Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-10-24
Silos and Silage.

The silo is an ancient device revive
and applied to modern agriculture
uses, says an exchange. Its primar
use was subterranean pit for preserv
ing grain, and sometimes vegetables
from the air. In modern practice tn
pit form has been abandoned, 1t bein
found difficult to get the ensilage on
of q pit when it was needed. The mod
ern silo is built mostly, or altogether
above the ground-four or five feet OF II
perhaps, being underground.
The silo, in its modern form, came In
to use early in the last century in Ger
many, the idea of thus preserving th
crops of summer to feed in succulen
condition to the cattle in winter being
doubtless, suggested by that famou
German dish, sauerkraut, which ensilag
somewhat resembles. The first expert
ments in France with the silo were mad
about thirty-five years ago, and shortly
afterward in the United States.
The chief value of the silo is the econ
omy it allows in the matter Of feeding
cattle. The same amount of feed that
silo will contain within comparativel!
few cubic feet of space would take NJ
at least ten times as much space, ant
probably more, II stored as dry fodder
In the latter shape 1t would be in con
tinual danger of destruction by fire, ant
deteriorates with age. Cattle woulc
not relish it 80 we'll, nor would 1t b'
quite so useful as ensilage, which i'm
proves with time. The prejudice agains
its use has subsidized everywhere and 1t Il
coming to be recognized rs a prime ne
cessity in the conduct Of q dairy or stock
farm. Another factor in it's economy il
that there is no waste, almost every
particle of crop 80 stored being con
verted into juicy article of food which
the farm animals eat eagerly.
Chambers Encyclopedia, in the arti
Gle Ensilage, says:
"Iu 1881, in spite of very protracted
drought, Mr.. Walcott. of Boston, Mass,
was able to keep four times as many
COWS on the same acreage by ensilage as
he had been able to keep with green
feed in summer and hay in winter"
Similar testimony has been given by
correspondents of agricultural papers.
When the corn or other grain crop Is cut,
as it should be for this purpose, in the
hard milk, or dough stage, the sorghum
when it it just ripe, and the cow peas
and the like feed before the stems are
old enough to become hard and juice,
less, an ensilage is produced which,
W hen it is we'll cured, stock find ex.
tremely pslatsble. 1t undergoes slight
fermentation, with temperature OF
about $50 degrees, by means of which
the starch is converted, to some extent,
into sugar and alcohol. Delay in cutting
the crops intended for ensilage renders
the latter poor, and in the case of corn, is
apt to cause it to be irritable to the
gums.
Every precaution must be taken to
prevent the access of air to the ferment,
ing mass, as the housewife does with her
preserves, or the ensilage will soon spoil.
A crust forms on the top of the mass,
which must be cut away as worthless
before the ensilage is fed, and also at
every point on the sides where the air
NAV leak in.
When the "farm value" of hay is S14
a ton, as it was on July /, this year,
good eusilage is worth to the farmer
fully SO a ton. Yet 1t has been shown
by carefully kept accounts that to pro-
duce and store it in the silo costs, in the
South, only about Sl.20 ton. The
Minnesota Experiment Station computes
the cost on Minnesota farms at 81 25 pei
ton. In either case the net profit is very
large. When No. timothy is quoted IN
the market at $50 ton, clover hay a,
s26, beet pulp at $50, and so on, the
nutritious silage which costs the farmer
so little to grow and store means great
deal to him indeed.