Connecticut western news., 1880-08-18
FARM AND GARDEN.
AN INTEREsT1Nq-FXPFRrM

EdaY8 kAppE sof Aehs esin ahS patss | ! BeH@ipa ahat she salSaaesst d the process was the exclusion of the air with plenty of weight to keep the mass ot Efeddef' comp $ctly I'd zdatermlde$ to try @ lot of grass in the G simplest l man r ner possible. II therefore boarded one 9f the oofRen bays in, the. bar barn .Nith. old rough boards sts that had h91 done duty aA lining to an ice house for s;oime ffouur or five yeafs.' 'rfhe bay fss abddt eleven by fifteen feet. On the side facing the middle of the barn I put up two by six spruce joists to keep the mass of fodder from bulging out.
 Into this I put all the black grass cut from two acres of reclaimed salt marsh, putting the fodder in June 15, IT, IS. Each morning grass put in the day pre- cedlng was very hot and covered with moisture coming from the mass as it settled. On the 18th I covered the pile, which had been. we'll tramped down, with boards, and placed atop some six tons of stone. For ten days the heat at the outside was considerable, so much as to feel disagreeable to the hand. There was no mouldy or acid smell at any time.
 Saturday, the 3d inst, removed the stones from the front three feet, sawed off the ends of the boards, took out some of the fodder.
 There is little mould near the out side. The fodder is of bright, rich brown color, of the same smell as the ensilage in Dr. Bailey's pit.
 The cattle and horses eat it well, and am satisfied that any simple contriv- ance that will exclude the air from the sides of the mass of fodder will answer the purpose, provided 8 weight of from 700 to 1000 pounds per square yard is kept on the top. think for permanent arrangements silos are the best, as least likely to get out of repair, and as they are below ground the labor of handling the green fodder is much less.
 The experiment., as I have tried it, would not work with anything but long fodder, as short cut fodder would make too much lateral pressure for any ordi- nary barn to bear. was also obliged to put four extra posts under the hay to sustain the weight, some twenty-five | tons.
 A FARM ROLLER.
 A correspondent in an exchange ad- vises, when @ cheap farm roller is de- sired Select a smooth, solid log of the heavist wood at hand-not less than two feet in diameter and six feet long strike 0 circle of equal diameter on each end and hew it, working to line so as to make it straight and round saw in two equal lengths of three feet, cut the inner edge of each with an axe or adze, con- caving each one and a half inches, bore the ends and set one-half inch journals ten inches long, and sharpened at the points and having collar on them-the outer ones three, the inner ones one and half inches from the end mount the rollers one at a time on bearings, let two men run 1t with their hands as squir- rel does his cage, and with jackplane set coarse, turn it smooth. Make the frame of 3x4 scantling, just long enough for the rollers to run ill, and 10 inches broader than they are in diameter. The tongue should be about 13 feet long, inches square at the back end, halved on to the middle of the frame and fastened with inch bolts, bracing it with iron bars to the frame. It must be cut to fit the concave ends of the roller and bored through in the middle for both journals. At the outer edge of the rollers it may be cut to + inches, which is no obiec- tion. There is no need of boxes, only thick plates spiked to the inside of the frame for the collar to run against, with good hard seasoned wood for frame. Burn the hole with one of the journals and provide an oil hole.
 ENsILAGE OF MAIZE.
 MT. Francis Morris, of Howard coun- ty, Md. ,-the first man in the United States to make practical test of the system of preserving green fodder in silos for winter feeding thinks, after four years experience, that Git multi plies the value of our land three or four times over." His plan of raising and storing the corn, with list of resulting benefits, forms the subject of letter in the Maryland Faamaer, from which we quote what follows:
 "I made use of Indian com as winter food for stock as long ago as the winter of 1876, and have used 1t in each suc- ceeding winter with great success. The earlier it is sown the better. Its growth is more rapid and luxuriant in May and June than in July and August a bushel of corn to the acre, in drills twelve to fifteen inches apart. The crop should be worked twice, and when in tassel should be cut by moving machine, carried from the field in wagons to the feed cutter, cut up in pieces of about three-quarters of an inch, and put into the silo prepared for it. Any one who will make trench, ten feet wide and six feet deep, and cover it with earth eighteen inches deep, after the cut-up maize is put into the trench, and then keep the earth carefully pressed upon the maize, so as to exclude the air, will accomplish what is required. The trench should Lave shed over it, or be matched with straw. Water should be kept from the cut-up maize, as it would doubtless injure its quality, if not destroy it.
 "Maize, or Indian corn, requires from forty-five to sixty days to ripen it into tassel, and therefore it can be safely sown up to the 18th of July. If the land