Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-18
AGRICULTURAL.
MATTER PREPARED SPECIALLY FOR
TIE "RBcoRD UNION"
The silo for the River Bottoms Again
Ripsning of wheat-Fhe Re-
cent Rains-Ete.

CENT ka1QS-6Lc.
Our articles on the silo and ensilage, pub
lished sometime since, have attracted great
deal of attention and comment from farmers,
and especially from those interested in the
dairy interests. The probability that much
of the barley and alfalfa that has been sown
on the lands bordering the large rivers of the
State will be overhowed and killed out by
the rising waters. renders it likely that If any
food for stock is produced on these lands this
year, resort will have to be to corn planted
fer fodder, and this adds increased interest
TO the subject OF the silo as q
! means of preserving such fodder.
We therefore call attention to its many adj
vautsges, particularly TO these flooded dis
tricts. again. As the waters are held up
nearer the surface year after year to later
period in the season, in consequence of filing
up the rivers by slickens, it is evident the
time is approaching when barley and alfalfa
will have to be abandoned as crops on these
lands at no distant day, unless relief is found
ITUu the etlSClS Vi lui5 ullilSs SaS CpIH ilihlg
be planted after the usual time when the
waters recsde from these lands, and
still have time to mature sufficiently
for fodder, the question of the best means of
preserving such fodder for winter and spring
use. OF for use during the season, becomes
very important one. Farmers who have had
any experience in attempting to dry or cure
cornstaks 80 as to permit of their being
stored away in bulk under cover for future
use, need not be told of the great amount of
labor and space required, and of the almost
impossibility OF success in the undertaking.
Our winter weather here is so damp that
the imperfectly cured stalks Of thrIftily
grown corn are almost sure to mold and rum
before the winter is half passed. And even
if they could be kept well, the loss in feeding
these coarse stalks is SO great that their
culture for fodder to be fed in this way be-
comes Improbable The product per acre
of corn fodder on good corn land. such as the
river bottoms, is so very great that II this
fodder can be preserved IN an inexpensive
way SO that stock will cen sume it all, corn
fodder will become as profitable crop to
the dairyman as alfalfa, and can be
made certain crop to plant after
the land is uncovered OF the floods
even as late as May, June and July. Corn
will produce en- good land from 70 to Oh tons
per acre. It is claimed by those who have
produced it for this purpose in the Atlantic
States, that it can there be produced for 90
cents ton in the green state. 1t Is also
claimed that it can be preserved in the siio
for 60 cents ton, making only 81 10 ton
ready to feed. A COW will eat from 90 to 60
pounds of ensilaged corn fodder dsy-in
other words. ton of this food will keep
cow from 40 to GO days, at cost OF
a ton of the fodder or for 81 10:
How, If these claims be exaggerated half, still
it will be seen that ensilaged corn fodder is
very cheap food for cattle. 1t Is claimed that
corn fodder preserved in this way will keep
cattle, horses, hogs and sheep in better con-
dition than good hay, and that cows giving
milk will yield as much milk az when running
en- good pasture that dairy of cows may
be carried through the winter season on this
food in good summer condition Of flesh, and
that the flow of milk will be as great In winter
az in summer, and Of as good quality.
Having stated soma of the advantages claimed
for this mode of preserving green feed-for
all kinds of green fodder can be preserved in
the silo equally well with cornstslks-it now
becomes necessary to explain to our readers,
who have not read our former articles on the
subject, what silo is, how it may be made,
and how the fodder is preserved in it. Silo is
of French origin, and means, literally, hole
or a vat underground. Ii an excavation be
made in the ground, and any kind of green
fodder, as clever, rye, oats or corn, be placed
in it and pressed tightly down and covered
with earth or other material, air tight, and
kept dry, the material thus pressed and buried
will be preserved in very nearly the same
condition as when buried, and the fodder so
buried would be ensilaged. according to the
use of the term in this connection. 1t is
simply mode of preserving coarse food
for stock ia a green state on the same
principle as we preserve fruit and
other articles Of food by canning
or other means of excluding the air from
them. 1t follows, therefore, that silo may
be made in the ground, or above the ground,
may be made of soil or brick and mortar, of
stone and mortar, or may be made of con-
crete, or even Of lumber, only that it be made
eir-tight and watertight. They may be
made of any size to correspond with the
amount of food it is desired they should hold.
The silo may be of any form for con:
venience of the location. 1t should
be near where the stock to be fed
from its contents are kept. A rectangular is
a good form, say 16 feet wide, 16 feet deep,
aud as long as you please, say 10 TO 20 feet.
OF whatever material or form built, it must
be air.tight and of strength to Withstand
heavy pressure from within. The top is left
be placed in it handily, and the cover must
just fit inside its walls, so that when the
pressure is applied the cover will fit
inside the walls all around and
follow the compressed material as it
settles under the pressure. Toprepare corn
stalks for the ensilage, they should be cut
at any time after the tsssel is out, and before
the grain has become hard, aud Immediately
run through cutting machine to cat them
e e. Liz =, G., H. e
an inch long, and packed tightly as they are
thrown into the siIo. When full, the cover
ing should be put on il sections; closely
fitting plank will do. Then the press
ure is applied by laying heavy weights
on the plank so that the pressure
will be equal over the SUFFICE,
or by placing heavy timber crosswise the
plank, and applying the pressure by means
of a screw, as in case of the cider and other
presses. Corn ensilage, well pressed, weighs
about 80 pounds to the cubic foot, and when
taken out is of brownish green color, and
smells like fresh corn stalks. All the hard
parts of the large stalks have become soft
ened, and are eaten as greedily and relished
as we'll as the more tender parts of the fodder.
A silo should be made to correspond to the
number of stock to be kept. A cow will eat
60 pounds day, and in 365 days will con-
sumo q 900 pounds. Therefore, multiply the
length, depth and hight of your proposed silo
together for the number of cubic feet, ard
divide this by 81, 900, the number of cubic
feet cow will consume ia q year, and it will
give you the number of COWS You can feed
year from the contents of your silo,
Ripening of Wheat.
The change in the mode of making -four of
wheat is bringing about change in the de-