Note.—We have used for a number of years in this laboratory a form of constant water bath which was contrived by Mr. Edward Bogardus, formerly chemist to the New Jersey State Geological Survey. As I have not seen it described in print, and as it is cheap, simple, efficient, and ingenious, I will draw attention to it here.
The following cut represents the apparatus:
It consists of two tomato cans connected by a tin tube. Into one of the cans a bottle of water is inverted. We generally use a five-pound acid bottle. The other can makes the bath. This bath can be left running over night without fear. A large number of baths can be run by this contrivance by simply connecting them, by means of rubber tubes, with a reservoir replenished by an inverted bottle. Old fruit cans make excellent baths. A series of holes can be punched round the lower edge of a fruit can, thus affording a distributing reservoir. Corks holding short pieces of glass tube are inserted into the holes. By means of these the reservoir can be connected by rubber tubes with a number of baths at quite a distance. The baths are made by punching a hole near the lower edge of a fruit can and inserting a cork and short piece of glass tube. When the extra vents of the reservoir are not used, they can be closed by a short rubber coupling and a pinch cock.—Peter T. Austen, Chemical Laboratory of Rutgers College (New Jersey State Scientific School).
Silos and Ensilage.
The practice of preserving roots, vegetables, and plants by covering them with earth or by placing them in cellars, etc., is an ancient one, but the practical application of the principle on a large scale to the preservation of fodder-corn, clover, etc., as a food for stock is comparatively a recent practice, the first silo in this country having been built within the last twelve years. Previously, however, the French and English gave the subject considerable attention, but it seems that within the last two or three years our American experimenters have made great improvements in the process and construction of the silo by which more successful results have been attained than ever before and have awakened much interest among the progressive class of farmers and stock-growers throughout the country.
A number of the Agricultural Experiment Stations located in the different States, particularly those of Wisconsin, Illinois, and also the Agricultural College at Guelph, Ontario, have made extensive applications of the process. Several articles from them detailing the success of the experiments for the past season have appeared in the columns of The Breeder’s Gazette of this city. Through the courtesy of the editor and Prof. W. A. Henry of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station we are enabled to present full instructions in regard to constructing and filling a silo. These, with clippings which we include from the writings of others high in authority on the subject, contain as full an account of recent experiments as we can give with our limited space.
“Agriculture never took a longer stride in advance than it did when the silo was added to the practical equipment of the farm. Most of us were slow to realize this at first, and a great many are yet unwilling to concede the advantages claimed for the silo, but the utility of the modern silo cannot be gainsaid, for without it we are left at the mercy of the elements in the handling of our great corn crop. There was much truth in the statement that the silo as first introduced was too expensive for the average farmer, but in no department of the farm has there been such a change of opinion and methods of attaining desired results as is the case with the silo. The modern wooden building is not only less expensive but vastly superior to the original cellar or stone structure and every year’s experience is throwing light in hitherto dark places, so that in a short time the progressive dairyman or beef-raiser will think no more of filling his silo than our fathers did of filling the barn with hay, and with proper facilities for handling the corn no part of the silo work will be as hard as pitching hay over the ‘big beam.’” * * * Supt. Adams, Wis. Agr. Exp. Station.
* * * A silo is a place where fodder is preserved in a succulent condition. It may be a pit, a box, a mow, a tank, a building, or a trench in the earth. Silage is the word denoting the fodder so preserved. Ensilage is the term applied to the process or system. Ensile is the verb expressive of the action of making silage. Ensilor stands for the person using the silo to ensile fodder for silage by the process of ensilage. —Prof. James W. Robertson, Ontario Agr. Col., Guelph.