The Dawson journal., 1883-03-29
SILOS AND ENSILAGE.
Interesting Practical Tests.

metS Otuo Va L ell tleSoH III al lHt
farm of Mr. ] G Stribling to-day, the
5, ,.ecial matter of consideration was the
subject Of silos AMI en,iiage The
Club inspected Mr.. Stiibling's silo.
His barn yard incloses a yer, steep
hillside. His silo is bnilt close tn the
line where the hill begins its sudden
decline, whereby he secures not only
the best surface drainage, but also an
outlet for an underground lile drain
which leads from the bottom OF the
pit, aud is intend Il to discharge any
carbonic acid gas that might fora Grr-
ing the assumption of he eusilage and
otherwi e aid the ventilation. The
silo has All area Of is by II feet ana
is II feet deep it is cut into solid
red clay, but for greater security
against wet weather. il has walls of
concrete of several inches in thickness
as high as the slrfac. or the ground.
The floor is also cuucrete.
Above is The room for the cutting
machine furnished with noveable
floor, and covered by r,of with pr >
jecting caves. The door of the pit is
in the wal of the lower enl. and as it
below the surface, the approach is dug
cut. The club were invited to enter
Mr.. Stribling began using bis ensilage
on the 9Th Of November, has fed con-
tinually eleven hea Of stock-cattle,
horses and colts indiscrimlnateiy, aud
the ensilage is 5n'w perhaps a little
more than half consumed. Ills pit was
scarcely half full to begin with. He
exhibited chopped peavines, chopped
fodder aud corn, and also peavines.
put in whole. All were perfectly
preserved. The peav nes were
apparently in better condition than
when they were put in, as the tough
unavailable part of the stem had be-
come softer aud more succulent, and
they seemed to be decidedly more val
liable than dried or cured vines. both
for the reason just mentioned, and be-
cause the leaves, which dry crisp and
shatier in sun-curing, were here found
entire. The green pods were also
perfect. One of the party cut into
pod with his pen-kfe and dissected
some peas, and called attention to their
perfect condition. There was no sign
of mold or decompositior about any of
the enrilage. The mass was dug into
at random.
1t seems superfuous to say that
necessary point of silO is the exclusion
of the air from the forage. This is
done by pressure, and simple way to
secure the pressure is by covering the
forage in the pit with heavy boards and
pilling rock or other wei5htY material
upon these. When the sic IS opened
the rock are moved at one eud, one
plank is taken up and the forage is cut
square down to the bottom Of the pit
the width of the plank So 1t is
gone through with one plank at the
time, The pressure on the rest belnl
not disturbed. For this reason the
pit should not be too wide, fer while
the forage will last in cold weather ten
days, or perhaps longer, after exposure
to the air, as the spring season advan-
ces and warm weather comes on it
would be we'll 20 expose only such
quantities as can be used more rapidly
Mr.. Striblings pit is twelve feet wide
and he feeds cut of plauk's wia,b
in something like ten days, with n'
appearance of his forage souring bat
next season he expects to save more
material and intends dividing his pit
by a middle wall runnin-. through it's
length, so that he will take up for each
cut board six feet long instead of
twelve This year his pit is not full
and will not carry him far into the
spring. The writer asked him if there
was no sigu of decomposition or sour
ing immediately under the planks. He
repliei that he had at first supposed
there must be, and had feared to give
it to his stock, and so had begun by
throwing away layer of an inch OF
So But it happened that his stock
got hold OF some rejec; ed stuff lying i
his lot and eat it readily, without
detriment thatnow he feeds it all from
the very top. There is no evidence a
all of spelling on the sidesa or floor.
At the last meeting of the club r.
port had be u made on the opening o
Dr. Adgers pit. Dr. Adger is
member of the club his pit is ais
dug in hard clay and is under his bar
roof and always thoroughly dry, bu
they found layer of forage of four Q