The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-09-12
eNsILAos CROPS.
Harvesting the Ensilage.- Plan For Cover.
ing q SIlo-Weight Of silaRe.

Harvesting the Ensiiage. Plan For Cover.
Ing a silo-weight OF silage.
At the Kansas state agricultural col
lege station. where experiments with
ensilage have been conducted for six
years, corn has been the main silage
crop, though some sorghum, Kaffir
corn and other green folders have been
used. The conclusion is that no crop
will yield more nutrition to the acre one
year with another than corn. The fol-
lowing information is CLEANED from a
bulletin issued on the subject
For ensilage plant closer than when a
crop is grown for grain. The heaviest
yields at the station were when the rows
were S.5 feet apart and the stalks inch
ss apart in the row. A large southern
variety Of corn, called Mosby's Prolific,
gave the best satisfaction. The proper
time to cut is when the grain is in the
hard dough, and the lower leaves begin
to turn yellow, but It is necessary to be-
gin in advance Of this stage in order to
finish up before the corn dries.
Of the several fodder cutters which
than one horse sledge cutter. 1t is pro-
vided with two knives, which are hinged
to the body of the sled and can be fold
ed in on the sled when not in use. It
has been improved by providing it with
four low and broad cgst iron wheels. 1t
is pulled by single horse and cuts two
rows at a time. Two men stand upon
the cutter, each facing row. AS the
corn is cut they gather it into armfuls,
which they drop in heaps on the ground
A wagon with low, broad rack follows,
ON which the corn is loaded and hauled
to the silo.
Arriving at the barn, il is run through
a Ross ensilage cutter, with elevator at
tacbment, which raises it some 12 feet
to the topsof the wall and dumps it into
the silo, where man spreads and tramps
it down around the edges. 1t is cut in
lengths of one-half inch. In the shorter
lengths it packs closer, and the cattle
eat it up cleaner. This process is contin-
ued day after day, until the silo is full
The cutter named has capacity Of from
16 to 20 tons a day. The power has
heretofore been furnished by ten hose
power steam engine, but an electric
motor, fed from the college heating
plant, will hereafter do the work.
For covering silo there has been
found nothing better than a layer Of
green grass some six or eight inches
thick when settled, spread evenly ON
top of the silage, and this covered with
few loads of earth, sufficient in weight
to pack the grass down closely and thus
exclude the air.
The number of tons which given
silo will hold depends, of course, large
ly upon the conditions Of the green ma
terials put into it. The more moisture
in the corn the more closely the silage
is compacted by its own weight and the
greater the capacity of the silo. In all
cases given bulk of silage say cubic
foot, will weigh more when cut out of
the bottom than when taken from the
top. But when made from corn at the
proper stage of development the average
weight Of a cubic foot Of silage is not
far from 85 pounds AS to the yield Of
ensilage, it will vary so much with the
soil, the season, the variety of corn and
the cultivation it gets that it is impos-
sible to give reliable data as to what
may be counted ON in any given year
In reasonably favorable seasons, on good
soil with fair culture and with vigor-
GUS variety OF corn, it is safe to count
ON ten tons to the acre.