Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1881-04-23
ENSILAGE ONCE MORE.
What n Massachusetts, Farmer Has
to Say of His Experience.

The great interest taken by farmers
in the question of ensilege Is our only
excuse for devoting so much space to
this subject. Mr.. III. II. Stevens, the
proprietor of echo Dale Farm" at
Dover, Mass, has published little
volume in which he describes his ex-
perience in constructing silos for the
preservation of green forage crops, and
the results which have followed the
feeding of the "ensilage," as the fodder
thus produced is called, to his cattle.
From this book we learn that the loca-
ton of silos must depend to consider
able extent upon the circumstances of
the individual, but the following gen.
eral hints are among those given by Mr..
Stevens
''In locating silo the top part of the
sllo should come near the level of the
barn door, or where the fodder-cutter
will stand, so that it will drop right
into the silo. If your barn is situated
on hillside slope, and your stock are
kept III the basement of the barn, by
building your silo ON the upper side.
and, when your fodder is cut, drops into
the silo, your door opening out of the
sllo into the basement, you have a very
convenient location of silo for all work,
and also silo that will be Of the right
degree of temperature for the preserving
of ensilage as L consider silo under
ground, CT mostly under ground, better
adapted to the extreme high tempera-
ture and extreme low temperature of
our climate. In soil that Is naturally
dry, a silo can be placed at the required
depth. In some locations where it is
naturally wet, or where, by going to the
depth of five or six feet, you come to
water, it would be better, to get the re.
quired height, to build partly above the
surface. With many who have base
ments under their barns, a silo, or pit,
could be made outside, close to the base
ment-wall, located in a place where it
would be most convenient to use in the
basement, or otherwise, by making a
passageway to the pit, or silo, through
the foundation walls of the barn. Any
form or construction of silos, or pits,
which answers the location and condi-
ton may be used, such as pits or wells,
open only at the top, the food being put
in and taken out from the top only.
Such silos, or pits, would have the adj
vantage, that successive groupings might
be put in the same pit, or silo. one
above the other, each being sealed with
layer of earth when putin. The deeper
the silo, or pit, the more they Will con-
tam IN proportion to measurement, ow-
ing to the greater density of the con-
tents from the weight of the mass above:
and the greater the pressure the more
thorough the exclusion of air, and, with
out any doubt, the better preservation
of the ensilage."
Silos may be built of stone, brick,
concrete, wood or earth. Some have
been made by simply excavating the
earth, the sides and bottom being &C.
mented, and some are mere trenches.
but the objection tn the use of such pits
is their liability to cave in after the en-
sllage Is removed. In this, as in most
things, it is more econ omical to "get
the best" and Mr.. Stevens favors con-
crete. He gives the following minute
directions for building one:
"First, having excavated for the silo,
dig trench all around the bottom and
fill in with cobble-stones, and from one
corner lead drain, if possible, so as to
carry off all the water the trench
under the proposed walls of silo being
filed with cobble-stones. Place stand
ards of scantlirgs long enough to ex-
tend twelve inches higher than the top
of the wall when it is finished. Place
these standards on each side of the pro-
posed wall, and if you desire the
wall to be eighteen inches thick
then place the standards twenty-five
inches apart, and place pair of stand
ards every five or six feet around the
entire foundation. Be particular to
have these standards plumb and exact
ly i'll line fasten the bottom of stand
ards firmly in the ground, or by mailing
a strip of wood across at the bottom of
the standards, little below where the
floor of the silo will be; fasten the
tops of the standards by heavy cross.
piece securely nailed, and fasten pair
standards in their plumb position by
shores reaching the banks outside.
Now take plank an inch and half or
two inchs thick and fourteen inches
wide and place them edgeways inside
the standards twenty inches apart, thus
forming box fourteen inches deep,
and running all along and around the
entire foundation of the proposed wall.
Fill this box with alternate layers of |
or any rough stones, and
mortar or concrete first layer of
mortar, and then layer of
stones not allowing the stones to come
quite out to the boxing plank, but hav-
ing concrete over the edges, and the
must be stamped and rammed
down solid. Prepare the concrete as
follows Take one part of good cement
portland is the best probably and
mix with four parts sand (do not have
the sand too fine, rather. course and
mix the cement thoroughly with the
sand while dry, and then mix four parts
of clear gravel: make into thin mortar,
and use at once Put into the box an
inch or two of this mortar, and then
bed in cobble-stones, then fill in with
mortar, again covering stones, and again
put in layer of stone. When the box
is filed and the mortar 'set,' so that the
wall is firm, then raise the box one foot,
leaving two inches lap of plank on wall
below, and going around again, raising
the wall one foot each day, every second
day, according to amount of labor at
hand"
A silo % feet long, IL wide and Is
deep will hold 1903 tons, allowing 40
CUBIC feet to the ton, which is the cor.
rect weight after the ensilage has set
tied i'm the Silo To find tho ayoot civa