The dairy farm presents peculiar problems. The soil must be made to produce those foods that are best fitted to the needs of dairy cattle. Plenty of pure water, grass, and shade in summer, and grains, hay, and fodder are needed. Silage, made from ground corn and corn fodder, is one of the best winter foods for milch cows. The corn is cut in the late summer before it has been deadened by frost. It is run through a cutter or shredder which crushes leaves, stalks, and ears into little pieces. These the shredder carries into a silo. This is a specially made building, usually round. Here the shredded pieces are tramped down firmly. The preservation of silage depends on keeping the air from it. Therefore, a silo is well built and lined. Some are built of wood bound together by iron hoops. Others are of cement or brick. They are usually built beside the barn to make feeding easy. Feeding takes place from the top each day, so but little of the silage is exposed, and that for only a short while. The big shredders tear up loads of corn in a few minutes. There must be some machine in the cornfield that cuts and loads the corn as fast as the shredder handles it. The machine you see here is used for that purpose. It is a corn harvester and elevator combined. It is pulled by horses, so that a big drive wheel furnishes the power to run the machinery. A sickle cuts off the stalks, and these are carried to the top of the elevator by a revolving canvas. The stalks fall on a wagon which is hitched closely to the harvester. One man loads the stalks, while the other drives the wagon. Find out all you can about silos from farmers or farm journals. Keystone ID: 16711 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.