Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-12-16

| He plants Il in drills Of about three inches
| wide, with a space of about three feet between
each drill, about 20 or 80 grains to the foot
and uses blood and bone phosphate as a fer
tilizer TO stimulate the young plant at the
start. The first cultivation he gives il is by
| blowing il with the ordinary corn pillow, throw
| ing furrow away from the drills, then after
wards throwing it back by the killing cultiva-
tor. For seed be uses a species of Southern
white corn. a kind easily obtainable in the
| New York market.
1.-THE corn is harvested in the latter part of
! September when the stalks are fully matured
not dead but while still green in color and
full of sacoharine matter. This stage of
growth is indicated by full tasseling and the
beginning to ear. The harvesting is done in
the ordinary old-fashioned way, by hand, with
a stalk knife, aud sufficient labor force is
employed to fill a pit of 300 tons capacity
within three days, because it is essential 30
gather and cut the corn and put II into the
silo, and get il under uniform and continuous
pressure, within the shortest possible time, in
order to save all the food properties Mr..
Mills uses two corn-cutters, one cutting one
half inch and the other an inch length, of a
combined capacity Of 100 tons per day, using
steam power for the purpose.
"He has two silos or pits, each 40 feet long,
IL feet wide and 20 feet deep, located in the
]
structed of concrete of stone and cement
two feet thick, the sides and ends parallel and
the bottom well cemented. Upon the walls,
flush with the inside of them, a structure of
ordinary boards is built, 10 feet high, which
serves as a feeder to the pit, and which, when
both are filed, will compensate for shrinkage
of the mass by compression. When the pit
and feeder are filed, the surface is leveled
and sectional covers, four feet in width and
81 Nla., he
| the pit, are placed upon il, upon which are
placed 80 tons of grain in bags (making five
tons to each section) evenly distributed. Mr..
! Mills uses grain for weight because it is con-
venent; anything else that can be uniformly
distributed would answer. 1t takes about ten
days for the whole mass to compress sufficient
! ly for the covers to be on a level with the top
of the pit. and then the feeder can be taken
| down. Mr. Mills allows no tramping or muss-
ing of the mass, for the reason that he finds
that any portion Of the succuent stalks sub
| jected to pressure will cause the juice to eX-
ude, and Immediately upon relieving the pres
sure air takes its place in the cellular tissue
| of the plant, and fermentation results in the
| body of the mass. The one inch Of space be-
tween the cover aud the sides Of the pit is
| left for the escape of air aud ambient mois-
ture; the uniform and continuous pressure
forces out the atmosphere and gases which
may have accumulated while preparing the
mass for pressure-throught the half-inch open
ing between the cover and the Sides and keep
| ing them out until the pressure is removed
'when this fodder is TO be used for the
cattle, the bags of grain from the first section
of the cover are removed and their contents
ground for use while the fodder lying mme-
diately underneath them is being fed, The
fodder is taken down perpendicularly to the
bottom of the pit While one section is be.
ing used. the pressure on the remaining sec
tons continues the same, thus excluding the
atmosphere as effectually as If each section
were small pit by itself Thus one section
after another is fed, until the whole is ex-
hausted.
''The two pits completed cost Mr.. Mills
about 500 When filed last fall they con
tanned about 600 tons of ensilage of maize.
| grown on about IL acres of ground, costing,
including seed, tilling, gathering and putting
into pits ready for feeding, less than $500.
| This was the only fodder Mr.. Mills used on
his farm, not having ton of hay since be
| commenced feeding his animals on the 18th
Of October. 1880. The preserved fodder in
the first pit was not exhausted until the 25th
of last January, and sustained 1870 horned
cattle aud II horses in good and healthy con
dition a period of more than three months,
with less grain or ground feed than would
| have been required il the best Of hay had
been used instead of the ensilage. The bal
ance in the second pit will keep the stock TO
| the end of the seven months, as before stated
| in this article.
The important conditions 10 observe in
order to secure perfect preservation and good
| fodder are, (lst) the of the proper kind
of seed, ed facilities for cutting the fodder
and filling the pit as quickly as possible after
harvesting, sd TO allow no more trampng
and consequent injury TO the mass than is
absolutely necessary to level it of for the COW
ers. As soon as the covers are in place, see
that the weight is Immediately and uniformly
applied and allow no straw or other dessicat
ed vegetable matter TO come in contact with
or be mixed with the fodder in the pit.
''Mr. Mills claims that he is the dscoverer
of the value of continuous and uniform pres
sure for ensilage, or the preservation Of green
fodder, and the originator Of the me aus aud
method of applying it, He claims that this
system of ensilage will obviate the necessity
for green soilng in the summer-a practice
which he considers most pernicious, and of
the effects of which many farmers seem igno-
rant. He says the meat of the animals which
are fed on it is injurious TO health, and their
milk is the frequent cause of dysentery and
death among children; that the butter and
cheese produced from animals fed upon this
unripe annual plant are necessarily bitter and
unwholesome. In short, Mr.. Mills believes
that the natural effect upon an animal Of eat
ing unripe fodder is to poison its product, be-
cause in consuming the unripe feed it eats
only poison. Disease is the immediate effect
of il on the animal. In the winter succeed
ing its use, the farmer finds on his hands ten
or dozen cows that are sick with hollow-horn
or some other disorder that he does not know
how to account for-not even imagining that
| it is the result of the green unripe annual
| fodder that they have been fed on the pre-