Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-05-18
EnsilaRe.

of farmers than on this same question Of
ensilage. 1t has its strong, yes, its enthu'
siastic. over.sanguine advocates. those who
predict seventy tons Of fodder per acre, to
be worth a good deal more when taken
out of the silo than when it was put in
who talk of ensilnge for the grass crop;
men who think that every man who keep:
a COW will also keep silo.
Then there are others who call the mat
ter humbug and cannot look on the prsc-
tice with the least degree of allowance,
and these latter are largely among those
known as scientists, and farmers who have
been in other matters among the most
advanced of their class. 1t is the purpose
of this article to give as fully as possible
all tine information yet obtained, with the
opinions held on both sides of the ques.
ton, and the history of ensilage in YER
mont up to date. Ensilage is
NO NEW THING,
but has been in experiment and practice
for now more than thirty years.
In NJ. Auguste Goffart's last work on
this subject published in Paris in 1877
and whose excellent translation by j. B.
Brown, Esq, of New York, was published
here two years later he says he COM
menced practically the study of the pres
oruo,;o1 of fodJar - 1910 10 onJ. tb n
preface to his book in these words:
The great passion of my whole life
has been work. To that passion owe
the honor of having attached my name TO
an agricultural system of which the i'm
portance will be each day better appre.
ciated and will increase without ceasing."
WHAT is ENsILAGEP
The word is evidently derived from
"silo," pit, zen or in. and the word
literally meaning, fodder in pit; and for
this fodder. cornstalks. grass, clover
straw, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes
beet9, sorghum, ETC., ETC.. have been used
with more or less of success.
The material best suited for preservation
in silo is maize or our common Indian
corn, and for this the variety making the
largest growth is most desirable, and NJ
Goffart gives forty tons per acre as his
average yield. With our system of cul
ture and less favorable climate we must
expect less.
The corn, when it has attained its max
imum growth, aud when ears are begin
ming to form, is cut and drawn at once tc
the silo 1t is better TO have ~ little water
on it than to have it partially dried. Il
should be cut and packed before frost
When drawn to the silo 1t is run through
a power cutter. which makes three cuts tc
an inch, for which Baldwin's No. IA Ii
commended by those who have silos, and
a steam engine or good horse power
used to drive it. The st Adams Foundry's
horse power is the best we know of, and
its makers think one-horse power will dc
the work we'll and rapidly. We are
certain that those who own powers anG
threshing machines will have cutting
machines, and go about cutting ensilage
as they do lhreshing, when the practice
becomes general, if it ever does.
This fodder as 1t IS cut is spread evenly
in the slo, and continually trodden down
to exclude the air and get as much as pos
sible into the silo, as it will then settle
nearly or quite one third after being SC
filed When filled. the ensilage is covered
with planks or boards Tin Vermont siloi
one inch. one and half and two inch are
used in different silos), which should f
snuoly to each other and the sides Of The
silo. 1t will be seen al once that it il
necessary that the fodder should have beer
put in evenly and left smooth on the top
On this covering Of panks M. Goffar
places about one hundred and twenty fiv'
pounds of stones to the square foot o
surface. This practice is followed b.
ensilagists in this country as far as W
know with one exception, Mr.. S. B. Pierc
of Felchville, who arranged his silo so n
to get his pressure by means of screws.
1t will be seen from what has been said
that to ensure even settling of the mass
the sides of the silo must be even an,
smooth and vertical, and this brings us t.
HOW TO BUILD sILo,
and In this part of the subject we will tax
Vermont silos first:
The first silo built in Vermont we be
lieve was by G. E. Griswold of West Ran
dolph. His first experiment was with
box of matched planks, made three and
half by five feet, and three feet deep; an
afterward, in 1879, he made it thrice
feet deep and filed it with corn fodder
which was a success. When we visite
his silo the first part Of February. this on
was filled with green rye, to be fed in tn
spring. His main silo is eight feet b
eleven feet. and eighteen feet deep; is |
his barn cellar. and built in the sane
which is there the subsoil. The walls Al
of concrete, twenty inches thick at Ii
bottom, and ten at the top. He could ne
give the cost of his silo, which, boweve
cost much more than one of the same si7
usually would, from the difficulty found
the sliding in of the sand The corner
are square, the sides smooth and even.
intends to carry it up six feet furthe
making it twenty-four feet deep.
Gen. Stephen Thomas built one
Washington in 1880. His silo is built in
bank is forty feet long and fifteen fe
wide and IF cen feet deep, of which rath'
more than half is excavated, and the di
thrown ont fills the remainder, so the 81
Is practically underground. The walls al
of split stones, two and one-half feet thic
at the bottom and fifteen inches at the to
all laid in cement. and the whole coatt
evenly with cement on the inside. On tc
OF the walls stills are laid and 3 roof p
over. As will be seen. Gen. Thomas sill
must have been a costly one, and while Il
general does not know Just what It d