The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-01-08
SILOS.
The Secrps of Success in Preserving the
Contents of a Silo.

The silo is device intended to ex-
clude the air from green food fit for the
consumption of cattle-as corn-staiks,
clover, rye or other forage crops. 1t is
a scientific advance upon the ancient
method of preserving green food by coy-
ering it with earth. The silo is pit usu-
ally constructed of masonry, the sides
and bottom of which must be water
proof, into which green fodder is packed
and pressed down with such necessary
covering and weights as to exclude the
air and thus prevent fermentation. The
pits are usually twenty feet in depth,
and are most cheaply constructed if
nearly square in form and so divided
into compartments as to be readily COW
cred with grooved planking upon which
the superintendent weight is placed.
This form of division is advantageous in
allowing the use of desirable portions of
the ensilage without removing the pres
sure from the remainder. The pits
should be near the barns or sheds where
cattle are kept. If they can be located
against the slope of hill it affords OBJ
vious advantages in filling and after
wards weighing down the mess with
stones or some other form of pressure.
The whole secret of success in prescrv-
ing the contents of silo is the thor
ough exclusion of the air. The corn
stalk or other fodder is more readily
compressed if It is cut into short lengths
ready for feeding before it is put into the
silo, and the work of filing should be as
rapidly done as possible to prevent the
commencement of the heating or fer
menting process before the silo is filled.
The fodder from properly con-
| structed silo is better for cattle when
taken out than when put in and more
readily digested. Another prime adj
vantage is in compact storage. In silo
with an inside measurement of 40x16
feet and depth of twenty feet, $50 tons
of fodder may be stored and kept in
good condition indefinitely.
Mr. William NJ Ringerly, who has ex-
perimented for the last four years on his
farms at Gwynedd, Pa, in preserving
green fodder in silos, has a silo capacity
of 200 tons. He says that by the oper-
alton of this method he is enabled to
easily keep one COW on the produce OF
one acre of ground. He fills his silos
mainly with cornstalks cut in three
quarterback lengths. A ten-horse power
engine will cut 100 tons in a day.
The introduction of the silos is likely
to make considerable change in agri-
cultural methods. In England, where
owing to wet weather and late frosts,
corn can not be brought to maturity,
corn is now sown for fodder and cut
when the plant is in tassel, yielding
thirty tons to the acre. The fodder is
preserved in silos, and the corn is out
of the way in time for late crop Of
turnips. The English farmers find
corn the best crop they can raise fol-
fodder.
The use of ensilage has been delayed
in this country by imperfect methods o.
building the silos and by inattention tc
the single requisite to success-storagt
of the fodder in good condition ant
thorough exclusion of the air. There
is no doubt that in those parts of the
country where cattle are raised anC
kept over the winter silos must come
into general use as matter of farm
economy.-BrGdstreet