Connecticut western news., 1880-08-11

This process, says the Tribune, con-
 sists simply in slowing fodder very con-
 pactly, while still fresh, in pits or vaults
 from which all water from without is most carefully excluded, and with the utmost care to keep continuous pres
 sure on the mass, so that no empty
 spaces will be left as it shrinks. To se-
 cure the close packing the fodder, if
 coarse like Indian corn, is usually cut
 up, the cutter being so placed that it will
 deliver directly into the pit. This pit
 may be made either with or without
 walls of masonry. In the latter case it
 takes the form of long, narrow trench,
 four to five feet deep, five to six feet wide
 at the bottom, and eight to ten feet wide
 at thetop, and as long as may be neces-
 sary to give the desired capacity the
 slope of the sides is necessary to pre-
 vent them from falling in, and must be
 greater, of course, the looser the soil in
 which the excavation is made. But, on
 the other hand, it must not be so great
 that the fodder will lodge and not slip
 down readily as it settles. In~sach a
 trench, after lining it with thick layer
 of straw to keep it's contents clean, the
 cut fodder is packed by tramping over
 it as it falls in from the cutter and is
 spread out evenly The pile is carried
 above the surface of the ground with
 sides sloping inward, and is then cov- cred with a thin layer of straw, and } finally with 8 carefully competed layer ) of earth two feet in thickness, built up ; in such a way as when completed to shed water As this covering settles it should ! be carefully watched for two or three l weeks to fill any Assures that may be } formed. In such simple manner as
 this fodder may be preserved for months with nothing more than slight fermen, } tation that does it no harm.
 For permanent use it is undoubtedly much better to have masonry pit, witt l smooth-faced walls and perpendicular L under a shed to keep off the rain tn, 3 pressure in this case is provided for by follower made little smaller than tn 3 pit. of battened plank, and heavil,
 loaded with stones or other weights, a the rate of not less than one hundre, s pounds to the square foot; this pit ma, e be conveniently made in @ sidehill ant j. two or three times as wide and deep a g the trench in the ground. The entrance t at one end, may be walled up with tenn s porary masonry when the pit is filled l, and when this door is opened the fodde s may be sliced off of the face as it 1t wanted. If the pit is filled at the rat v of twenty inches day, says Goffart, a X eminent French authority on this sut }. iect, it's contents will not suffer any dam IS age before the filling is finished and tn l. cover put on. Careful exclusion of wate }. from without, by thorough drainage an IS protection from rain, and of cavitie y within the mass by firm packing at frs le and heavy continuous pressure afte1 o ward, are the two prime conditions (
 success. We think it is wise for farmers
 especially in localities liable to sever
 drouth, to become. familiar with this wa n by their own experience, without takin if too much stock in it at first, and to tr it with fodder corn. It is1an old an tv well established method of preservin a fodder in Hungary and France, althoug d it has not gained much of a foothold s. Germany, but it is not applied, con ry monly, to good hay-rather to coarE ss fodder that needs to be made more pa as atable or more easily masticated.:
 at > -
 e. A MICHIGAN farmer heard that mus h. would prevent bees from stinging, an he hetook his accordeon and went out ar