The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-10-23
CURING FODDER.
The Sil0 of Thirty Years Ago and the
Simple Method Of To-day.

Simple Method Of To-day.
It is interesting to compare the
rough manner Of curing fodder in the
silo which was practiced thirty years
ago and in the infancy Of the process,
as it was then witnessed by the writer
at one Of the large ~sugar-beet farms in
France, with the present, more refined
and effective operation. Then a pit
like a grave was dug and the earth
heaped up on one side. The beet
leaves or the cornstalks, rank and UNI
ripe and full of watery sap, were
thrown into the pit and trampled
down; the fodder was heaped up over
the pit Il few feet and pressed down; then
the earth was shoveled over it and a
great heap made, the pressure of which
gradually settled the mass down into
the pit. As it settled the earth was
beaten firmly to prevent access OF the
air, but it was impossible to wholly
exclude 1t. When the silo was opened
the half-dccayed, sour, ordorous mass
was uncovered and thrown out to be
fed to the cattle. 1t was eaten and
answered a very good purpose, but it
was only the uncultivated and gross
method which has been since then
greatly improved and refined.
Now the clover, grass or corr is left
to mature until it is in the most nu-
~tritious stage, when the albumen and
the sugar are most abundant, which is
when the blossom is full in the grass
and clover and the ears of corn have
begun to glaze and become firm, At
this season the sap has deposited its
solid matter in the tissues and there is
the least water in them. At this time
the food elements are n~inety-tlve per
cent. more abundant, or very nearly
double the amount, than when the bios
som was first appearing. The reduced
quantity of water and the more solid
condition of the tissues are an econo-
my of substance, and remove the great
est difficulty heretofore experienced in
the curing. The more waterthe great.
Ell the tendency to sour and decompose,
and the less water, and the more and
harder the solid matter, the better it is
preserved. BY the exclusion OF air the
cut fodder then preserves its most val.
liable qualities in the best manner
Hence, under the present improved
system, ensilage is free from the objec-
tons which previously appertained
to it.
The practice has no doubt come to
stay, and will be gradually improved
through new discoveries, until the
present dry hay and corn fodder will
probably become discarded from the
farm practice. 1t may even be shipped
in hard pressed bales as n now
is for consumption in cities instead Of
the more bulky and less nutritious hay.
1t will take the same place in this way
that the canned meat and vegetable
put up for human consumption does
with equal advantage in the supply
of fresh fodder for animals. And
instead of the costly and clumsy
silos of solid stone lighter and less
expensive ones Of plank may be set
up in the fields where the crop is
grown, and being made portable may
be taken down and removed to the
other fields when required. One who
has closely watched this process as the
writer has since it was first described
by him a dozen years ago in an agri.
cultural journal, and has seen its grad.
ual development since that time, a
easily perceive still greater possibilities
and advantages in tn y. Times.
Eaod;po DulIo%e and Aope