of

more than half full, level and tread it evenly;
then upon a skeleton wooden frame we put
a second governor, in all respects like the
other, except, instead of turning down the
outlet into the drip pipe, we turn it up, with
a perpendicular pipe coming up through the
forage from the centre of the pit and through
the plank covering, and terminating, like the
other, with a plug or cap. When the pit is
full and trod down evenly, cover with 2-inch
spruce planks fitted to slide down the walls
nicely and evenly; press it firmly enough to
get about 2 feet of juice in the bottom, and
in practical operation this is all that is re-
quired. But in this pit, which was made to
try any experiment and test any principle in
the direction of possibilities, or perfect preser-
vation, a third governor inverted was put in,
and the three governors were sleeved together,
having a continuous outlet from top to bot-
tom, closed with stop-cocks and plugs, having
432 outlets for gas and air from the forage
into the pipes, distributed evenly through the
mass. The top governor was laid directly
upon the corn, the pit was covered writh 2-inch
splined planks, accurately fitted so as to slide
down the walls as the mass settled. This
cover was covered with two layers of thick

Preserving Green Forage 61

paper, and a 4^-inch rubber packing all around
the walls, making it air-tight. This was also
covered with 4 inches of damp sand.

Two lines of 6 x 8 timber were placed the
length of the pit upon the cover, upon which
\vere placed 2-inch jack-screws under the 8x8
timbers through which the iron rods passed.
This arrangement, by reason of the elasticity
of the corn and the springing of the timbers
above the jack-screws, gave a continuous press-
ure, which was found to be ample and safe.
In this way, I was able to get an air-tight ex-
haust. All the air and gas had to come out
through the governor, giving an opportunity
for examination and taking the temperature
daily at different depths. At no time was the
temperature above 72° in the pit, which was
about the outside temperature when we com-
menced to fill. Carbonic acid appeared in the
pit the morning after the first day we cut, and
the next day acetic acid put in an appearance.
These, with air, were the only gases or vapors
that have come out of the pit; and these appear
perfectly pure, without any odor, — something I
have never seen before in any silo. In fact, there
has never been any heat, fermentation, or foul
odor in the pit. Juice drawn from the bottom
is odorless ; and when, by long exposure to the

62 Colcord's System of

air, it does change, it turns to bright, odorless
vinegar. There is no odor of ensilage in the
pit or stable, and not any waste in the pit
or at the feeding-troughs, but is all eaten up
clean. I am now feeding an average of seventy
pounds daily to each animal. Many of them
would eat considerably more. I think, how-
ever, that I shall find a variety for cows is
better than any one kind of food.

The bottom and centre governors took the
air out so fast while we were filling that be-
fore it was full we had 2 or 3 inches of juice
all over the bottom of the pit. There was
very little lateral pressure until after we began
to press. The i-foot walls were found to be
strong enough, the strain upon the iron rods
preventing any fear of their pressing out.
One of my aims was to get the juice as near
the top as I could, to make the mass soft and
uniform throughout. I have succeeded per-
fectly in doing this, in getting an exhaust.

The mass is now cut down vertically 13^
feet, and back across the end 10 feet, with a
hard, smooth face which does not change, let
the air in, or the juice down. I can take a
handful of the forage and squeeze the juice
from it, from any part of the face. There is no
air in it, it remains sopping wet and cold from

Preserving Green Forage 63

the top plank to the bottom. To test the
exhaust, -I connected the governors both at
top and bottom of the pit with a steam vac-
uum pump. As soon as the air was removed
and juice came into the pump, I cut off the
connection with the bottom, and the pump
threw a stream of juice from the top 10 feet
high into the air. Therefore, more pumping
or pressure was useless, the juice has taken
the place of the air, and capillary attraction is
keeping it there throughout the mass. In
practical operation, capillary attraction is suffi-
cient to convey and keep the juice at the
top. This has the effect of keeping the
forage wet and cold, and seems to give it a
ripening process, rendering it more palatable
and assimilable, as evinced by the continual
improved quality as we cut into it. The cover
should be removed no faster than we cut down
vertically. As I have had no heat or fermen-
tation in the pit, the forage does not heat up
when taken out and exposed to the air. In
very cold weather, I pour over the forage in
the feed-box one to two gallons of hot water
to each 100 pounds; but it will not start 'to
increase the heat, as there are no germs of
fermentation in the forage, apparently. The
forage has a density in the pit of 50 pounds
to a cubic foot.

64 Colcord's System of

The great advantage in this manner of
pressing with screws is that we get the amount
wanted wherever and whenever we want it, it
can be put on and taken off at pleasure, the
elasticity of the corn with the spring of the
timbers above the jack-screws gives it a contin-
uous pressure, the time, trouble, and expense
of weighting are entirely avoided. Another
advantage is, the iron rods can be carried up
6 or 8 feet above the top of the wall, arrang-
ing the studding above to receive the planks
and virtually building the silo so much higher.
When the pressure is put on, it brings the
cover down between the cement walls; and
these planks, also the covering planks, can be
packed away above the pit, just where they
will be wanted for future use.

BUILDING SILOS.

The door in the end of my silo is 4*4 x 6
feet. The door-frame is made of 3-x-i 2-inch
plank. All around the outside of the door-
frame, I spiked a strip of 2-x-4-inch plank.
This strip, being embraced in the masonry,
formed a lug, or shoulder, to hold the door-
frame in position, and prevent its being dis-
turbed. I anticipated some trouble in making

Preserving Green Forage 65

the doorway tight ; but, with a 2-inch matched
plank, made to fill the opening in the door-
frame, and by fastening with 4-inch lag-screws
a 2-x-io-inch plank on to the 3-x-i 2-inch door-
jambs, I succeeded in rendering the doorway
absolutely air-tight. And it remained so until
the silo was opened.

I used a very heavy old cart-wheel iron tire
to bind the end of my silo together, over the
door, by laying the tire upon the top of the
door-frame, turning the ends up 6 inches into
the side walls, and passing a ^/g-inch iron bolt
through the door-frame, the iron tire, the
walls, and the cap of the silo, turning the nut
firmly on the bolt.

I feel that I have fulfilled my promise in
making these experiments ; and by them, with
the experience gained in five years past, I am
able to prove every statement I have made
about this system, and now have the results to
show. I think I may congratulate the stock-
men in this country upon the certainty that
green forage can be perfectly and uniformly
preserved year by year, at a cost of about one-
third the feeding value of hay ; that it costs no
more to handle than hay in time or money;
that it is a surer feeding crop to raise than any
other ; that the insurance risk is far less from

66 Colcord's System of

lightning, fire, flood, or drought, than upon
any other stock food; that cattle drink only
about one-half as much as when fed on hay;
that by this system we can feel , insured against
cold or hot, wet or dry seasons, and silos can
easily be protected from frost. My silo is
boarded up outside with i-x-6-inch rough
feather-edge boards to the top, and packed
between with 6 inches of sawdust on the ex-
posed side and end. It will be found to be
the rrfost economical way to build good, tight
silos. The expense of building them depends
somewhat upon the soil and situation : the
expense should be about the same in building
for stock fed with preserved forage as for hay.
There is no economy in building cheap silos,
and poor economy, with great waste, in pack-
ing corn in whole, filling slow, and having heat
and fermentation that cannot be controlled.

No lime should be used in the mortar for
building silos. Any one intending to build a
silo, or having one that is not satisfactory, will
do well to call and see this one. It will be a
great satisfaction, and a saving of time and
money, as the important experiments have
nearly all been made, and are open to any
one that calls. It is very easy to see how
silos can be altered to make this kind of
forage.

Preserving Green Forage 67

In building a silo, it pays to build well ; and,
to prove all the facts about it, I tried to build
perfectly, in order to test the possibilities of a
perfect system, and have inserted in this book
a picture of the staging, inside and outside the
silo wall, when it was 5 feet high, taken from
a photograph (see cut, p. 68). When building
my silo, the weather was 100° in the shade,
the plank between which the wrall was made
was exposed to the sun on one side, and cold,
wet, grout cement mortar on the other side.
The consequence was that the plank swelled,
or rolled, between the upright timbers ^ of I
inch on each side, making y2 inch variation,
in some places, between the side walls ; and
this was and is the only deviation in the walls.

The following cut, taken from a photograph,
shows my silo in process of building : —

68

Colcord's System of

H
O

O

u

o

o

s

g

I-H

o

Preserving Green Forage 69

DIRECTIONS FOR PUTTING IN AND RE-
MOVING THE SILO GOVERNOR.

The governor is made of i-inch pipe, with
holes % inch in diameter and 6 inches apart,
along one side of the pipe. The pipes are
arranged in frames around the inside of the
silo, about 3 feet from the walls, with 1 54-inch
pipe across the centre of the frame. In the
centre of this pipe is a _L to turn up, in which
to screw the perpendicular pipe, if it is to come
up in the centre of the silo through the forage.
In the centre of the bottom governor, the T
turns down to enter the drip pipe, which runs
from the centre of the silo, declining about 6
inches, to any convenient place outside the
wall, under the cemented bottom, the outside
end of the drip pipe terminating with a stop-
cock, to draw off the juice ; also, a JL in which
to screw the perpendicular pipe which comes
up outside the wall to any convenient height,
usually to 2 feet above the barn floor, for con-
venience in measuring the juice and to have
the stop-cock and outlet under cover, to avoid
frost.

70 Cole orcl's System of

These bottom governors can be arranged to
have the outlets on a level with the bottom of
the silo, by cementing a pipe in the wall large
enough to sleeve the governor into. The stop-
cock, from the drip pipe in my silo, comes out
over a little well about three feet deep, to per-
mit a pail to be held to catch the juice. All
the governors, except those lying directly upon
the bottom of the silo, have the perpendicular
pipes come up through the forage. All the
horizontal pipes should be placed upon strips
of board about 4 inches wide. All the gov-
ernors should be carefully put in, so that the
^4-inch holes will be at the bottom, which
makes a passage the whole length of the frame
for air and gas to get into the pipes. In put-
ting in the centre governor, the forage should
be well trodden level, or it will get out of place,
and the pipes bent in settling.

Sometimes, in old silos, when people don't
want to go to the trouble and expense of
making alterations, I put in both of the
perpendicular pipes from the governors, to
come up through the forage to the top, in
which case, if there is much juice in the bot-
tom, it must be pumped out before cutting
down the forage into it, because air coming
in contact with the juice is apt to change

Preserving Green Forage 71

and injure it, and carry the injury into the
forage.

The governors, as we make them now, are
much cheaper than formerly, and work equally
well. All the connections are made with
right-hand screws, excepting the right-and-left-
barred, or ribbed, couplings on the sections
that go across the frame, so that, in putting
the governors together, lay the side pipes down
as they go, and screw them together. Take
your centre i% in cross-section, unscrew the
right and left coupling, and screw each half
into the opposite sides. Do the same at both
ends. Then turn these two halves bottom-
side up, and see that all the %-inch holes are
on top. Then turn them over again, screw
the right and left couplings together, then
your perpendicular pipes. The frame is then
ready to be placed in the centre of the silo.
See that your centre governor is placed a little
more than half-way up, fastened to the skele-
ton platform with staples, or plumbers' fasten-
ings. When you again find it, in removing
the forage, it will be more than half-way down.
Remove the governor as you come to it, un-
screwing the right and left couplings first,
then each part in the manner you put the
frame together, sawing or breaking away the

72 Colcord's System of

skeleton platform as you come to it. All the
connections are made, and disconnected, by
using ordinary gas-pipe tongs. They are very
easily handled, as all the screws are right
hand, except the right and left couplings, and
do not require to be screwed very tight.

When the governor is in place, there is a
row of ^-inch holes on each side where the
pipe comes in contact with the bottom of the
silo, or the strips of boards, so that, when the
fodder is placed upon them in the silo, it falls
down on each side of the inch pipe, leaving a
pathway for the air and gases to pass along to
the holes in every part of the frame.

Supposing that your silo inside is 12 x 32
x 20 feet, your two governor frames would be
6 x 26 feet each. There will be a distance of
3 feet all around from the wall to the gover-
nors ; also, 3 feet from the centre of the silo to
the governors. You place your upper governor
1 1 feet from the bottom, and fill the silo 20
feet high. Covering and pressing may reduce
the mass to 12 feet. You then have 3 feet
from the top to half-way to the upper governor,
then 3 feet to the upper governor, then 3 feet
to half-way between the two governors, then 3
feet to the bottom governor, bringing every part
of the forage to within about 3 feet from these

Preserving Green Forage 73

rows of %-inch holes in the pipes and the
openings between the top plank, giving ample
opportunity for the escape of gas. In this way,
while filling a silo of this size, in four days, I
had 6 inches of juice in the bottom before I
could get the cover on or give it any pressure;
while other silos, having no governors, had no
juice upon their bottoms, even when weighted
with from 100 to 200 pounds to each square
foot of top surface. By this system, it does
not require one-half the weight or pressure to
secure the ordinary results gained in the man-
agement of silos ; and I am led to believe there
is no other way known as yet to prevent heat
or fermentation, or one likely to be devised as
perfect and economical as this.

74

Colcord's System of

o
u

PH

\

i-l

PQ

Preserving Green Forage 75

DESCRIPTION OF THE TABLE-TOP
CORN-CART.

The cut represents a level, portable table,
designed to take the corn from the field to the
cutter, to be cut without laying it upon the
ground, avoiding handling, soiling, getting it
gritty or any mixing it with stones, gravel,
wood, or dirt of any kind, to dull or injure the
knives, or to get to the animals in their food.
The top is 6*/2 x 9^ feet. The wheels are '40
inches in diameter, with a 4-inch tread. • It is
arranged to use one horse or two. The tall
corn is spread upon it when cut, the butts all
on one side, and can be fed into the cutter
directly from the cart, which is the same height
as the cutter. The rollers of the cutter feed
the corn to the knives by merely pushing the
butt-ends to the rollers. In practical use, it
works admirably, and is a very useful cart upon
a farm for gathering fruit and other crops in
the field.

76 Colcord's System of

FAULTY SILOS AND FAULTY MANIPU-
LATIONS.

It is necessary to have tight silos, with
smooth, perpendicular walls, the opposite walls
to be equally distant from each other, in all
places, in order to preserve green forage per-
fectly. It is also necessary that the walls
should be strong enough to stand heavy press-
ure ; also that they should remain tight while
the forage remains enclosed in them, and not
absorb the juice from the forage. These are
the ends to be sought in building a good silo ;
and it is of comparatively small importance
how they are made or of what material, if
these ends are attained. I seldom visit a silo
and find these conditions fulfilled.

If any one will examine his silo carefully,
with a good, long, straight edge, and measure
the distance carefully between the opposite
walls with a rod just long enough to touch
each end at the narrowest place, and have
every covering plank cut i inch shorter than
his rod, he will realize, the importance of the
conditions above stated, and give attention
to them, because the cover cannot be pressed
down evenly if it binds anywhere upon the

Preserving Green Forage 77

walls ; and, wherever it binds, the air will get
under the plank and spoil the forage. An-
other reason is that, if the walls are uneven,
the forage as it descends under pressure will
be crowded from the wall wherever a bulge
exists, and, when it passes the bulge, it will let
in the air. The same holds true in pressing
the cover down evenly, which is one reason
why pressing by screws upon timbers placed
across the plank covering is so much better
than weighting. If these things are carefully
attended to, there will be no waste whatever
on top or around the walls, unless the cover is
allowed to come up when removing the plank
for cutting down the forage. The pressure
should not be removed from any plank except-
ing those that are removed for the purpose of
cutting down. This removal is the cause of so
much waste in so many silos. The governors
will remove the air from the bulk of the forage,
and prevent heat or fermentation, or any foul
odor or damage; but air getting in from the
outside will cause the forage to mould and
produce black rot. The air does not get into
the forage through the face of the perpendicu-
lar cut, if under proper pressure, and if cut
down with a sharp hay-knife. The whole cover
should not be removed from all the top at one

78 Colcord's System of

time, as the action of the air gives it double
the acidity to be found in the forage 2 feet
below the top layer that has been forked over.
These facts I know from personal experience,
observation, and chemical tests. Whenever I
have complaints about silos in which the gov-
ernors are used, I try to ascertain the cause of
the trouble. I have never found it to be in the
governor, and have always been able to find the
cause. In one instance, I found a large ampunt
of liquid in the bottom ; also, that the water-
line in the earth all around the silo was pre-
cisely the same as inside. The silo had no
drains around or from it. In another instance,
I found the governor in a cheap wooden silo.
In the centre of the silo the forage was perfect,
but some quite large holes in the boards of
which the silo walls were made had given ac-
cess to air, which caused the forage to go to
black rot, and left large vacant places in the
forage, large enough for a man to lie down in.
It was not weighted heavily enough. Still, it
had no true fermentation in it.

Most of the troubles, I find, and they are
quite common, are in light weighting, uneven
walls, and covers that would not go down inside
the walls, the planks being too long to pass the
numerous large bulges. To one man I sent

Preserving Green Forage 79

two governors to go into his two silos. He put
both into one silo, none into the other. The
defects in the walls caused in some places 3
inches of waste around the silo containing the
governors. The other silo had about i foot
of waste around the walls. His silo was too
far away for me to visit, and I do not know
whether he had true fermentation in either of
them ; but he was satisfied with the governors,
and contemplates building more silos and or-
dering more governors.

There is another great trouble I have found,
which is mixing my system, without heat or
fermentation, with the opposite one of slow
filling and light weighting, with heat. These
two systems are incompatible, and should never
be mixed or confounded, no matter who sug-
gests or advises it. It has spoiled some of my
best work, even after perfect forage had been
made in all parts of the silo. It injures the
forage to remove the pressure faster than the
forage is removed.

I do not object to weighting if it can be
done so as to press down the cover evenly,
as could be done by placing planks across the
cover and weighting upon them ; but it would
then be very difficult to remove the weight

8o Colcord's System of

and plank from that part which is wanted to
cut down without disturbing the other plank
and getting air into the forage.

REMEDY FOR FAULTY SILOS.

Where silo walls are made of heavy stone
masonry, they can be faced smooth by floating
a coat of coarse sand and pure cement, fre-
quently using a long, straight edge in every
direction, until the depressions in the surfaces
are all filled ; or, in case the wall is very un-
even, perpendicular timber could be firmly
placed in front of the face, and a straight, wide
plank placed between the timber and the wall,
arranged to slide up evenly, and cement mortar
(no lime) filled in between, daily, to the top.

If such walls are strong and well made, and
T rails of railroad iron, i foot longer than the
silo is wide, can be obtained, openings can be
cut out of the bottom of the silo just large enough
to admit the rail about 3 inches below the bot-
tom of the silo, and under the walls about i foot
on one side, and 6 or 8 inches on the other
side, to allow the rail to drop in and be placed
firmly, 6 inches under each wall. A piece of
iron rod, i inch in diameter, is bent so as to
form, midway between its ends, an eye large

Preserving Green Forage 81

enough to receive a hook on the end of a long
iron rod, i % inch in diameter. The ends of
said rod are bent so as to form a stirrup, or
loop, large enough to slip over the railroad iron.

The said long iron rod, having a hook on its
lower end, has a long screw cut on its upper
end, to receive a double nut and 6-inch washer.
The long rods are made to reach from the
bottom up to from 4 to 5 feet above the top of
the silo, and the upper ends of said long rods
pass through 8x8 timbers, upon which the
double nuts and washers bear for the purpose
of producing the desired pressure on the forage.
These long rods are placed along the side walls,
directly opposite to each other, commencing
not more than 4 feet from the ends of the silo,
and not more than 8 feet apart. Of course,
these long rods are better built into the centre
of the walls, as they serve to help hold up the
walls when under pressure. The long rods
should be placed as close as possible to the
side walls of the silo. I have put these long
rods in, both ways, in the centre and outside
the walls. I have ordered them of the Boston
Bolt Company, describing them as bolts. They
came just what I wanted, at very satisfactory
prices.

The irons across the bottom should have a

82 Colcord's System of

good bearing under the walls. Otherwise, if
the bearing is just under the edge, the pressure,
together with the lateral pressure of the forage,
may cause the wall to topple over.

[From the Dairy World, October, 1886.]

ENSILAGE AND ITS IMPORTANCE.

A NEW DEPARTURE IN PRESERVING GREEN FOD-
DER. THE TESTIMONY OF EXPERTS.

AIR PERFECTLY EXCLUDED. THE

FORAGE COMES OUT SWEET.

The nature of ensilage is so well attested
and understood in Europe and America that
no plea is longer necessary in its defence. The
only question now to be considered is as to
the best and cheapest means of preparing the
fodder. It is not necessary to go over the
means heretofore used to prevent fermentation.
The intelligence of inventors has been directed
constantly to the easiest and most perfect
means of keeping fermentation within bounds,
or of preventing its action unduly. The
measure of success with silos is in the more
or less perfect exclusion of the air. If this is
perfectly accomplished at the time of filling

Preserving Green Forage 83

the silo, there will be neither heat, fermenta-
tion, decomposition, nor foul odor.

The theory of filling the silo slowly and
allowing the temperature to rise from 122° to
1 80°, to kill the bacteria, Mr. Colcord says, is
a fallacy. The fermentation cannot be con-
trolled. The ensilage is always sour first, and
becomes sweet (that is, not so acid) by progres-
sive fermentation, with foul odor, and always
at the expense of the quantity as well as the
quality of the forage. By the system here
described, these changes do not occur. The
forage is kept in its natural condition, as
follows : —

" Sweet ensilage, as commonly understood,
does not represent preserved green forage
produced by this system. The term 'sweet,'
as originally used, was not used in a sense
as opposite to sour, but as opposed to putrid
(as sweet meat).

" The average quantity of ensilage, as here-
tofore made, that can be fed daily, is about forty
pounds. The cattle do not care for more ; but
forage made by this system and device can be
fed sixty pounds or more daily, and all of it
eaten without any waste, giving the best re-
sults, even better than fresh-cut fodder.

" The most interesting feature in this system

84 Colcord's System of

is its economy. From corn can be raised the
heaviest and best crop of forage at the lowest
cost. The big butts contain the most sugar
and starch. By this system, these large stocks
are preserved, and come out in a soft and
pulpy state, and are all eaten. By those who
have tested it by keeping accurate account, the
average cost of preserved green forage is $2
per ton. In feeding value, three tons of it are
equal to one ton of the best hay, making pre-
served green forage at $6 equal to hay that can
be readily sold for $18. Land that will pro-
duce three tons of hay will produce eighteen
tons of green forage and a crop of green rye
annually, which will give three times the results
in dairy products and manure, and that con-
tinuously, upon the same land."

It is found to have been demonstrated that
the silo governor, invented by Mr, S. M. Col-
cord, of Dover, Mass., holds the ensilage with-
out heat or fermentation, controlling the opera-
tion and changes going on in the silo ; that it
removes the air, and holds the contents per-
fectly, precisely as any food is held in air-tight
packages ; and that it can be applied and used
in old as well as new silos.

When we speak of fermentation and heat,
the idea is not intended to be conveyed that a

Preserving Green Forage 85

silo can be filled with green vegetable matter
without eliminating heat. Any succulent vege-
table matter piled together in the presence of
air commences to heat. If allowed to go on,
destructive fermentation sets in, and at length
the whole mass becomes putrid and rotten.

ELIMINATING THE AIR.

The various means heretofore used have only
measurably arrested this fermentation, and the
measure of success has been in just proportion
to the exclusion of the air. Not until the in-
vention of Mr. Colcord, a retired druggist of
Dover, Mass., have we had means of governing
this fermentation at will, or in time to prevent
more or less destructive fermentation. The
means used by him was the result of scientific
study, through his knowledge of chemistry and
chemical action.

[From the Indiana Farmer, May 21, 1887.]

PRESERVING GREEN FOOD.

SOMETHING NEW AND IMPORTANT IN LIVE STOCK
ECONOMY.

Mr. S. M. Colcord, of Dover, Mass., one of
the best chemists in the United States, has

86 Colcord's System of

done the live stock industry a great good in
solving the question of preserving green food.
During the period of strongest opposition to
the ensilage methods, it will be remembered
that the Indiana Farmer maintained that the
success of it was "only a question of skill in
construction of silos/' and that it was "non-
sense to say that we could preserve green fruit
by the gallon or more, and could not also ex-
clude the air from the silo," and, further, that
" genius and science would satisfactorily solve
this matter." And so, while the Farmer does
not lay special claim to prevision, reasoning
from known data, its prediction seems to be
fulfilled in the invention of Mr. Colcord. At
our request, he has furnished us with cuts and
some data to explain his invention. Like the
splendid chemist and scientist he is, he seems
to have gone about this work with the strong
common sense that, to preserve green food,
the element usually barring that end was to
be eliminated, or overcome. The invention
plainly goes directly to the point of excluding
the air, which causes over-fermentation and
undue action upon the food. Mr. Colcord says
that the high temperature theory is a fallacy.

Preserving Green Forage 87

[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman, 1888.]

THE COLCORD ENSILAGE EXPERI-
MENTS.

We received on March 10, from Mr. S. M.
Colcord, three days from Dover, Mass., a mail
package of Indian corn ensilage, as perfect as
when in the fresh state. There was no evi-
dence of heat or fermentation, no acidity or
considerable change from the green state, the
leaves, stalks,- and the grains of corn being
quite normal ; the odor pleasant, like fresh
barley must, when freshly taken from the
boilers. Last season, we noticed at length
and illustrated Mr. Colcord's system of preserv-
ing green fodder in the silo, by means of an
apparatus (governor) that perfectly excludes
the air. We believe now, as we then stated,
that it was a scientifically perfect means of
preserving any green forage for winter feeding,
in a natural state, including its juices and
other normal qualities. The journey of three
days, simply wrapped in paper, had not essen-
tially altered its qualities. In fact, city horses
ate it and whinnied for more. The preserving
of ensilage without heat or fermentation is a
long step in advance ; and we hope to see this

88 Colcord's System of

process, as now perfected, largely adopted in
the West, especially by dairymen who wish to
make the best possible winter milk and its prod-
ucts. To the end that our readers may un-
derstand in all its details, we give space this
week to a communication from Mr. Colcord,
as being important to every person who feeds
or proposes to feed ensilage, over the wide
area in which the Farm, Field, and Stockman
is circulated.

The following is Mr. Colcord's communication: —

POSSIBILITIES OF PRESERVING GREEN
FORAGE.

" Much of my time the past year has been
devoted to building a perfect silo, in which I
could try any required experiment, to find out
a possible way of preserving green forage by
cold pressure, that would fairly or nearly rep-
resent canned goods. Knowing your wish for
the truth in this direction, I send you the
results of my labors and the means I used to
prove the facts.

" My experiments cover all the ground from
planting to feeding, from construction of silo
to the machinery and implements for handling

Preserving Green Forage 89

the corn, as well as the preserved forage, also
the connection, arrangement, and convenience
of the barn and silo.

"My system differs from anything advanced
by others, is opposed to the general mode of
producing ensilage, and should not be mixed
up or confounded with other methods or ma-
nipulations, as the results are unlike. The
experiments were intended to show the possi-
bilities in preserving green forage, to find out
what can be done in that direction, and the
way to do it, as a basis for practical working
in farm operations.

"The results show that the principal things
to be done for success are to have a tight silo,.
or pit, drained at the bottom outside ; to have
the walls perpendicular, smooth and level-faced,,
with a drip pipe from the centre at the bottom
to the outside, terminating with a stop-cock.
A governor should be placed at the bottom of
the pit, connecting with the drip pipe. When
the pit is half to two-thirds filled, a second
governor should be put in. When the pit is
full, the corn should be trodden down level
and covered with 2-inch plank, placed directly
upon the corn. It should then be weighted or
pressed, to give 2 or more feet of juice from

90 Colcord's System of

the corn at the bottom. A proper observance
of the conditions will produce uniform results
with entire success."

WHAT MY NEIGHBORS SAY.

Mr. S. M. COLCORD:

Dear Sir, — I wish to add my testimony and
faith in your system of preserving green forage.
I became very much interested in your experi-
ments while putting up the staging for build-
ing your silo, and witnessing your success in
getting a perfect pit, and afterwards noticing
your care and attention to every detail while
I was running the engine and cutter for cut-
ting and elevating the fodder into the pit ; and
all the while I was building, or rather extend-
ing, the barn over the silo. To me, your plans
were a marvelous conception, and your success
a wonderful achievement. I have seen nothing
in ensilage to compare with green forage pre-
served with your device. I was rather incred-
ulous until I saw your results. But now that
I can see such a mass of vegetable matter pre-
served without heat or fermentation (very nearly
like the vegetables put in tin cans, by heat
without fermentation), all the air being taken

Preserving Green Forage 91

out and its place occupied by juice pressed from
the corn, and this cut down vertically from top
to bottom as it is being fed out, leaving a hard
face continuously, from which juice can be
squeezed out of a handful of it taken from
any part of the pit ; and, added to this, the
fact of there being no heat or fermentation in
it, or any odor of ensilage from it, or any
waste on the top or around the sides, or at
the feeding-troughs, even when the cows are
eating an average of 70 pounds daily weighed
out to them, and yielding double the results of
any other feed rations in milk and manure, —
all this to me is marvelous, and I congratulate
you upon your success.

Very truly yours,

F. W. SAWIN.

DOVER, February, 1888.

WE, the undersigned, living near Mr. Col-
cord's farm, having assisted him in harvesting
the corn and placing it in the pit, and having
seen how the silo was built, how the corn was
covered and compressed, and now being able
to see the results as to quality and quantity of
forage, the milk and the manure, with the very

92 Colcord's System of

small quantity of hay and grain he is feeding,
and the fine appearance of the stock fed on
this preserved corn, which is daily increasing
in weight, also in the yield of milk, — from
our knowledge we are happy to indorse his
statements : that the contents of the silo are
saturated with juice from the corn from top
to bottom ; that there is no ensilage odor in
the barn or silo ; that there is no waste of
fodder in the silo or in the cribs. We believe
that his system of preserving green forage is
the true one, and are happy to state that
his experiments are a success, and that any
one by following his methods may be sure of
success every time, with less than half the ex-
pense of feeding in the ordinary way.

WARREN BLACKMAN.
IRVING COLBURN.
GRANVILLE COLBURN.
JAMES DUFFIELD.
JAMES B. COUGHLAN.

Preserving Green Forage 93

DOVER, Feb. 15, 1888.
Mr. SAMUEL M. COLCORD :

Sir, — Thinking you might like to have it, it
is with pleasure that I give you this testimony.
Having been employed by S. M. Colcord for
six months in 1887 upon his silo and barn,
from the construction of the walls to the filling
and finishing of the silo and barn, having had
full knowledge of his theories and experiments,
seen them tested and proved, and having ex-
amined his tests and methods, and read what
he has written and what has been published
in the papers about his system and methods, I
feel impelled to add my testimony as to the
truth of the statements made. They are not
exaggerated statements. I know them to be
true; for I have daily taken the temperature in
the silo myself, and measured the amount of
juice at the bottom. I know that there has
been no heating up of the corn in the pit, and
no odor of ensilage about the barn or silo. I
have seen it taken daily from the pit and
weighed out to the cows. It is all of uniform
quality, with no waste whatever, and I have
noticed that it was all eaten up clean.

94 Colcord's System of

From what I have seen, I should say that
the published statements are rather short of
the whole truth instead of being overstated.

H. B. RYERSON.

MILTON, MASS., May 4, 1889.
Mr. S. M. COLCORD :

Dear Sir, — I have been using your gov-
ernors, as you are aware, for some years past;
and I thought you might like to know what
my experience has been with them the past
two or three years. I must say to you that I
like them just as well as I did at first, and feel
sure of good results every time I fill the silo.
I am not a chemist, and therefore cannot be
expected to prove every point chemically, as
you do; but I am not aware of having ever
had what you call heat and fermentation in my
silo since I commenced to use the governors,
and feel so well satisfied with my results,
especially when I compare them with those of
others that do not use the governors, that I do
not take any interest in the science or art of
the Fry or any other system, because I feel
insured against loss, and faith in the governor
keeps me from all anxiety.

Preserving Green Forage 95

I feel to congratulate you upon your success '
in all your experiments, and the perfection of
your system, and feel sure that others will feel
as I do about it, whenever they adopt your
methods, and come to realize the economy and
great value of your discovery. The cost of
the governor is a mere trifle compared with
its use ; and I hope you will live to reap the
reward you so richly deserve for all the time
and money you have spent the last ten years
for the benefit of the farmers.

Wishing you every success, I am
Yours sincerely,

T. E. RUGGLES.

Having used Mr. Colcord's silo governor for
some time past with great satisfaction, I cheer-
fully indorse and coincide with all Mr. Ruggles
has written in the above letter.

C. L. COPELAND.

DOVER, May 8, 1889.
Mr. S. M. COLCORD :

Being your nearest neighbor, and quite well
acquainted with your silo and preserved green
fodder operations, I must congratulate you
upon your success in all your experiments,

96 Colcord's System of

which I confess is a most agreeable surprise to
me. I have never seen any ensilage that I
would care to feed to my stock, and had lost
all faith in the article, if I ever had any ; but,
when I came to see the green forage you pre-
serve, to taste, smell, and squeeze it, to see the
cattle eat it, the milk and manure that come
from it, the herd doubled, and you for the first
time selling hay, my astonishment turned to
admiration ; and I don't care who knows it. It
is in the mouths of all your neighbors, — I
mean the facts and the praise, not the forage.
If I had not seen it, assisted in harvesting it,
knowing the last poor crop, and the year
before seeing two-thirds of your crop blown
flat to the ground, I could never have believed
that such results could be realized. I hope
you will be successful in introducing your sys-
tem for the benefit of farmers generally, that
others may reap a like benefit from the silo
governor that you are doing.

Yours very truly,

ALLEN F. SMITH.

Preserving Green Forage 97

WHAT THE BUTCHER SAYS.

Mr. S. M. COLCORD :

Dear Sir, — Having read your statements
in the papers about your system of pre-
serving green forage in silos, and being fa-
miliar with your farm management of stock
and the results of your feeding for milk
and beef, I wish to add a few words of testi-
mony in addition to what others say about you.
I have watched your operations carefully in
building silos, raising and harvesting the crop,
and, since you commenced feeding the pre-
served forage, have seen you double the herd,
the milk, and the manure the first year ; and
now what I want to say is what you have done
in the way of beef. In former years, I had
nothing to complain of. It was like other
people's, and often quite rich in tallow; but,
since you have been feeding this preserved
forage, I notice a big change. I could not
help laughing when I read your account of
that big cow that you fed the sour ensilage
to, waited an hour and a half until I killed
her, and then opened her stomach, and the
surprise we both felt when we found no gas
in the stomach, none of the bad smell usually

98 Colcord's System of

found in the stomachs of cows just slaugh-
tered, nothing there but the forage, without any
acid or bad smell in it. It was exactly as you
stated it ; and we found the beef was fat and
well mottled. But what I want to say is that
the later animals that I have slaughtered from
your farm are quite an improvement upon that
one. Your last ones shrank but 33 per cent,
in weight. They were very fat, and tallo\ved
quite light. The meat wras unusually well
mottled with fat, and sold for first quality.
You know I look over your cattle once or
twice a week, and what surprised me was how
that forage can make 'the change. The hair
on the cows becomes soft and smooth, the
skins become fine, soft, and slippery. The
cows are gentle and very quiet. In fact, I go
into no barns where I see results equal to
yours; and the changes go on so rapidly, after
they get into yours, that I hardly know the
cows. There is no doubt that your forage
and the way you feed is the best thing yet to
get the best beef.

J. PEMBER.

MEDFIELD, MASS.

Preserving Green Forage 99

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.

NEW YORK, March 12, 1887.

S. M. COLCORD, Esq.:

Dear Sir, — I have been very much inter-
ested in reading your letter, giving an outline
of your work for the coming season, in the way.
of developing and perfecting the production of
Colcord's green fodder.

I feel like encouraging you in this work. It
is in the right direction ; and, with your pres-
ent experience and freedom from prejudices,
I know of no one so well calculated to meet
the difficulties connected with the work, and to
overcome them. My judgment is that you
will succeed, and with success will come one
of the greatest improvements ever made to
perfect and cheapen the proper food for milch
cows.

I shall be glad to hear from you at any time,
and to assist in bringing your improvement
into notice, etc. Yours very truly,

ISAAC W. WHITE.

40 WALL STREET, ISTEW YORK.

ioo Colcord's System of

CHICAGO, Oct. 31, 1888.

S. M. COLCORD, Dover, Mass.:

My dear Sir, — Your interesting letter of
the 2 gth is here, and I would like to publish it.
I like these letters that give exact facts in a
definite way, and enter into the full details.
But it has occurred to me that it would do the
most good to you and the public by reserving
it until our number of November 1 7. We are
to issue 100,000 of that number, full count.
20,000 of them, at least, will go to dairy and
stock men. We are willing to do whatever we
can editorially to make known anything that is
really sound, and given for the benefit of our
readers; but it seems to us that you ought not
to lose this opportunity of presenting some
more definite advertisement, and, if possible,
some cut of your governor, etc.

Yours very truly,

HOWARD & WILSON PUBLISHING Co.,
C. H. HOWARD, Editor.

We note what you say in regard to publish-
ing a book. It is an excellent plan, and you
ought to carry it out.

Preserving Green Forage 101

CHICAGO, April 25, 1888.
Mr. S. M. COLCORD :

Dear Sir, — It is our intention to give up
the greater part of our issue of June 2 to a
thorough discussion of the important subject
of ensilage. We should like to have your cir-
culars, and all the information you can give
us in regard to this subject, more particularly
in regard to your process of preserving sweet
ensilage. We received your sample of sweet
ensilage some time ago, and, as you are doubt-
less aware, gave you a very nice notice.

Our object is to educate our readers, and
furnish them with the latest and best informa-
tion on this important subject; and we spare
no pains or money in making the article as
complete as possible. If we can do anything
for you in this issue, we shall be happy to do
so. Kindly let us hear from you.

Yours very truly,

JAS. W. WILSON.

CHICAGO, June 21, 1888.
S. M. COLCORD, Esq. :

Dear Sir, — Your favor of June 18 to Mr.
Wilson is at hand. We are much interested

IO2 Colcord's System of

in your letter. Would you object to our pub-
lishing it? It gives new light upon your
methods. Of course, we want the paper which
you promise as to results. Meanwhile, we
must keep alive the interest in your system.
Hoping for your permission to publish the
letter, we remain very sincerely yours,

C. H. HOWARD, Editor in chief.

NEW YORK, April 2, 1888.
S. M. COLCORD, Esq.:

Dear Sir, — Your favor of 2Qth ult. at hand.
I feel very much interested in the discussion
of the ensilage question. It seems to me that
the time is at hand for pushing the discussion,
and developing your views as to the proper
way of preserving corn and clover for future
use. I believe you are the best posted man in
the country, both practically and scientifically,
and therefore able to educate the farmers as
to their interests in this one matter.

The question clearly is, Will cold storage or
hot storage make the best article ? The more
it is discussed, the better for you as well as the
farmers. Unquestionably, cold storage proc-
esses are the best, and ^will produce the best
results.

Preserving Green Forage 103

I hope at an early day to see the discussion
carried on in the Country Gentleman, published
in Albany, which has an immense circulation,
and will aid greatly in bringing your ways and
ideas to the notice of all advanced farmers.

I feel that we are on the eve of a great
change of feeling in regard to ensilage. The
Rural New Yorker is soon to issue a number
devoted to a discussion of the question. They
have already some points to publish from you.
I hope you will keep pushing; and, when you
hear of an advanced man in the farming line,
send him a circular, write him, and interest
him, if possible. Yours truly,

ISAAC W. WHITE.

NEW YORK, July 24, 1888.
S. M. COLCORD, Esq. :

Dear Sir, — Your letter, the Farm, Field,
and Stockman, and the sample of preserved
green forage, came duly to hand. I showed the
sample to the editor of the Rural New Yorker,
and left your letter with him as an assistance
in writing an article for his paper, which will
soon appear, with cuts of forage before feeding,
and also that taken from the stomach of the
cow killed by you. I will see that you have a
copy of the paper.

104 Colcord's System of

The Rural New Yorker people are very
much interested in your way of preserving
green corn fodder, and I think are doing much
to bring you prominently before the farmers
who are studying up the matter.

I think, with a little patience on your part,
you will be the authority on the preservation
of green fodder.

Very truly,

ISAAC W. WHITE,

BOSTON, July 29, 1888.

My dear Colcord, — The copy of the Farmy
Field, and Stockman, which you kindly sent me,
was duly received. I have read with much
interest every word relating to your experi-
ments, which are well stated, and I think must
be convincing to every candid, intelligent per-
son interested in the subject of ensilage.
When the full results of your system of en-
siloing forage come to be known, there can
be no doubt about its taking the place of the
empirical, half-way work now in vogue amongst
the farmers, on account of its less first cost of
the silo, or dumping-hole ! But time and ex-
perience will cure them, and when the effects

I „„ /,.,.,.., M,-,

3tu !•••=•• rved ''»•'.••• ..... »i" '••• '. fflfli
i.""" i ..... ,,,, i now}, as they SOOH will be
, -,,n ,ee all • •'!•« • tB< Ehedfl ='ba«--

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8, M. ( ' •!

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' I- yo«f la^t

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io6 Colcord's System of

tigate. I find, with most of those having expe-
rience in feeding ensilage to milch cows, that
their testimony goes to prove that milk, when
first taken from the cows, seems to be, and is,
all right ; but when they ship it, — and it is
often thirty-six hours old before it gets into the
hands of the consumer, — then it has some-
thing offensive to it, and complaint is made at
once. We shipped last year 84,000 gallons ;
and I wish you would test the milk from the
use of your preserved forage, not only once,
but daily, for ten days, keeping it until it
sours, and having good tasters and smellers
to test it daily at different times, to see if any
offensive flavor or odor can be discovered.

If the milk will stand this test, as ours
does, where we feed on corn meal, bran- mid-
dlings, cotton-seed meal, oatmeal, hay, and
corn fodder dried, then I think you are lucky,
because there then will be no objection to the
preserved green forage.

Yours truly,

ISAAC W. WHITE.

Preserving Green Forage 107

t
ROCKY RIDGE, MD., Jan. 26, 1889.

Mr. S. M. COLCORD :

Dear Sir, — I have been thinking of writing
you for quite a while, but neglected doing so.
Our ensilage turned out fine. Our corn was
good, but weather was wet, and very unfavora-
ble when we commenced to fill. Sometimes
too wet to get on the field for several days.
So I did not give your governor as fair a test
as I wished to do, had I been able to fill
quicker; but the difference in waste between
the two pits* is very marked. In the one
without governors, there was about a foot of
waste around the sides, while, where the gov-
ernors were, the waste did not average over
three inches at any point. I think this due to
the long time we were at filling, caused by
continued rains, and our inability to get on to
the field ; but we are thoroughly convinced of
the worthiness of the governors, and, if we
live, intend building two more large pits this
spring, and will send you an order for gov-
ernors for both pits.

I take the Farm, Field, and Stockman, and
read all your articles with much interest.
With best wishes, I am

Very truly yours,

WILLIAM H. BIGGS.

io8 Colcord's System of

WHAT LARGE DAIRYMEN SAY.

NEW YORK, May i, 1886.
Mr. S. M. COLCORD :

Dear Sir, — Your interesting letters of
26th inst. are at hand, and read with much
pleasure. I feel very much interested in all
advances and improvements, and particularly
so in the direction you have taken. I have
been studying the ensilage question for some
time, and am well acquainted, theoretically,
with the Fry system, and some time ago de-
cided not to try ensilage, because there was
too much doubt and uncertainty in the ability
to produce the article wanted, — namely, sweet
ensilage. If Colcord's green forage, or fodder,
can be produced with certainty, and not be
confounded with the article known as ensilage,
which has a fearfully black eye, then I want to
make and use it.

You can hardly appreciate the strong preju-
dice against ensilage, and the product of the
dairy from its use, in this section. It is so
strong that there is no use in trying to con-
vince people that it can be made of proper
quality to feed to milch cows. The only way

Preserving Green Forage 109

for milk producers this way is to give up the
name of silo and ensilage and introduce a new
article. I know of no one so well situated as
yourself to open the ball by calling attention
to " Colcord's Green Forage, or Fodder," as
being a better article of food than ensilage, one
being a product of fermentation, and the other
the preservation of the natural conditions of
the fodder, stored for future use.

I see nothing in your past movements to
prevent you at once assuming this position, to
attract the attention of farmers, and particu-
larly those having silos and using ensilage.
The latter can be informed how to make good
their expenditures in buildings for trying to
make a quality of ensilage fit for dairy pur-
poses.

Please send a circular to Mr. , at ,

who has a large silo that has not been used for
several years, and is sending milk to this mar-
ket from about 200 cows.

Yours truly,

I. W. W.

no Colcord's System of

PRESERVED GREEN FORAGE FED TO
YOUNG CALVES.

I have been in the habit of raising a few of
my best calves. They are considerable care
and trouble, before and after they are weaned,
and require much attention to give them a
good start in life. I had one dropped last year,
after my silo was empty. It is now nine
months old, and has been fed the past five
months on my preserved green forage, with
a little shorts, and is looking very nice and
healthy. I also have three calves, which I
propose to raise. One is five weeks old, one
four weeks old, and one two weeks old. The
oldest had placed before her, when two weeks
old, a box of this forage, with a little ground
oats strewn over it, and a bucket of warm
water, with a little ground oats stirred in,
placed near it ; and she began tasting and feed-
ing upon it. In a few days, she ceased to want
or take any milk, and when a month old was
eating this food, drinking water, and chewing
her cud like a cow. The one four weeks old,
being in the same pen, began doing the same
thing when two weeks old, and now feeds from
the same box, contesting with her mate to see

Preserving Green Forage 1 1 1

which can eat the fastest. The one two weeks
old is a large Holstein. Her sire weighed 2,140
pounds. It was very weak when dropped, very
inanimate, and would not take a quart of milk
a day. Her faeces were very loose and pale
yellow, and appeared to be growing worse
instead of better. When ten days old, being
in the same enclosure with the other two, she
arose and went for the green forage. The
next day, she was frisky, her fecal discharges
became normal, she now eats the same rations
with the others, all of them doing well. The
oldest of the three is eating too much to make
a comely appearance. I shall continue to feed
them on this forage and shorts, and watch the
results. If it should prove to be successful,
and that calves two weeks old will wean them-
selves on this forage, merely placed before
them, that it will regulate their bowels, bring
about healthy discharges, keeping them so
young in the best condition for growth and
improvement, it would seem to be a very
important matter to stockmen.

It has been my experience with cows that
any disturbance of their natural functions, like
failing appetite, scours, or even a gargety con-
dition, is readily counteracted by feeding on
this forage alone ; but, as corn or any one

ii2 Cotcord*s System of

kind of food is not a perfect ration, the better
treatment is to have a small quantity of shorts
or wheat bran fed with it, and not feed green
forage alone for any great length of time. I
don't wish to be misunderstood in these state-
ments. I have had no personal experience in
feeding ensilage, and these remarks apply to
this preserved green forage only, made without
heat or fermentation ; but from the examina-
tions I have made, and what I have seen, I
should judge that ensilage, as generally made
and fed, would have an opposite effect

[From the Massachusetts Ploughman, May 29, 1886.]

THE "SILO GOVERNOR."

In the increasing importance attaching to
the silo as an adjunct to the modern system
of farming, any improvement proposed for
its more perfect operation as an ensilage
maker is certain to be welcomed with eager
satisfaction. A very great improvement has
unquestionably been secured by the combined
ingenuity and scientific experience of S. M.
Colcord, which was made the subject of in-
vestigation at a special meeting of farmers
in the Hall of Ploughman Building, in which

Preserving Green Forage 1 1 3

a large number of ensilage experts took part,
and a phonographic report of which will be
read on the first page of the present issue of
the Ploughman. It appears that Mr. Colcord's
attention was first attracted to the fact that the
contents of no two silos or thfc fermentations in
them were ever alike. It was by no means
certain that, if a silo made good ensilage one
year, it would do so the next. From a series of
carefully made investigations into this fact, he
felt that he had hit upon the discovery of the
real cause and its remedy. Out of these ob-
servations and this study was evolved the
" Silo Governor." His principal object was to
prevent the development of bacteria in the
process of putrid fermentation. The effect of
the governor on the air in the silo, as the
ensilage settles down, is to take it out. In what
way it is done, the explanation of Mr. Colcord
clearly shows; and he adds the highly impor-
tant statement that the green forage, under
his improvement, comes out without showing
any of the usual results of heat and fermen-
tation, and, with no destruction to the corn,
guaranteed a superlatively good quality to the
product.

In the silo, as generally worked, there is no
way for the air to escape except at the top ;

H4 Colcord's System of

* and this it cannot do, as a rule, because of the
extremely heavy weighting and the close pack-
ing. In consequence, the heat and fermenta-
tion that take place cause the decomposition
of the air, whose component parts form new
compounds with other gases generated by the
fermentation, thus largely disposing of the air
and gas. The bacteria obtain their needed
oxygen from the sugar and starch in the corn,
and thus detract from the quality of the
ensilage according to the amount of destruc-
tion caused. The silo governor, it is claimed
by its inventor, arrests this work of destruction
going on in the green forage ; if the air is
got out of the ensilage, there will be no heat,
and the fodder will be kept in a natural state ;
if the juice takes the place of air which has
been pressed out, it will remain there, and the
corn fodder will be preserved in it as in syrup
or vegetable extract. Sugar will be found in
the heavy butts, and the ensilage will be pre-
served in better condition for food. Testi-
monials are offered that, by using the silo
governor, the ensilage has less acid, is of a
better color, has no odor, and is moister from
top to bottom. And the ensilage holds out
better, besides, being so much more solid in
feeding. The value of the governor is stated

Preserving Green Forage 115

in a series of intelligible points elicited in the
discussion at the farmers' meeting ; and we
would advise a careful perusal of our phono-
graphic report of the entire proceedings.

ABOUT FERTILIZERS.

There is no doubt; that fertilizers will con-
tinue to receive the close attention of farmers.
The importance of the subject increases daily,
and deserves the careful attention of all culti-
vators of the soil. The information that has
come to us through the laboratory, science,
and theory, is very great ; yet the information
imparted to the farmer has not been put in
such shape as to enable him to reap the full
benefit, and the farmer has not availed him-
self of the benefits to himself and his land
that might have been derived, had he carefully
studied the subject and made careful experi-
ments on his land. But, at the present time,
the outlook seems to be more encouraging;
and we may safely look for better results in
the future, as investigations are now being
made that promise to give new and better
light in addition to what we now have.

The substances composing fertilizers, their
relative quantities and values, are now better

n6 Colcord's System of

known. Those that are supplied from the air,
those that are volatile, and those that are in-
organic, with formulae for different crops, are
now accessible to farmers who will take the
pains to investigate and learn to experiment;
and any one can buy the individual raw mate-
rials which his land or crops require, and learn
to draw largely from nature instead of all from
the manufacturer, and can compound them to
his mind, or have them made available for use
and compounded in the required proportions.

Mr. Benjamin Randall, Chelsea Street, East
Boston, a thoroughly reliable miller of many
years' experience in the business, has done
work of this kind for me with satisfactory re-
sults. The gain supposed to be made in this
way is by bringing the producer and consumer
together, saving the profits of the middleman.

Those who cannot designate what they want
would do well to try the complete fertilizer
made by J. A. Tucker & Co., 13 Doane Street,
Boston, known as the. Bay State Superphos-
phates. I have used it for my corn crops, with
very good results.

What all farmers should do is to make the
most of their manure piles. They should feed
for manure as well as milk, which can be done
conjointly with increased profit. The manure

Preserving Green Forage 117

piles may be used as compost heaps by adding
to them such articles as will enhance their
value for general purposes, special crops, or
the special needs of the land. Such articles
as yield potash, phosphoric acid, soda, mag-
nesia, nitrogen, and ammonia, may be added
weekly, spreading them over the piles, and
saving all the droppings, liquid or solid. This
I do partially by keeping the piles under cover
out of the way of frost, passing a current of
air over them whenever I can get it above the
freezing point. This removes a large quantity
of water, retaining the valuable part of the
liquid manure, and keeps the manure of proper
consistence for retaining the gases, using for
bedding sand, loam, sawdust, straw, and other
dry litter, as absorbents and disinfectants.
These things add to the manure in quantity
and quality, and should be used also to get
the best results mechanically, also saving the
manure values, that usually escape as gases,
by fixing or compounding them as they rise
from the piles. To illustrate, if you spread
acid superphosphates (which means bone
treated with sulphuric acid in excess) over the
piles in good mechanical condition for mod-
erate decomposition, the gases which are
evolved will unite with the acid phosphates,

u8 Colcord's System of

and become fixed or non-volatile. This acts
also as a disinfectant, purifying the air of the
stable. The sulphuric acid, the phosphoric
acid, and lime of the bone, being non-volatile,
are in the best condition to unite chemically
and mechanically with the volatile principles.
Each ingredient becomes available for plant
food. The whole mass is homogeneous, with
loss reduced to the minimum.

By feeding for manure such articles as cot-
ton-seed, flaxseed, or oil-cake, shorts, or wheat-
bran, while they go to make up a perfect food
for the cow, producing a greater flow and
better quality of milk, also improving the
cattle in flesh, and giving them a fine, comely
appearance, it is also stated that more than
half their value goes through the cattle into
the manure pile. The chemists and the crops
seem also to prove it. The farmers ought
also to prove or disprove it in their way by
feeding a certain number of cows each with
and without these articles, carefully weighing
their alvine discharges and planting their ex-
periment plats in all other ways alike, then
adding half the grain rations to another por-
tion of the manure that does not contain the
grain rations, and again using half the grain
rations as fertilizer without any manure, also
.using a full grain ration without manure.

(.Irccn Forage 119

These grain fertilizers to be well mixed with
soil, to prevent burning up the seed, and
watered equally, to develop their decomposi-
tion. I am aware that these experiments
would not be scientific or good in theory, but
they would pay for the time and trouble to
the farmer just the same; but, if in any way
he should find that more than half the cost
of his grain goes into the manure,%and thinks
it an economical way of making manure, let
him not overdo the thing by converting his
herd into fertilizer factories. Many herds are
already being injured by this crowding process.

Temperance on the farm will apply to the
barn and the crops as well as in the house.
The end sought should be the greatest profit
with the least loss. This can be done, doubly
or even trebly, by using this system of mak-
ing and feeding preserved green forage, and
making the most and best use of the manure.

There is one more point about fertilizers:
it is commutation, a mechanical change of
state in the ingredients ; it is the difference in
value of bone between ground or granulated
bone and fine or flour of bone. The one is
available the second or third year after being
applied to the land : the other is available the
first season. I use the term as somewhat anal-

I2O ColcoriFs System of

agous to the term used about phosphoric acid,
and illustrate it as it may be applied to iron.
If you simply pulverize iron very fine, you can
so change its condition that you can set fire
to it with a match, and burn it up. So you
may commute bones so fine that they will
become available for plant food very soon after
being applied to the damp earth, and all plants
take their food in liquid form. The reader
may think that these statements should be
commuted, to make them available, so I will
state that, when commercial fertilizers were
in their infancy, I bought of this same J. A.
Tucker, before referred to, who was then
comparatively juvenile and the first superphos-
phate man I ever heard of. I took some of
his fresh ground and fleshy bones, ranging in
size from the point of a needle to a thumb-
nail, and applied it to a grape-vine in a sickly
condition vegetating in a small back yard in
the city, and raised the sickly, emaciated vine
to the top of a three-story building, training it
to the sunshine, where I raised quantities of
grapes upon it annually, the phosphates being
immediately and continuously available.

I also visited the works of the same Mr.
Benjamin Randall before mentioned, and ex-
amined the various mills in use by his prede-

Preserving Green Forage 121

cessors. One of these mills commuted so fine
that a lump of anthracite coal the size of a
hen's egg would fill a quart bottle, and another
would pulverize hard cobble-stones, the size of
my two fists, as fast as I could throw them
into the mill. Mr. Randall was employed by
his predecessors, the mills afterwards coming
into his possession, and from long experience
is the proper person in the proper place to
produce the best ground bone. The proper
amount of commutation is a prominent factor
in the manufacture of fertilizers.

It would be out of place for me to speak of
fertilizers, except in a general way, because in
this little book I try to confine myself to state-
ments of facts, and say little about what I
don't know; and fertilizers to me are some-
thing like oleomargarine and sausages, — vague
and uncertain in composition, yet having a
value as food for vegetables and an improved
food for vegetarians, although unknown com-
pounds, prescribed as simples.

122 Colcord's System of

[From the New England Farmer :]

SILOS AND ENSILAGE.

THE FAVORABLE REPORTS CONTINUE. SOME NOT-
ABLE EXPERIMENTS. AN AIR-TIGHT SILO.

One of our letters of inquiry about ensilage
went to Mr. S. M. Colcord, of Dover, Mass.,
whose response was an invitation to come
and see his silo, which a representative of the
Farmer and Homes promptly accepted. Mr.
Colcord has had a number of years' experience
with ensilage, and believes in it thoroughly;
but he also believes that many ensilagists
allow the contents of their silos to heat and
ferment so as to be seriously injured. He
makes the broad assertion that nine-tenths of
all the ensilage produced fails to fulfil its pos-
sibilities. He is a chemist as well as farmer,
and has found in some samples of ensilage
acetic acid, — in a cow's daily ration of 60
pounds, an acidity of acid strength equal to
three gallons of vinegar of standard strength.
Ensilage so sour or which is partly putrid he
believes to be unhealthy. Consequently, he
has spent much time and money in experi-

Preserving Green Forage 123

ments looking toward a perfect control of the
contents of the silo, with a view to making
ensilage more similar to canned fruits than the
sour, odoriferous product found in many barns.
This is to be accomplished by removing the
air from the silo wrhile filling and after it is
filled, as air is the medium in which the bac-
teria of fermentation and decay are conveyed
from place to place. To prove his theories,
he built a new silo in the spring, and con-
structed it with such thoroughness and accu-
racy that we give an illustration of the appear-
ance of things when the silo was under way,
in order to emphasize the care that was taken
to get accurate results. The picture, made
from a photograph, shows the framework and
the walls of the silo just beginning to rise.
The silo is 32 x 12, 20, with the cement walls
17 feet high and 3 feet of plank above this.
This plank annex is filled at first; but, after
the ensilage settles, none is intended to come
above the cement wall. The walls are 18
inches thick, composed of one part cement,
two parts coarse sand, two parts small cobble-
stones, two parts broken stone, mixed with
about 30 gallons of water to each barrel of
cement. The foundation below the wall is 20
wide and 1 6 to 20 inches deep, built of cobble-

124 Colcord^s System of

stone and fine gravel, made level on top, and
thin cement mortar poured over it and fin-
ished level. This foundation is surrounded
by a tile drain. The land around it inside
and outside was also made quite level and
hard, to receive the staging. The timbers on
each side the wall were 6x6 inches, about i
foot higher than the wall was to be built, and
placed about 5 feet apart. Planks 14 to 1 6
inches wide, planed on the inside in a planing
mill to make them of even thickness, were
placed on the inside of these timbers so as
to slide up easily, as the cement set. This
trough was filled but once daily, which set
firmly during the night, keeping the walls
level. The timbers on the inside of the pit
were erected first. They were straight-grained
and not twisted. The planks that tied these
timbers together at the top, middle, and bot-
tom were 2x8 inches, sawed square at the
ends, of equal lengths. They were spiked
firmly to the upright timbers and cross-braced,
taking the utmost pains to keep the timbers
exactly equi-distant and plumb. This work
was so thoroughly done that the walls of this
pit, when the staging was removed, did not
vary i-S of an inch in length or breadth, from
top to bottom. The outside timbers were put

Preserving Green Forage 125

up equi-distant to match the inside ones, and
the cross pieces of i x 6 fence boards, 6 feet
long, nailed to the inside and outside timber,
and also to the 4x4 outside staging support,
as shown in the engraving. As the wall was
built up, these cross pieces were sawed away,
leaving the inside and outside staging sepa-
rate, but firm, only tied together at the top.

The engraving also shows 6 i%-inch iron
rods built into the wall from the bottom to
4 feet above the top. When the walls were
finished, these rods passed through 8x8 cross
timbers, and were terminated with double
nuts.

The silo was filled with corn-stalks and
ears cut in *4-inch lengths. A cover of 2-
inch splined planks was then fitted over the
top, and the joint between the planks and the
wall was covered with rubber packing. The
planks were then covered with tarred building
paper and several inches of fine sand, making
the whole as perfectly air-tight as possible.
Then 8 2-inch jack-screws were placed be-
tween the cover and the 8x8 timbers across
the top, and the requisite pressure given to
the ensilage, forcing out all of the air, giving
a density of 50 pounds to the cubic foot. Mr.
Colcord has an ingenious arrangement of

126 . Colcprd's System of

pipes about the top and bottom, and through
this silo, by which he can make investigations.
He has lowered a thermometer into it three
times a day, and is confident that no heating
has taken place. He can also draw off the
juices from the bottom.

The silo was opened a few days before the
reporter's visit. The opening was made by
removing only two of the end planks, and tak-
ing out a narrow strip, exposing a minimum
amount of ensilage to the air at a time. The
ensilage had been so compacted by the intense
pressure when it was first put in that it had
to be cut down with a hay-knife, slicing off
almost like cheese. It was so solid that the
ensilage next to the opening remained in posi-
tion, there being no trouble from " caving in."
The ensilage was the sweetest the Farmer
man ever saw. There was no perceptible
sourness or disagreeable taste to it. The odor
of it was hardly noticeable in the barn, and
it was very moist. Water could be wrung
out from samples taken from the top under
the cover.

The pipes about the bottom of the silo, that
allow the exit of the air, favor the rapid set-
tling of the ensilage as the silo is filled ; and,
when it was half full, it settled so fast that 3
inches of juice settled at the bottom.

Preserving Green Forage 127

The corn for the ensilage was raised on a
field that previously produced one-half a ton
of hay to the acre. Five hundred pounds of
Tucker's Bay State Superphosphate per acre
were applied with Kemp's manure-spreader,
and 500 pounds more were applied in drills.
The corn was planted with an Eclipse Corn
Planter, which dropped i kernel every 3
inches, at the rate of 4 acres per day.

[From the New England Farmer^

SWEET ENSILAGE.

The readers of these columns will remem-
ber that last fall we printed a very interesting
account of a visit to the silo of Mr. Col-
cord, of Dover, Mass., and illustrated his silo
in process of construction. It was built air-
tight, with smooth, perpendicular walls, the
opposite walls being exactly equal distance
from each other, so that under pressure the
fodder might descend with the least lateral
pressure and the covering come down evenly
between the walls. Mr. Colcord's aim is to
preserve ensilage without its heating or chang-
ing in the least, so that it will be veritably
analogous to canned goods. On filling the

128 Colcord's System of

silo, a slight acetic tendency was noticed,
which passed away in a short time, some-
thing not unlike the change in the acidity of
a Baldwin apple from November to May.
Carbonic acid was also noticed ; and, as this
is heavier than air, it was supposed that this
in a measure displaced the air in the silo, thus
assisting Mr. Colcord in his desire to make the
ensilage perfectly free from air, which must be
present if there is any fermentation. One
very peculiar thing about the contents of the
silo, as it filled, was the large amount of juice
which accumulated at the bottom ; but this was
afterwards absorbed, apparently by capillary
attraction, and brought even to the very top.
In feeding the ensilage, it was taken out in
vertical layers ; and at any time large quanti-
ties of juice can be squeezed from it, even from
portions taken from the top. The result of
this experiment was a perfectly sweet, juicy
ensilage, without any evidence of putrefac-
tion, and only slight acidity. The cattle eat
it readily, there is no waste, and no odor
from the forage about the barn or on the
hands or clothing of those handling it. The
silo was filled with mature corn in full milk,
just beginning to glaze and ripen, which would
have yielded about 100 bushels of shelled corn,

Preserving Green Forage 129

so that by the use of this silo he had no corn
to husk, shell, or take to the mill.

The ensilage was fed to 19 head of cattle,
17 being milch cows. 65 pounds were fed
daily, with some bran to balance the ration.
The milk-flow increased, and in this respect
the showing was very satisfactory; but the
gain in flesh was even more marked. 16 of
the cows gained in four months 2,765 pounds,
and 1 6 gained 1,224 pounds in 30 days, i of
them gained in weight an average, within a
small fraction, of 5 pounds daily during the 30
days, another 4 % pounds daily, another 3 5-6
pounds daily. One large cow was fed on 60
or 70 pounds daily for 90 days, during which
time she grew in weight 2 pounds and 5
ounces daily. She was fed 19 pounds of this
forage an hour and a half before she was
killed; and, after being slaughtered, the con-
tents of her stomach were examined, and found
to be sweet, with no offensive odor. The ani-
mal was very meaty. Three days before she
was butchered, she weighed 1,418.

The 1 5th of May the silo was three-fourths
empty, the corn in the lower part was con-
densed by pressure to one-half the space occu-
pied by the upper half, but, on account of the
absorption of the juice, a cubic foot in the

130 C chord's System of

upper half weighed a little more than a cubic
foot in the lower half ; yet in feeding value
they were equal.

All his hay was fed last year to about half
the amount of stock, but this year half of the
hay will be left over from the use of the silo.
The juice from this forage is odorless, agree-
able to the taste, and at a temperature of 60
to 80 degrees turns to a pure, weak corn vin-
egar.

This feeding experiment leads Mr. Colcord
to think that the first process of digestion is
done in the silo to a great extent, and that a
certain quantity of acidity is required in this
first process. If it can be done as well or bet-
ter without using the vital force of the animal,
it seems to be a matter of great importance.

ENSILAGE A PROMOTER OF DIGESTION
AND ASSIMILATION.

[I regret that I am unable to give the name of the author of the
following able article.]

In ensilage there may be a slight loss in the
carbo-hydrate elements, and a gain is made in
protein, and increased digestibility of the rest,
which gives feeding value to what has often
been termed the water in ensilage. It is not

Preserving Green Forage 131

only easily digested, but also helps digest other
richer foods, including grain ; and thus, adding
the natural juices of plants to the mixed ration,
aids nature to assimilate them without calling
upon the digestive economy of the animal to
do all the work. In the other cases, all this
matter is dried down into a hard condition, and
must have water to reabsorb it, freshen it up
and dissolve it, which requires a good deal of
extra force. If you take an apple, you will find
the nutriment all in a soluble condition ; and,
when you take it into the stomach, it is ready
to go into the circulation at once. If you dry
that apple, all that nutriment becomes like
rawhide, and it must be soaked up; and, when
you have done that, you have changed its con-
dition. You can never get it back in the same
condition it was before the drying was done,
and it takes more energy and force to digest
that dry food than in its green state. That is
the pith of the whole matter.

The nutriment, or the sugar, in dry food is
not necessarily changed by the evaporation of
the water, but it is simply breaking the chemi-
cal union of the water with the rest of the com-
pound ; and that chemical reunion has got to
be restored by energies of the stomach, which
makes extra work and makes it slow. In feed-

132 Co /cord's System of

ing a cow, you want to give her what she can
eat in a given time. A dry feed may contain
as much nutriment ; but you cannot get as
much out of it, because it takes so long to do
it that the animal has got to support itself
while it is being digested. The point is simply
this : that in the green stage the albumen and
other matter is, to a large extent, already in
solution in a condition in which, when it is
separated from the fibrous matter, it can be
taken right into the circulation and appropri-
ated. In wetting or steaming fodder, it will
help considerably; but it will not overcome the
change which the feed undergoes in the desic-
cation and soaking up again.

[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman, March 2, 1889.]

COLCORD'S PRESERVED GREEN FORAGE.

GREAT GAIN IN FLESH.

The following letter has been received from
Mr. Colcord: —

Referring to my communication published
in the Farm, Field, and Stockman, Nov. 17,
1888, after I had filled my silo with very poor
green frosted fodder, 1 now send you the re-
port of my results with that crop.

/Vi •-,/. Y/:V I in'*' it /•;>/ ,/•;,- I 33

I pressed the (over down upon the cnrn
slowly, and perfectly lev< I uuhl I b.id in I IK
bottom ol the hilo -?o im hes ol juice-. There

heat and lcnncnt.it inn. Much oi these acids

VV.l'i -il >'.ol I ><•< | |>y the jlIHe, «ai|sim.' ,1 |>. utl.il

vacuum, vvba b, vvitb the* pj<'v.ui« , -^-t up < .tpil
l.ti y .tt 1 I;K t ion, and bi ouidit up t h<* )ui<v r vml y

throughout the mass to the top plank. W h 1 1 • •
thii was going on, the temperature wai gradu-

ally iallin- in tin* -,ilo. (I LiM-p a 1 hrrmomrtcr

'" the centre of the silo, and examine it daily.)

Upon nprnini'i tin- -iilo tn lc<-(| linin i! w
COUld pl"< ••-/•> out '•> to lo (jlJU<<'^ ol th<- jilicr
from 10 ounces oj the inriiL'i* taken |j<)iu any

part of the silo. Having a surplus Quantity of

jui< c at tin- Ixittom, w<- di'-vv it oil and b'd O
poiindh, mixed With ^hoiK, <|aily to ea< h cow.

I 1 1 r . j 1 1 !' < w.r. ' I* .1 1 •, < • I . 1 1 j< I 1 1' .1 1 I y ' >< 1 1 •!

[eti,

'I w« lv< oi my * ovy-i v.nned m '.v i:dil, iioin
June to l)e(cmber i, i ,u«/) pounds, and wen-

in very good condition; but upon this gain,
fed upon this forage 60 poundi daily, with a
quarts gluten meal and 8 quarts shorts, their

;>..m v/.r, /•;<, pound", additional in lliiily d..y,(

134 Colcord's System of

the milkers nearly doubling their milk, the
others gaining in weight.

Considering the quality of the corn put into
the silo, I think this is a remarkable showing ;
and it would seem to be an impossibility for
any corn crop to be a failure, with a good silo.

Green forage preserved by this system is
better and of greater feeding value during the
last month than during the first month, taking
it from the silo.

I can see no reason to doubt perfect success
every year with the crop, the silo, the system,
and the silo governor. By using this system,
there is no waste or loss of the corn. By using
the governor, all the air and free gases are re-
moved, which prevents heat and fermentation
(we have never had above 78° of heat): conse-
quently, we have no foul odors, and 50 per
cent, more of this forage can be fed to the cat-
tle than of ordinary ensilage.

THE ADVANTAGE OF JUICE.

There is also a great advantage in having
the juice from the corn taken up evenly
throughout the mass, reducing the tempera-
ture, producing a condition similar to canned
goods and superior, inasmuch as the corn is
soaking under pressure in free juice, render-

Preserving Green Forage 135

ing it soft and pulpy, more assimilable as
food, and of much greater feeding value.

My stock was fed upon this forage until July
20. After that time, the milk-flow fell off
about half. I commenced feeding the pre-
served forage again, November 25 ; and during
the next thirty-five days the flow of milk
doubled from the same cows, and the dry
stock increased in flesh, in proportion to the
increased flow of milk from the milkers.

As I weigh the fodder every time it is fed,
and as the cows are weighed every thirty days,
I am able to speak accurately as to results. I
have tried to make a comparison with green
corn fresh from the field ; but, as my cows
would not eat a large part of the green stalks,
I could not get at a sufficiently accurate esti-
mate for publication. My men who weighed
550 pounds of the fresh green corn, at a
feed, thought that amount was about equal to
375 pounds of the preserved green forage.

I put into a very good silo, constructed on
my system, last year, two governors for W. H.
Bent, Natick, Mass. I have examined the
forage that he is now feeding from it to a very
fine herd 'of blooded Holsteins. The quality
of the preserved forage was equal to mine, but
I have not compared his feeding results with

136 Colcord's System of

mine. They cannot be the same, because he
has taken from one of his cows 40 cans (680
pounds) of milk in ten days. None of my
cows will hold as much in twenty-four hours,
to say nothing of gaining on that.

I mention this here to show that others
can get just as good feed and results by using
my system and device as I do. The gov-
ernors are an economical investment in any
silo ; but the better the silo, the more perfect
will be the preserved fodder.

The importance of this system may be seen
when we notice how it differs from ordinary
ensilage. By this system, the forage is pre-
served without heat or fermentation, without
foul odor, without any waste; it is contin-
ually improving in the silo, is soft and pulpy,
and is improving in feeding value while being
fed out ; as long as it lasts, its quality is im-
proved, its assimilation and feeding value aug-
mented, by soaking in its own juice under
pressure, under similar but improved condi-
tions to canned goods.

These conditions are quite the reverse with
ensilage. Ensilage is not uniform in quality,
and different lots vary very much. Even with
the same amount of care, it cannot be de-
pended upon for quality in any case, which

Preserving Green Forage 137

accounts for the great number of abandoned
silos, although it is often quite good, but it
will never bear a good comparison with this
preserved forage. It is very seldom that a
peck of ensilage can be taken into a warm
room and kept a few hours without filling the
room with very disagreeable odor ; and people
who have handled ensilage for a short time,
upon entering a warm room, will usually fill it
with disagreeable odor, unless their clothing
has been previously changed. But this is not
the case with this preserved forage. I feed
regular rations, weighed, to my cows daily,
from 60 to 70 pounds, without any waste, and
have fed as high as 85 pounds to large cows.
This cannot be done with ensilage. My silo
is in my barn; and, even when I am feeding 20
cows in the same barn, people do not notice
the odor of ensilage. I am aware that it is
difficult for people to understand these state-
ments who have not seen it, but people who
have seen these things in my barn attest to
these facts.

This system is in operation upon my farm,
and is open to the inspection of any one at
any time, or to any officers, agents, or Com-
mittees of Institutes, Farmers' Clubs, or
Granges, wishing to make examinations. As

138 Colcord's System of

there is no secret about it, all information and
every facility is freely given to make examina-
tions ; and I will answer any calls upon me to
explain this, system and device before any
meeting of such bodies as Boards of Agricult-
ure or Experiment Stations.

[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman, July 14, 1888.]

EXPERIMENTS WITH MILK AND CREAM.

BY S. M. COLCORD.

From a herd of grade cows, fed on Colcord's
preserved corn, with half-rations of shorts and
cotton-seed, sixteen cows were taken from a
rich pasture of fresh grass, and kept in the
barn, the temperature being an average of 85°.
The increase of milk upon 65 pounds daily
ration of this forage was one can daily, without
turning the cows out.

June 15, sixteen pints of milk were taken,
one pint from each cow's, from the last quart of
each milking. It was mixed together, and set
by the Cooley system, submerged at a tem-
perature of 48° sixteen hours, the temperature
at the end of the setting being 58°. The yield
of cream was four and one-half inches to eigh-

Preserving Green Forage 139

teen inches depth of milk, just one-fourth, or
25 per cent, cream.

June 1 6, sixteen pints of milk taken, one
pint each from same cows, fed the same way,
setting and temperature the same. This milk
was taken from all that the cows gave, the
setting was twelve hours, with three inches
of cream to eighteen inches depth. Set to
twenty-four hours, with about the same amount
of cream. The cows not turned out, and held
their increase of milk.

June 17, sixteen pints taken, one pint from
each cow, from the last half of the milking of
each cow, mixed and set the same, tempera-
ture of the weather 86°, of the water setting
58°. Yield of cream, four inches to eighteen
inches, the cows bellowing in the hot barn for
cool water and liberty. The yield of milk fell
short one can the past twenty-four hours.

The cream in all these trials was yellow,
sweet, and odorless of any taint, and was used
upon the table morning, noon, and night, by
all the family (eight persons), upon oatmeal,
beans, bread, sweet cakes, in tea, coffee, and in
several other ways, the quality uniform in all
the samples, and the best I have ever seen.

June 17, four days, nine hours, after setting,
the milk soured, the cream became acid. Three

140 Colcord's System of

days, nine hours, after setting, the milk was
sweet, the cream slightly acid. Two days,
nine hours, after setting, the milk was sweet,
the cream sweet. During this time, the
weather has varied 30°, with rain, thunder, and
lightning. The setting and refrigerator has
varied about 10°.

June 20, five days, nine hours, milk and
cream both sour. Four days, nine hours, milk
acid, cream sour. Three days, nine hours,
milk sweet, cream acid.

There has been no odor of ensilage or any
bad odor, except that of sour milk or cream.
Since the i5th and i6th, the temperature has
been kept at 58°. The samples are all uni-
form, without a taint of foul odor of any kind.
The milk and cream are faultless as to color,
odor, and taste.

June 26, the curd was partially separated
from the whey. The samples are all uniform,
without a taint of foul odor of any kind. The
taste of curd and whey is very pleasant, cheesy ?
with no mould, not a suspicion of ensilage
taste or odor. The cream is thick, cheesy, of
fine odor, and mixed with whey. There is not
a shade of taste or smell in the direction of
ensilage. These samples are now kept at
a temperature of 38°, and are examined fre-

Preserving Green Forage 141

quently. I have never seen samples of milk
and cream as pure, sweet, and fine-flavored
before. They appear to be faultless. The ex-
aminations will continue until further changes
are noticed.

I have been induced to make these examina-
tions at the request of parties who furnish the
best milk to New York City, for the purpose of
knowing whether Colcord's preserved green
forage imparts any odor or taste of ensilage to
milk or cream. I believe it impossible to get
better milk or cream from any other food given
to cows.

[From the Rural New Yorker.

PATENT SILAGE.

February i, we received by mail, from Mr.
S. M. Colcord, of Dover, Mass., about a pound
of silage, which was taken from the silo three
days before its arrival. It was the most per-
fect specimen of preserved fodder we have
ever seen, sweet and fragrant. It was sampled
by many visitors, several of whom were per-
fectly willing to put it into their mouths and
taste it. We have kept that package of silage
on a desk in a warm room ever since. It is
now perfectly dry, green and sweet, in far bet-

142 Colcord's System of

ter condition than any corn fodder we have
seen.

[Following the above, and in the same paper,
there was printed a description of the Colcord
process of preserving green forage without
heat or fermentation, said description being
very similar to that printed on p. 1 1 2 of this
treatise.]

[From the New England Farmer, April, 6, 1889.]

A SUGGESTION FOR THE EXPERIMENT
STATIONS.

The Rural New Yorker, noticing the ensi-
lage ideas of Mr. S. M. Colcord, which have
been noticed several times in these columns,
says, "We have long believed that this process
of preparing silage will some day revolution-
ize the ensilage business." The Rural New
Yorker says in print what the editors of this
paper have frequently said to Mr. Colcord
personally, that the experiment stations should
test this patent system of ensilage-making, side
by side with the ordinary silo.

Preserving Green Forage 143

THE PRESERVATION OF ENSILAGE,

BY S. M. COLCORD, DOVER, MASS.

[Published in the Report of the State Board of Agriculture of
Pennsylvania, 1888.]

For ten years past, I have made a study of
preserving green forage,, and a great deal of
my time has been spent in visiting silos and
making examinations of their contents. There
is a great deal of truth in the claims made for
ensilage, especially in the direction of assimila-
tion and the digestion of food, analogous in
some degree to the difference between grapes
and raisins, or between green and dry forage.
There is also a great deal of truth in the
objections made to ensilage as usually fed to
cattle, especially in the direction of its being
injured or spoiled by heat and fermentation in
the silo, rendering it unfit for wholesome food.
It has been found so difficult to preserve it
without heat and consequent fermentation that
the advice of scientific men has been in the
direction of increasing the heat for the purpose
of germinating the bacteria in true fermenta-
tion and killing them by excess of heat, as

144 Colcord's System of

they germinate at a temperature above 80° and
are killed above 122° Fahrenheit. The ob-
jection to this theory and practice is that true
fermentation cannot be controlled or stopped
before the ensilage becomes unfit for food, as
it has been proved that the germs of bacteria
will develop after having been exposed to a
temperature of 212° for some hours.

I have therefore directed my experiments
with a view of preventing heat and fermenta-
tion entirely, as the only sure way of preserving
green forage; and, in order to ascertain the
possibilities of this system, I built a perfectly
air-tight silo, with smooth, perpendicular walls,
capacity of 6,528 cubic feet, about 150 tons,
384 square feet of top surface, arranged to
press with jack-screws, at pleasure, wherever
and whenever wanted ; filled it with green
corn in full milk, cut in half-inch lengths, lev-
elled carefully to level lines, i foot apart,
striped around the walls with a plumbago
pencil; covered it with 2-inch splined plank,
and around the sides with 4^ -inch rubber
packing, then covered with two thicknesses
of thick paper, kept in place with 4 inches of
sand all over it.

Three governors, consisting of i-inch iron
pipe made into frames 6 by 26 feet, with

Preserving Green Forage 145

%-inch holes on the under sides, every 6
inches, were placed one at the bottom, one in
the centre, and one on the top of this mass
of corn, with outlets at the bottom and top,
closed with stop-cocks and plugs. These
governors were sleeved together, and so ar-
ranged that the corn could not stop the %-
inch holes, but would leave a continuous
passage under the pipes for the air and gases
to get into the pipes and be conveyed through
the pipes to the outside through the openings
at top and bottom, thus leaving an air-hole
within 3 to 4 feet of every part of the forage.
It is not usual to get any juice from the corn
in making ensilage, even with 200 pounds
weighting to the square foot; but, with this
device, the action was so prompt and decided
that I had 2 to 3 inches of juice from the corn
all over the bottom of the silo before it was
three-quarters full, and some days before it was
covered. I took the temperature daily at dif-
ferent depths, in the centre, which was never
over 72° in any part of the silo. This was
about the temperature outside when we com-
menced filling. Six feet from the bottom, the
mercury stood 56° to 58°, which is above the
highest temperature we now have, four months
after filling. The forage does not heat up

146 Colcord's System of

when removed from the silo, piled in a heap
and left exposed to the air, as ensilage does.

The silo being sealed up air-tight, all the gas
coming from it had to come out through the
governors at the top of the silo. The next
morning after commencing to fill, carbonic
acid was abundant. The second day, we had
acetic acid, with no rise of temperature. These
two acids appeared to be all that came out of
the silo. They were very pure and odorless.
It is fair to presume that, as carbonic acid is
heavier than air, and was present in quantity,
it displaced the air in the silo, and that, being
readily absorbed by the water or juice, it had
a tendency to form a vacuum, which, com-
bined with the pressure and capillary attrac-
tion, brought the juice to the very top plank.
The silo is now just half empty. The perpen-
dicular face of the cut is 13^ feet. From any
part of this face, we can take a handful of the
corn and squeeze the juice from it with one
hand. The lower half of this mass occupies
less than half the space it did when put in.
The upper half shows much less pressure ; but
the weight of a cubic foot of each is about the
same, showing the proportion of juice to corn
is much greater in the top half. Heavy press-
ure was kept on for six weeks. During all this
time, acetic acid came out pure and pungent.

Preserving Green Forage 147

When that ceased to come, the pressure was
discontinued ; and, since the pressure has been
removed, the acidity has been growing less, a
change not unlike the acidity of a Baldwin
apple from November to May. My cattle have
never objected to the acid. They seem to like
it. The good milkers increase in milk, but do
not increase so much in flesh; while the young
and dry stock increase in flesh, some of them
over two pounds daily for sixty days past. I
am keeping nearly double the stock of last
year, making nearly double the amount of milk
and manure, using about the same amount of
grain, and employing the same amount of help
as last year. I have no weights to put on and
take off the silo, no corn to husk, shell, and
take to the mill, — it is all in the silo ; and I
have no corn-fodder to handle, cut up, and
steam, and no mangels to cut up and feed.
I shall have half my hay left over. It was all
fed out last year to about half the amount of
stock. I also have enough of this fodder to
carry twenty head of stock to the ist of
August.

This system, as developed by experiment and
tests, rests mainly upon having tight silos, with
smooth, perpendicular, even walls ; the oppo-
site walls being at equal distances from each

148 Colcord's System of

other in all places, so that under pressure the
fodder may descend with the least lateral
pressure, and the covering may come down
evenly without pressure upon the walls ; the
forage kept spread evenly while being placed
in the silo, so that it may be pressed to equal
density. The cover should be of 2-inch plank
laid across the silo, with 6x6 timbers laid
across the plank lengthwise of the silo to keep
the cover level ; and the pressure should be
upon the 6x6 timber. The best pressure is
produced by having i ^-inch iron rods built into
the side walls from the bottom to 6 feet above
the walls, placed perpendicular in the centre
of the walls, about 4 feet from the end walls
and 8 feet distance apart, with 8x8 timber
(to a 12-foot span) connecting opposite rods,
the rods passing through i^-inch holes
through the ends of the timbers, securely
fastened on top by double nuts and large,
heavy washers under them. The long screws
on the rods should be about six threads to
an inch. 2-inch jack-screws should be used
between the timbers running lengthwise and
across the silo.

The heavy strain upon the rods will assist
in holding up the walls, the corn can be kept
level, and all time, trouble, and expense of
weighting avoided

Preserving Green Forage 149

The corn should be cut fine, % to ^ inch
long. The pressure should give about 30
inches of juice in the bottom of the silo, and
is a better guide for pressure than weighting
a certain number of pounds, because that
amount of juice has been found sufficient
under pressure, with the absorption of car-
bonic acid and • capillary attraction to carry the
juice to the top of the forage, displacing all. air
and free gas, representing canned goods by
cold pressure instead of heat. This statement
must be understood to include the device for
removing air and other gases, without which
it cannot be done. In large silos, one gover-
nor should be placed on the bottom and one
in the centre of the silo. These act so
promptly that we get juice in the bottom be-
fore we get the cover on, and act continuously
for six weeks, removing air, carbonic and acetic
acid, the forage continually improving in qual-
ity from the filling to removing it from the
silo. The covering plank is laid directly upon
the corn. There is no waste whatever of for-
age in the silo, or at the feeding-trough.
There is no odor from the forage in the silo,
about the barn, or from the hands and cloth-
ing after handling it. Cattle will eat one ton
per month continuously. If the corn is put in

150 Colcord^s System of

mature, the ears upon the stalk, no corn-meal
should be fed with it ; but cattle will do better
with a light ration of shorts and cotton-seed
fed with the forage, as corn in its best con-
ditions is not a perfect food, although there is
no better food to feed alone.

In comparing different samples of ensilage,
it is often difficult to decide which is best;
and it is usually found to be of better quality
during the first month after opening the silo ;
but forage preserved by this system is contin-
ually improving.

In comparing it with ensilage, we can feed
one-third more of it in a given time ; it is
much more economical, — there is no waste in
preserving or feeding it; there are no foul
odors about it, and odor is one of the sure
tests of quality.

By this system, we expel the air, carbonic
and acetic acids, from the silo, pure and simple.
In ensilage, these are disposed of by heat and
fermentation, through decomposition, forming
deleterious compounds with foul odors, increas-
ing as bacteria fermentation is more or less
active. Ensilage usually has heat and active
bacteria fermentation in it, which causes nearly
all the trouble with it ; but, when the governor
is used in a good silo, heat and fermentation
never occur.

Preserving Green Forage 151

It is of great advantage and a great satisfac-
tion to be able to know just the conditions
inside the silo at all times, as the amount of
juice gives the pressure wanted as well as the
acidity. The temperature informs us as to
the fermentation, the ability to examine the
gases coming from all parts of the silo, at any
time, and to know when they cease and hew
they can be controlled. The device we call
the governor, because it is intended not only
to show the conditions, but govern them. It
has always acted to prevent heat and fermen-
tation, so that we have never had an opportu-
nity to test in stopping and controlling, al-
though designed for that purpose also.

It is also a great advantage to control the
pressure at will. The last heavy pressure by
the screws gave us acetic acid through the
governor, showing no changes beyond, toward
decomposition ; and it is to be noted that
acetic acid came in the second day after com-
mencing to fill.

The quantity of acetic acid in all samples
of ensilage has appeared to be one of the
great objections to ensilage, and, in judging it,
other greater objections have been overlooked.
I have found that the quality of the preserved
forage does not depend upon its acidity.

152 Colcord's System of

To ascertain the effect of good preserved
fodder fed in large quantity, I fed to a large
cow from 66 to over 70 pounds daily for 90
days, during which time she gained in weight
2 pounds 5 ounces daily. Her last feed, an
hour and a half before she was killed, was 19
pounds of bright, odorless forage, fed alone,
the acidity of which was equal to the acidity
in 1 1 ounces of commercial acetic acid. The
test was made by pressing 10 ounces of juice
from i pound of the forage, neutralizing with
liquor potash, and testing with litmus. The
contents of the stomach were immediately ex-
amined in the same way. One pound of it was
pressed the same as the sample before it was
fed, with same results, 10 ounces of juke from
16 ounces. Nothing found in the stomach
but this forage. The humidity the same as
before being eaten, and tested so nearly neu-
tral that I could not tell whether it leaned to
acid or alkali.

The contents of the stomach were not offen-
sive, not more so than the forage before being
eaten, except the animal heat in it. Every
part of the animal was perfectly healthy. The
beef was fat, very meaty and well mottled.
This cow, before she was fed on this forage,
was in quite ordinary condition, and it was

Preserving Green Forage 153

feared that she would not fatten enough for
fair beef ; but 3 days before she was butchered
she weighed 1,418 pounds. How that quan-
tity of acid was disposed of in one and one-
half hours by the animal will require more
time and further experiments. No animal
could have been in better health than she
was during the 90 days, or show a more
healthy condition of every part upon exami-
nation. Her gain in weight for the last 90
days was gradual and continuous, averaging
2 pounds 5 ounces daily. Over 3 pounds of
the contents of her stomach is now in the
same condition as on the day it was taken out.
It has been kept in a tin lard-pail 30 days, is
odorless, and seems to be just in the condi-
tion for mastication.

This acid forage was taken from the centre
of the silo around the perpendicular pipes that
very loosely sleeved the governors together,
giving the forage an opportunity to absorb a
larger portion of the acid passing the loose
openings. I do not know what the odor of
ensilage would be under like circumstances,
after being exposed to heat and fermentation,
but presume the foul odors would be very
much increased, as is the case with juice from
ensilage after exposure to the air.

154 Colcord's System of

May 15, 1888. — My silo is now three-quar-
ters empty. This empty part is dry and odor-
less. The last quarter we are now using is
much improved by remaining in the silo.
The cover is tight, but there is no pressure
or weight upon it. The vertical cut is 13^
feet. The lower half of the corn is con-
densed to half the space occupied by the
upper half, but a cubic foot of the upper half
weighs a little more than a cubic foot of the
lower half; yet in feeding value they are equal.
I feed all the cattle with every ration weighed
to them, which is now 65 pounds daily to
each animal, reduced from 70 pounds, because
the feeding value of the forage is improved
by soaking five months in its own juice.
The flow of milk is much greater, as well as
the gain in flesh. Nothing leaks out or runs
down from this vertical cut, and I can now
press out n ounces of juice from 16 ounces
of the forage taken from any part of the silo.
1 6 of my cows have gained the past 4 months
2,765 pounds, and 16 of them 1,242 pounds
during the last 30 days. One of them has
gained in weight an average of a fraction over
5 pounds daily during the past 30 days; an-
other one, 4% pounds daily; another, 3 5-6
pounds; another, 3 1-3 pounds; another, 3 1-6

Preserving Green Forage 155

pounds ; 2 more, 3 pounds daily each, and so
on, — all during the last 30 days, with about
half my former rations of grain and about one-
quarter ration of hay for a change.

The juice from this forage is odorless,
agreeable to the taste, and changes but very
little upon exposure to the air. It settles clear,
and loses much of its acidity. At a tempera-
ture of 60° to 80°, it will gradually turn to
pure, odorless, weak corn vinegar.

The year previous to building this silo, I
fed at the rate of 140 bushels of shelled corn,
in the shape of a mixture of cob-meal and
oats, to eleven cows, with good results; but I
thought I was feeding too much corn for the
health of the cattle. This year, I think I am
feeding mature corn in full milk that, if allowed
to glaze and ripen, would yield about 500
bushels of shelled corn. This has been and is
being fed to 19 head of cattle, 17 being milch
cows giving 20 cans of milk, 17 pints each,
the milk increasing at about the same rate as
of flesh, as stated above, in the past 30 days.

This amount of corn goes into the cows as
juice, or extract of corn, as between 60 and 70
per cent, is contained in the forage as free
juice, held there by absorption; and, fed in this
way, I do not consider that it acts in digestion

156 Colcord^s System of

as corn-meal does, and accounts for the greatly
increased feeding value of corn forage pre-
served in this way.

I have not yet tried the experiment of feed-
ing a large quantity of grain with this very
moist forage, but I think it can be done to
some extent without injury to the cattle.
There must be some limit to it, but I have not
yet found it I am not feeding my usual
quantity of grain, on account of the enormous
increase of flesh, as stated above.

If, as these experiments seem to indicate,
the first process of digestion is done in the
silo to a great extent, and if it is necessary
that a large quantity of acid is required in
this first process of digestion, and if we can
do it as well or better without using the vital
force of the animal, it would seem to be a
matter of very great importance.

The cattle eat these rations in half an hour.
An hour afterward, the cud is in the best
possible condition ready to be chewed over.
There is no inflation of gas in the stomach, no
acid, no odor. The cows are quiet and docile.
The increase of milk, flesh, and manure, is
very large. The economy in time, trouble,
labor, and expense, is very great, and the
results foot up from double to treble any other
known methods. •

Preserving Green Forage 157

I have not yet made any experiments for the
quality of milk, cream, and butter;* but I have
no reason to doubt a corresponding advance in
both quantity and quality. The quantity we
are sure of, and the large amount of hydro-
carbons that go to make cream and fat are to
be found in corn, bran, cotton and flax seed.
Cows fed with this forage in proper quantities
(not large) will give very rich and yellow milk,
cream, and butter. There is not any objection-
able odor in this preserved forage, from the
silo to the second stomach of the cow ; but it
may lack the fine flavor of clover or new-mown
hay.

PROGRESS MADE IN PRESERVING GREEN
FORAGE IN SILOS.

Men make progress in any direction when
they keep their eyes open in all directions,
with the mind in an affirmative state, and the
will ready to receive the truth and act upon it,
when found. I have had good and abundant
reasons for pursuing this course in these in-
vestigations, and have found occasion to mod-
ify and change my opinions in much of the
detail of my work, abandon much that I sup-

*See p. 138 for recent experiments on milk and cream.

158 Colcord's System of

posed was true and reliable, and to hang up as
doubtful some things I had considered scien-
tific facts.

Any one attempting to fathom the depths
and mysteries of fermentation will find him-
self in a broad road, with no sharp lines, like
wheel-ruts, to guide him, but more like the
path of the rainbow, shading and blending, yet
never going in a straight line, but always
pointing in one direction.

I should never have known what I now do
about fermentation, as regards its operations
in green forage in silos, had I continued to
follow in the direction of other investigators ;
but when I built a perfect silo, large enough
to work the processes in quantity, in which
I could try any required experiments, find out
all that was going on in the silo, examine all
the gases that came from it, ascertain the tem-
perature in it at any time and at any depth,
press it level, and enough to get free juice in
it from bottom to top, to make the forage very
nearly represent canned goods, to prevent heat,
fermentation, and foul odor of any kind, and
be able to remove the forage in perfect condi-
tion, and feed it out without change, in the
coldest weather in winter or the warmest
weather in summer, I found all my theories
and hopes more than realized, because two-

Preserving Green Forage 159

thirds of all the difficulties I expected to en-
counter were removed when all the air was
out and my friend, carbonic acid, was in. But
let no one think that, when he tries an experi-
ment and makes a failure, it has no value.
The failures of others have been the land-
marks to guide me to success in this matter.
Whenever I saw failures in any silo, I was not
long in discovering the cause. If it was fun-
gus growth or black rot, I found that it was
caused by air getting in from the outside. If
I found true fermentation, I always found it
produced by air not being removed from the
silo, producing heat and fermentation, with
decomposition and recombinations, evolving
foul odors. I spent a great deal of time and
study to find some way of curing these evils,
when found in the silo; but, when I became
the possessor of a perfect silo, in which I could
find the truth of every theory, and prove the
facts by actual experiment, my theories and
practices became very much modified, and I
found two-thirds of my work could be done by
avoiding the difficulties, and the practical diffi-
culties so simplified that they could all be met
and perfect results obtained, even by persons
of ordinary capacity. I learned that by having
strong and tight silos, with smooth, level-faced
walls, the forage can settle without leaving

1 60 Colcord 's • System

any cracks or vacant spaces for the air to get
in and produce black rot; that removing all
the air at the time of filling the silo will
prevent heat and fermentation ; that press-
ing out juice from the corn, and bringing it up
uniformly throughout the forage to take the
place of the air and gases in the forage, will
produce a condition like canned goods. This
condition can be developed and controlled
with very little trouble, and very great econ-
omy, by using the silo governor. The details
of the processes are all described and explained
under appropriate heads, and the system eluci-
dated as well as I know how to do it, in this
little book.

While I do not claim that further progress
is impossible, I do claim that what we now
know is quite sufficient to insure very nearly,
if not absolutely, perfect results, and ought to
be satisfactory to the most fastidious, making
sure of the best results attained as yet by any
system devised for cheapening dairy products,
and improving them in quality and quantity,
whether it be milk, cream, butter, cheese, beef,
or even manure ; and that whatever progress
is made in the future will be made in the
direction pointed out in this " System of Pre-
serving Green Forage without Heat or Fer-
mentation."

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

AN INITIAL FINE OP 25 CENTS

WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.

AUG 1 2 196<T

LIBRARY, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DAVK
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

5m-2,'42(i

Coleord, S

M.

C6

Colcord's

\ system of

preserving

green foretg<

1

without he*

it 03^ f si*niei5,-

tation by 1

;he use of tl

LA

silo goverr

ior.

AUG 1 2 i960

S', COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DAVIS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA