ENSILAGE FROM CANADIAN THISTLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3019, 24 January 1912, Page 18

ENSILAGE FROM CANADIAN THISTLES.

an interesting experiment. Mr Dibble, the Field Instructor of the j.'xjpartment of Agriculture, is demonstrating at present with ensilage-making on the /sum* of Messrs Crawford Anderson (btir- 1 ]i n g) and James Patrick (Gutram). In the former case the ensilage is being made ; exclusively from Canadian thistles and that | amount of mixed grasses which was knocked over by the mower when cutting them. Practically the whole stack is composed of Canadian thistles. Mr Dibble bad been prosacutfn i r the work for some days prior to the visit of our representative, aim had got the stack up about 15ft in height, and ©veything was in full swing at the time of our visit. The svstem worked upon was as follows; Tho thistles, which stand from 2ft bin to 3ft in height, arc cut before they arrive at the flowering stage, the proper time to cut thorn being when tho largest seed button is not more than half an inch across, and. tho remainder of the head consists of round heads no larger than good-sized beads. At that succulent stage tho woody fibre in the stalk has not developed, and it is full of sap or juice, which on twisting will exude moisture, and when thus caught in time before the stalk gets solid and tough they make excellent ensilage. The thistles are cut wet or dry with the grass mower, and immediately transferred to the stack by means of sweeps or sleighs. The material is heavy and difficult to fork on to a dray, and any temporary framework of light wood and wire to which a horse can bo attached is more easily worked than the dray. 'i he horses drag their loads along the ground to the end of the ensilage stack, and the stuff is then lifted by means of the Manitoba hay and ensilage stacker on to tho stack. This consists of two sets of shearlcgs, one of which is set up at each end but clear of the stack, over which at a height of 35ft a strong wire cable passes, and is anchored at each end at some considerable distance from the stack. The material Is elevated by horsepower operated through trip gearattached to this cable, and delivered to any desired position along the centre of tho stack. A tremendous amount of green stuff of anv kind could be dealt with on a wholesale scale. Working economically and fully manned the process would require the services of 12 men, so that cutting and stacking could proceed simultaneously. There would be one man and two houses with the mower, another man and horse drawing the material into rows to facilitate forking, two men forking to four sledges loading in to the stack, one man attending to the trigger line for releasing the elevated load, one man attending to the horse which xctuates tho elevator, another building the Itaek. and the hist man crowing to the Minder. At Mr Anderson’s the necessity of ittonding to a large byre and the difficulty pf procuring labour induced the enterprising owner to work at the ensilage somewhat intermittently with half a dozen men GOING TO WORK. In beginning tho stack the material is cut ami immediately built up on the stack till a height of Bft is leached. This quantity is then allowed to remain uncovered till the temperature ri.-os to 130 deg Fahr.. after which the work can bo proceeded with. This raa’y entail cessation from work for one or two days, but it is important to wait until at least this temperature is indicated by tho thermometer. The temperature is ascertained by building in an inch iron pipe in tho centre of tho stack, the lower end of which starts at a height of 3ft from the ground. A self-registering thermometer is lowered into this pipe by means of a piece of string, and the heat can bo ascertained at any hour of tho day. The range of temperature for making sweet, green ensilage is from 130.10 g to ISOdog. Over that heat, tho ensilage wou’d be scorched and of little value. The addition of 3ft of

green material daily would exclude the air sufficiently to maintain th© temperature within range, but there is no occasion to stop at 3ft if convenient to add more; oft or Bft might be added after the first layer rises to the necessary temperature, and no further delay is necessary to allow the added material to rise in temperature; in fact, the work can bo henceforth proceeded with till the stack is finished. BUILDING THE STACK.

In building the stack the edges require to bo kept higher than th© centre, and the sides should incline slightly inwards from the perpendicular, so that when pressure is applied and the stack consolidated it would press out straight or perpendicular. When finished the stock is weighted by means of earth thrown loosely on to the silo cover. This is a wooden framework which is made with a solid timber bottom of half-inch timber. on which a framework 20in high is built all round the edges, which will prevent the soil from escaping. The soil is e.evatcd by horse-power, similarly to the green stuff, in a box so arranged that it tips at any required position on to the wooden framework. While the work is proceeding _ the stack is settling all the time, and a height of 20ft of green stuff will ultimately settle to 10ft, so that every morning finds the stack at a considerably lower level than when work was finished. For every ton of green material used in the stack Ijdb to 21b of coarse agricultural salt is sprinkled over the stack and repeated with every 2ft of a rise in a 20ft square stack. It is worthy of noie that the Messrs Anderson and Weir were so pleased with the Manitoba elevating gear that thev purchaser it amoiu them, and retained it for their district. When finished at Mr Crawford Anderson’s Mr Dibble is proceeding to Otanomomo to deal with oats and Canadian thistles mixed, and has arranged for other demonstrations in this ditrict.