436 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



The time of the superintendent devoted to each silo was as follows: 

 No. 2. Fifteen days. 



CONSTRUCTION OF THE IOWA SILO. 



THE LOCATION OF THE SILO. 



A very large percentage of the silos used in Iowa are located outside 

 of the barn. There are good reasons for this. First, the Iowa silo is 

 of such a construction that it does not need the protection of a building. 

 Second, it is not economical to place a silo in a building where it will 

 occupy space which may be put to other use. Third, a silo located inside 

 of a building is often unhandy to fill. The forage cannot be delivered 

 to the cutter conveniently. Fourth, by locating a silo outside of the 

 building and only connecting it thereto with a passage provided with 

 doors, the objectionable odor of the silage may be kept out of the build- 

 ing. By arranging the silo so as to be connected to the feeding room 

 with a feedway, it is as convenient for feeding as when located in the 

 building itself. A very common arrangement is to so locate the silo 

 that the passageway from silo to barn is a continuation of the feedway 

 in the barn. In general, it seems that there are few advantages in 

 building a silo inside of a building and many in building it outside. 

 There are types of barns, the large round barn for instance, which are 

 of a form making it possible for a silo to be conveniently located at the 

 center. 



FOUNDATION. 



Any building should rest upon a foundation sufficiently broad to 

 prevent appreciable settling, and deep enough to rest upon soil which 

 is never disturbed by frost. In the case of a masonry silo, the founda- 

 tion may be advantageously a continuation of the wall. If the space 

 enclosed within the foundation be excavated, it becomes available for 

 the storage of silage. This space, however, costs a little more than the 

 space in other parts of the silo on account of the additional labor of 

 excavation. Thus, it will be seen that it is not economical to extend 

 the foundation deeper than necessary to get below frost. For the Iowa, 

 a good depth of pit is three and one-half feet. 



EXCAVATION. 



After locating the center of the silo, the circle for the excavation 

 may be laid out to good advantage by the device shown in Fig. 12. By 

 using a carpenter's level on the sweep and a sliding block for making 



