The Silo and the Material to Fill It. 461 



silage was found too often next to the. wall. The octagon silo 

 supplanted the one with square corners and was an improvement. 

 Next followed the round structure, thribble-boarded silo, two 

 layers of matched boards separated by tarred building paper were 

 placed on the inside, and one thickness of similar boarding on the 

 outside, these boards being bent and fastened to the heavy frame 

 work, securely bound the silo together, and the danger from 

 cracks in the walls of the structure was entirely obviated. Who 

 first conceived the idea of constructing a silo on the principles 

 embodied in water tanks, I do not know. The first stave siloes 

 built were patterned almost exactly after the large water tanks of 

 the railroad companies, except the bottom was left out. These 

 were not fully satisfactory, because high-priced material had to 

 be used, and because when the hoops were tightened there wa3 

 danger of their breaking, by reason of the expansion of the staves, 

 and there was little or no " give " in the staves because their edges 

 were so beveled as to press alike, when the staves swelled, on 

 their inside and outside edges. Who modified the stave or tub 

 silo so as to better adapt it to its new uses, I do not know. In 

 any case, somebody discovered the true principle of preparing 

 the staves simultaneously with the manufacturers of water tanks. 

 I refer more particularly to smallish tanks used in the top story of 

 barns and other buildings for the storage of water. This principle 

 is very simple, and the only wonder is that it had not long since 

 been put to use in the construction of water tubs of various kinds, 

 and silos as well. This principle consists first in securing a rough 

 or sawed edge on the edge of the staves, with no bevel or one so 

 slight as to result in causing the inner edges of the staves to meet 

 before the outer edges. By this method but a small portion of the 

 edges of the staves come in contact, and when they are pressed 

 together by tightening the hoops or by the expansion of the staves 

 from moisture, they crush together and form water-tight joints. 

 I think it unnecessary to lay stress upon the fact that a water- 

 tight tub silo is not necessarily an air-tight one, because I think 

 we will all be fully satisfied with a silo tight enough to hold water. 

 Neither modern silos built of brick or stone, or wooden ones 

 lined with brick, even if they receive a coat of plaster on the 

 inside, are air-tight, it is only when such structures are treated 

 with a coat of glazing that they become so. Time will reveal 

 whether it is best to construct water-tight silos of wood, or air- 

 tight ones at an expense three to four times greater than the 



