VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



109 



depth of the silo, bj splicing a long and a short stave with a 

 square end cut, sawing an inch into the end of each and us- 

 ing a galvanized iron tongue 2x3}4 inches to join the ends. 

 It is not found that a silo is any better by matching or bevel- 

 ing the staves. The best way is to 

 joint the edges, so that they will 

 come uniformly together all the way 

 up, and when the hoops are on, and 

 drawn up, the "pinch" of the in- 

 side corners of the staves will make 

 an air closed joint. It is not sup- 

 posed that any better foundation can 

 be made for a tub silo than the one 

 depicted in Fig. 3. The ground 

 where the silo is to set is made level 

 and the silo built first, and hooped. 

 The silo is then stayed up by put- 

 ting cross boards, four of them, un- 

 der it and then a ditch a foot wide 

 and as deep with slope sides meet- 

 ing 12 inches below and directly 

 under the staves. A two inch drain 

 tile is laid in the ditch, with outlet * v §- ^ 



provided for to discharge surface water. A little coarse grav- 

 el is covered over the tile and some fiat stone of equal thick- 

 ness laid in and the silo is then let down upon these stone 

 and the trench is filled in with coarse gravel cement, and upon 

 each side of the staves as shown in Fig. 3, in which A inside 

 silo, B staves, C trench filled in with cement, D outside level 

 of ground, E soil from inside of silo drawn from center and 

 banked on over the cement sO as to make silo kettle shaped. 

 For the floor of silo, nothing is better than well pounded 

 down clay, unless water and rats have to be kept out, when a 

 cement cover will be needed on over the clay. 



In setting up a stave silo it is necessary to make a stag- 

 ing, so that it will nearly conform to the cylindrical form of 

 the silo. To do this, it is best to set four posts solid in the 

 ground close to the outside of the silo, and mount on this a 

 frame as shown in Fig. 6. This can be readily made of 16-ft. 

 boards with the corner boards as shown. Make the inside 

 measure of this frame just as large as the outside diame- 

 ter of the silo will be, so that it will touch the frame at eight 

 points. Start by tacking a stave to the frame, then add 

 staves, toe-nailing them on to the other at top and bottom 

 with one nail at each end of stave, and so on round. The 

 platform should be at least 12 feet from the ground, and 

 stayed so that it cannot twist or sway. The hoops can then 



