Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-17
AGRICULTURAL.
HITTER PREPARED SPECIALLY FoR
TIE "REcoRD UNION"
The silo and Ensilage-synopsis OF Sew
eral Farmers Experiences
in 1880.

We have received very neatly-printed |
and bound little book of 40 pages, on En-. |
silape and the Preservation Of Green Forage |
Crops in Silos," from 81. K. Stevens, proprie-
tor of the Echo Dale Farm, Dover, Massa-
chusetts. This book contains a plain state
ment of the practical experience of Mr.. Ste
vens, and over thirty other farmers in the
United States, in preserving green fodder in
the silo and feeding the same to different
kinds of stock. The purpose of this article
is to give to our readers such a synopsis of
these statements as will convey a correct
idea of the information contained in them on
this subject. The silo is a pit or well, vat
or cistern, the sides and bottom being
water. tight, with an open top. A silo may
be made of timber, and boarded or plallked
on the bottom and sides with strong
boards or plank The more common ma
te.ials of which they are made are stone and
mortar or brick and mortar, being coated on
{ he inside with good coat of water cement
Concrete is also good material to make these
silos of. The silo may be made below or
above the surface of the ground, according to
circumstances. If on land liable to overflow,
it should be made above the surface. The
sides should be made smooth, so that there
will be no obstruction in pressing or compact
ing the material to be put into it. Any
green crop, as corn, oats, barley, clover,
millet, rye, or any other green forage plant,
may be preserved in the silo by cutting fine
while in green state and pressing into the
silo compactly and then covering air-tight.
The material, of whatever kind. when SO cut,
packed and preserved, is called ensilsge. The
act of cutting and packing whatever ma
terlal is spoken of is ensilaging it. Thus we
ensilage corn or rye or millet when we place
it in the silo for preservation. The word
silo is from the French, the French
having been among the first to bring
into use this system of preserving
green food in large quantities for stock.
The process is IN fact similar In its effects to
caunlng fruit, to preserve it for human food !;
the difference being that in putting coarse
and loose food, as cornstalks or green-cut hay
or grass, into the silo to be preserved, by ex-
GLIDING the air, it becomes necessary to press
pies naturally. If ensilage is to be fe1 to
COVE, the silo should be located in or near the
COW barn or sta6les-just as we would have
ths hay-mow in the barn when we feed tha
COWS hay, or the bran bin il the barn when
we intend to feed bran. If it is intended to
feed ensilsge altogether, the large cow
ba.n containing hay mows, may be dispensed
with, and only shed or stable for the COWS
aud silos at convenient places for feeding.
H.. IL 49, L. hor- No.,
one side or around which are the COW stables,
may make the silos in the barn, using part
of the space of the hay-mow for the silo, and
utilizing the balance of the NOW for hay, as
before Ensilage, when thoroughly settled
or pressed, weighs 40 pounds to the cubic
foot. The quantity of ensilaged food COWS
will eat per day each is go pounds. The silo
may be built to hold jus5 the food required TO
feed a given number of stock for given
time, knowing how many pounds per day
the stock will consume. Thus a silo %
feet long, IL feet wide, and 10 feet
deep, will contain 4, 125 cubic feet, and at
forty pounds to the cubic foot will contain
165, 600 pounds. This will keep fifteen COWS
about six months, or thirty cows about three
months, or sixty cows a month and a half.
Thus it will be very easy to calculate the
number Of pounds that any given sized siio
will contain, and the number of cows it will
Keep EHJ gwen VI tiuuG. LII DulLu-
Ing silo place should be left in the side
most handy TO the stock to be fed, for door
to take the ensilage from when feeding, and
the raw material to be pressed may be put in
at the top before the cover is put on. The
pressure necessary to press the material COM
pactly when in the si!o may be. ii handy,
heavy rock or any other heavy material, or
screw working through beam overhead, or
any other continuance By which a sufficient
- r.
material is all in the slo that it is intended to
press at one time, a very good covering to
prevent the escape of gas or the ingress of air
Is dry, loose straw, and the top plank or
boards on this. 1t makes no difference what
the covering, SO long as it makes the pit air.
tight. Several successive dressings may be
put into the silo at the same time, being care
full not to expose the first put in to the air
while the next pressing or layer is put in.
Thus crop of green alfalfa may be pressed,
and then when the second crop is ready it
may be put in on top the first crop and
pressed, and so on. So an early crop of corn
fodder may be pressed. and then later and
still later crop. When once properly pre-
served the preserved material will keep, like
canned fruit, so long as it is not in any way
exposed to the air or some other injurious
element.
EXPERIENCE OF INDIVIDUALS.
Having defined a silo and the food pre-
served in one, and shown how they may be
built, and stated the quantity of food animals
will consume of the preserved food, we will
now give synopsis of the experience of sew
eral farmers in feeding ensilage to their
stock, as stated by thsmsslse5 DR.. Stevens,
ths author of the book we are collating our
Information from, gives his experience first.
He planted his corn in rows four feet apart,
kernels three and four inches apart and on
dry soil lin Massachusetts,; produced %
tons to the acre, but on more moist sell 30
tons to the acre, of green fodder, He recon-
mends Blunt's prolific corn for planting for
this purpose. Built his sils in the basement
of barn 16 feet long, II feet high and u feet
deep. 1t was made of brick laid in cement,
with door feet high and 8 feet wide next
to the COW stable. He cut his corn stalks
with a Baldwin cutter, driven by one
horse endless chain power. With this ma
chine and power he cut % tons of stalks per
day placed the cutter that the cut ma
terial fell direct from the machine into the
silO; kept one man to spread and tramp it
down, one man TO cut up the fodder IN the
field, one to draw it to the cutting machine.
and one TO feed it; cut the stalks in pieces
half an inch long; was four days filling the
silo, and found every morning the top Of the
cut corn beginning to heat; threw on water
evenly distributed to cool il aud check ferment-
alton When the silo was full he covered the
top with oat straw six or eight inches deep
Then laid plank across the top of the silo, the
ends coming within an inch of the inside
waits and piled large stones on the plank to
weight them down and press the cut stalks |
The silo was opened by taking off one of the
planks and some of the straw. Found the
straw next the ems lsge and an inch deep of
the cut stalks slightly vinous or soured. Be- |
low that the ensilage was sweet agd had the |
natural taste of the corn fodder It had |
undergone slight chemical change which |
gave it the appearances of having been |
cooked or steamed. This change is benefit |
cial in helping digestion, and seems to make |
the stock like it. His cattle ate it very well |
from the beginning. and after few days |
greedily. They did much better than when
fed on hsv. They looked better, tleeker and |
became fatter than on any other feed they |
had ever had. If large amount of material |
is to be easilaged, an engine of three and four |
horsepower and larger cutter would be pre- |