406 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



going too high into the air. Deeper than five feet would not be either 

 convenient or safe. 



Drainage. — Care must be taken in wet places not to dig down 

 much, or else the soil must hz drained. In many places even a good 

 wall of stone, laid in cement, and well plastered inside with cement, 

 will not keep the soil water out. In some parts of the south the houses 

 can have no cellars on this account. 



Protection Against Frost. — ^It does not injure silage to freeze. 

 Even if the heat of the silage itself should not prevent the portion 

 clo.se to the vrall from freezing, that portion may be piled up by itself 

 on the silage and fed as soon as it does thaw out. 



Floor. — On sandy soil a floor will be needed to keep out soil air, 

 but on clay land there need be no floor unless rats and mice trouble, 

 then a cement floor may be laid. 



Roof. — In the southern portion of this State and south no roof 

 is needed. Farther north, where a snow fall may be counted on a cheap 

 roof will be found convenient, not that the snow would injure the silage, 

 but that it would mix with it and be in the way when fed. 



Painting of Wood Silos. — A coat of paint or tar on the inside of 

 a wood silo does not prevent the silage juice getting into the wood, but 

 does retard it drying out when the silo is empty, and thus hastens decay. 

 The outside may be painted and the inside washed with a wood pre- 

 servative, something that will not hold the ^vate^ and will destroy the 

 mould plant in the wood. 



Cement Work. — Every farmer who makes farm conveniences, such 

 as stable floors, fence posts, silos, etc., of cement (and this should in- 

 clude practically all farmers) should send to the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and ask for farmers' bulletin 

 No. 235, on "Cement Mortar and Concrete, Preparation and Use for 

 Farm Purposes." It gives in plain language the kind of material, pro- 

 portions to use, and how to proceed to make everything needed in 

 cement on the farm. 



THE KIND OF SILO TO BUILD, 



This will depend very much on the cost of lumber, stone, sand and 

 gravel in the particular neighborhood and on the farmers' ability to build 

 permanently, even though it does cost somewhat more at the start. 



On a permanent stock farm, where the farmer has means to build 

 well, there is no doubt that the stone, concrete or cement block silo 

 would prove the most economical, but where there is limited means, 

 and on farms that are rented for a short term of years, the all-wood 

 stave or the wood frame cement lined silo would be more profitable. 



