On Sep 2, 2004, at 9:47 PM, George Myers wrote:

> I read, silage, the "Fodder harvested while green and kept succulent by
> partial fermentation as in a silo" (WordWeb 3.02) was initially stored
> underground. The gas released helps preserve the crop. It can also
> lead to a
> low oxygen level in confined spaces and should be considered a hazard.
> A few
> times, there have been reports a solo silo incident, where the farmer
> passed
> out and even died. It is an interesting science, in agronomy, which I
> know
> nothing else about. It was reported somewhere that archaeologists
> should be
> aware of "underground silage",

Silage pits were a relatively common item on farms. But they're also
uniformly quite large, being about 20 feet wide, 10 feet deep and
60-100 feet long. Typically dug into a hillside and then filled with
the cut & chopped corn and covered with tarps held down by old tires.

Lyle Browning