Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-09-08
ENSILAGE.
Read before the farmers CLUB Of the
american Institute.

of professional business labor, Occupa-
tion for q portion of my time, with
recreation and health, in agriculture. l
am glad to avail myself of the courtesy
of the Farmers Club to state my ex-
perience in ensilage, or preserving food
for cattle in q green state. So deeply
convinced am /, from experience, OF
the Importance of this subject to
American farmers that shall make
no apology for urging it upon their
immediate attention, through this
Club.
I have practiced this system for
three years; have applied it to COM
mon fodder corn, red clover, pearl
millet West India millet or Guinea
corn, green rye, green oats, and mixed
grasses in which clover predominated.
with entire success in every case. The
last year preserved about one hum
dred tons. / have never lost any food
whatever thus preserved; but during
the whole experiment it has been per-
fectly preserved and better than when
fed fresh and green from the field. 1t
is eaten up eagerly and clean, leaf and
stalk, without any loss whatever, and
stock thus fed exhibit the highest con-
dition of health and thrift. For milch
COWS, to which have mainly fed it,
it surpasses any other food / have ever
tried. It increases the quantity OF
milk much beyond dried food, and the
quality is better than that produced
from the same fodder when fed fresh
and green from the field.
This is owing, think, to the fact
that it does not scour or bloat the anil
mails, while it retains its natural juices
and nutritious qualities in the most
digestible form. The process is not
unlike that by which sauerkraut is
made. and 80 much is food thus pre-
served improved, especially for milch
cows, that / think no one who under
stands the process and has facilities
for practicing it would, after trial, con-
tinue the present method of soiling or
feeding fodder crops fresh cut from the
field. The process is exceedingly SIM
pie and easily practiced. The condi-
lIOUS Vi SuCCc6S 0IC tLlCoC
Firs.-The preserving-pits, or re-
ceptacles, must be wholly 'air-tight, so
that when sealed the air cannot come
in contact with the food to be pre-
served.
Second.-The pits must be of such
form and dimensions as will best facii-
itate the settling and compacting Of the
food into q solid mass and when
opened for feeding, will expose as
small q part of the surface to the at
mosphere as practicable.
Ihird.-The fodder must be cut
green, when in the best condition, or
in bloom, passed Immediately through
the cutting machine, to reduce it to
uniform short lengths of not more than
one inch, and must at once be de-
posted and trodden firmly into the
pit, sufficient salt being used to render
it palatable, but no more. AS fermen-
tation-which will commence at once
proceeds and the mass settles, the
cutting and treading in of fresh fodder
must be continued from day to day,
after an interval Of about thirty-six
hours, until the pit is filed anu set
Ting has nearly ceased.
Fourth. pit, as soon as COM
pletely filed and settling has ceased,
must be securely sealed, to exclude the
air wholly and arrest fermentation,
and must be kept so sealed until
opened for use. At the risk of pro-
lixity, l will state with more detail
my own practice.
THE PRESERVING PITS.
/ make my pits of hard brick, with
12inch perpendicular walls, well laid
in cement, with smooth joints. If the
ground is sandy or gravelly, the out
side of the walls next the earth is
covered with coat of cement, or the
walls are filed in behind with clay or
clayey earth, to prevent the passage
Of the air through them. The bottoms
are also laid with brick upon the fiat
in cement. The pits are made from
eight to ten feet wide, from sixteen TO
twenty feet long, and about fifteen
feet deep. The deeper the pits the
more they will contain in proportion
to measurement, owing to greater
density Of the contents from the weight
Of the mass above.
In all cases where practicable, pits
should be made at least twenty feet
deep. The walls are made SO smooth
upon their inner sides as to offer no
obstacle to the settling or compacting
Of the food by fraction of the sides.
These pits are made either open at the
top and covered with q roof, or arched
over under ground, with two necks to
such coming up to within one foot of
the surface of the ground, through
which they are filed, and the necks
then sealed with earth. This last con-
struction / have found most convent
ent in connection with basement
stables, to which the food is carried or
wheeled by passage from the pits
through the foundation-walls of the
stable. In this construction make
one pit parallel with this foundation
wall, and from the side of this pit
most distant from the stable. Other
pits are made at right angles with and
connecting with this by doorways, in
such a manner that, after the contents
of this first or entrance-pit is fed out,
each of the other row of pits may be
opened, one pit at time, and only
the surface Of the food at the end of
the one pit which is being fed will at
any time be exposed to the air, until
the whole is fed out; and this with
out opening or disturbing the necks Of
the pits above, which remain sealed.
Any other form or construction of pits
which answers the conditions may be
used, such as pits or wells open only
at the top, the food being put in
and taken out through the top
only. Such pits would have one adj
vantage; that successive groupings
might be put in the same pit, one