Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1913-03-27
Spoiled SiIage in
: + :" a; a Tile SiIo.

!. An Illinois correspondent writes:
Last summer I purchased a
vitrified, glazed, tiled silo and
erected the same on my farm
The silo Is sixteen feet in diam
eter and thirty-six feet high.
The mortar between the blocks
was cement, and the blocks were
well laid, and the mortar well
travelled. I am positive that
this silo was absolutely air tight,
and that to all intents and pur-
poses it is impervious to mois-
ture. / cut my corn when the
grains were slightly dented and
beginning to glaze. The silage
was cut fine by a good machine
and was we'll packed in the silo.
I had four good men inside the
silo, and silage experts who have
been at my place say that my 81
lage is packed as well as any
they ever saw. In the center OF
my silo 1 have a very fine quail
ity of silage, but about a foot
around the wall is spoiled. The
part lying next the wall is al
most black, and is absolutely
rotten. Farther in, about loot
from the wall, it tapers off into
a slight mold. What is the cause
of the loss of this feed? / have
been told that it never fermented
properly because the cold wall
reduced the temperature to such
an extent that the acid bacteria
could not perform their function.
am very much pleased with ST.
lage as a ration for beef cattle,
and believe that l got better re-
suits this year than ever before.
| l hope that you will be able to
suggest a remedy to prevent the
further loss of feed in filling my
silo."
We have heard several COM
plants this winter of the loss OF
silage for eight to -twelve inches
around the wall of. tiled silos.
AT the Corn Belt Meat Producers
Association meeting few weeks
ago, this matter was brought up,
several men asserting that they
had lost silage in this way in
tiled silos. Other men were just
as vigorous in their assertions
that silage keeps perfectly IN
tiled silos, and suggested that
the reason that there was spoiled
silage in the silos of these other
men was that they did not dis
tribute their silage evenly when
filing, and failed to pack tight
ly, or else that possibly there
we're air holes in the wall.
A few experiments indicate
that wood, so far as quality OF
the silage is concerned, is a
slightly better material out of
which to build silos than stone,
brick, or tile. The reason given
by the Connecticut Station for
the superiority of wood is, that
wood keeps heat in the ferment-
ing mass early in the season. and
favors such action of bacteria as
prevents spelling later. In the
case of stone, concrete or tile,
the cold walls prevent this fer
mentatien for eight to twelve
inches around the edge, Rulle-
tin 70 of the Connecticut Expert
meut Station at StorFa, gives Su
account of some experiments In
this connection, But expert
meats 20 far are not conclusive
enough for anyone to say that
wood should be used for building
silos, rather than hollow tile, or
vice versa,
What shall our correspondent
do with his hollow tile silo which
he is sure is we'll put up and alb
solptely air tightS We suggest
that if convenient, he plant his
corn for silage a little earlier
than usual 40 that be can har-
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