HNSILAGE.

Manawatu Herald, 22 November 1889, Page 2

HNSILAGE.

Having learnt that last season Mr Robert Cobb, of Roakawa, had been very successful in the saving of ensilage, we asked him to give an account of how he made it, believing it would be of much interest to our subscribers. Mr ('obb has very obligingly responded to our request as follows : — Of course you are aware that there a~e many forms of making it, and many f'eseriptions of herbage suitable for. i'fl production, but 1 take it that, for the ordinary New Zealand i'urmer, the most pimple, inexpensive mode of construction and the most plentiful kind of vegetation is the ensilage to be doaided. I will therefore give you a description of a stack which I made last year from an ordinary grass paddock, but the samp method would apply to Yorkshire fog, young gorse shoots^ docks, thistles, or anything that i« succulent and not poisonous to stock.

First then a "foot" was prepared on the side of a low terrace by cutting a p rpendicular lace of a^oiit Oft high and the length of the stack. Then earth thus obtained was utilized for raising the loot about 12 inches. Then with the assistance of a hired mowing machine, three one horse tip dra,ys and five men, the paddock of five acres was cut, carted, stacked and weighed in ten hours at a cast of just 20s per acre. As noon as the- machine had gone , once rouml, the drays wore loaded up-in succession and tipped on the foot of the stack, where one man remained to . spread the giass abont evenly. The subsequent layers were darted in a similar nianm r , upproache ? being made with grass at either, end to allow the drays to go up and down. When the whole hatl boen carted in this manner, these approaches were cut down with a hay knife add forked from the terrace on to the i,t>P of «t«wVi wMrt> when nni«h»tl vh lift

h : gh, 12 x H white pine boards were the placed side by side across the top of stack, overlapping Home 6in., and the whole cov.n'ed wi h two fe"t of earth thrown from the terrace and rcunded oft to form a roof against the winter rains. The stack was bob touched till cv out for the stock in the winter, which was done by removing t\e earth from two boards at a time, leav»jg the remaining earth with aß.pert'c liar a iac as'tha nature of the sdll will allow. And with an ordinary, or " lightening, hay knife (which could only penetrate abOttt 6 inches, owing to the stack having settled into a solid mass of 4ft only in depth). The cant or slice was cut straight down and fed out, and po on when required until finished. I found however that although the space covered by the hoisos and dsays was everything to be desired, in fact with the exception of the colour being olive green instead of a natural one, the grass was as perfect aa when cut, yet outside the space pressed down by the drays it. was more or less mildewed. The cause of this is eas ly perceived, viz that the greatest bulk was slacked in the centre, owing to the continual pressure of the drays, and so when the stack subsided with the pressure of the earth, the centre took all or most, of the weight off the sides. My object in carting the green onto the stack was to facilitate the work and get as much as possible carried before night, belipving it nec'e sary to put on the weights immedi-. ately, I have since ascertained however that a Very elight weight such as a fw boards is sufficient to keep the iop good for a night in which case there is no necessity for so much haste, provided the stacking is continued next morninfe; and thte^ can go on for weekstif required. Otherwise I would recommend parralel walls-, of -upright sawn timber td be erected, say, 12ft high, and the length of the required stack, the whole well supported with rough stays upon the outsides.' 1 ' This would allow the dray wheels to run closes along' the edges without fear of capsizing, and by this continued pressure a much greater quantity of grass could be stacked in a given space and a given time, besideif avoiding the usual waste of about 18 inches - r on the outsides, which is indispensable with all other mode 3 of stacking. It would "then be necessary to use a layer of boards on the top as the aides would protect the' earth from falling off and if rounded from the centre to the ; two ends would carry off all rain water. '. The following appears to me most necess ary in making good ensilageCut the herbage when in flower, the greener and wetter the better, stack as soon after the scythe as possible nd spread it evenly on the surface keeping the outsides Ji'tf/hest and well trodden, and never allow the top to get sundried, before the • next layer i put on. Earth alone, if of a stiff nature, is sufficient to weight with, and will keep out the wet, but the use of boards allows the weight to be distributed evenly round the outsides. One hundred lbs to the square . foot of surface is the required weight for , ordinary grasses, but for rough herbag.e the weight should be increased according to its bnlky or ivoody nature.