NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 705 
years ago, and six years later there were only ninety-one. The first one 
was built by a Frenchman after methods used in France, and not different 
from those in use now, other than the shape of the silo, ami condition of 
fodder when made into ensilage. 
Our Agricultural College made an investigation in regard to silos 
which was put in bulletin form under date of July, 1908. Their work of 
investigation was carried on through the mails which of course was not 
a thorough one. They located 161 silos in Iowa. All being sucessful, 
although varying according to the care that was taken in building and 
filling them. There are a great many kinds of silos. The first one was 
square or hectagon and large in diameter. They were a failure, as the 
silage would settle away from the corners and spoil, also spoil on the top 
because of too much surface exposed. At the present time it is agreed 
that the correct shape is round, and as high as can be conveniently filled. 
This will give weight to settle it right and keep out the air, which is 
very necessary. Care should be taken to make the silo small enough in 
diameter so that at least two inches per day can be fed off. In my opinion 
fourteen feet would be the limit, unless one expected to feed heavy all 
the time. The trouble w^ith the large silo is when you want to feed light 
in the fall or perhaps continue the feed for a few cows in the spring after 
the other stock has been turned out for the summer. Two small siles 
is much preferred to one large one for this reason. And I dare say many 
of us have made this mistake for when you consider the small difference 
in cost, capacity considered, between a 100-ton and a 200-ton silo it is 
very tempting to bund the larger one, but if you get a silo too large I 
promise you that you will always regret it. The length of time silage 
will keep varies a great deal. In weather cold and dry with mercury 
at 20 degrees above zero or colder, it will keep nicely and if there were 
no silage removed for three or four days you could &o right on feeding 
without any loss, but when the foggy warm and rainy weather comes, 
as it always does at times through the winter season, then you will find 
it necessary to keep the silage fed off at least 'l\vo inches a day, and 
three or four would be better. The farther down in the silo the better 
tne silage as it is settled tighter and the air cannot penetrate so deep. 
The stave silo is the popular one at the present time, many new compa- 
nies are springing up here and there over the country to supply the nec- 
essary demand. From reports that I have they are giving good satisfac- 
tion, and have some advantages over some other kinds as well as some 
disadvantages. If there are those here who have stave silos, I hope you 
will pardon me if my views of the same are not just the same as yours. 
The great advantage of the stave silo is that it can be constructed with 
little labor as compared with some other kinds, and taking all things into 
consideration is perhaps the cheapest in first cost. When it comes to 
lasting qualities it will take the proof of time to convince me of their 
durability, as it seems to me they are more liable to shrink when empty 
and rot out more quickly than some other kinds. This is especially true 
when we consider the fact that lumber is becoming more scarce and 
kinds of wood are now being used that we would not use at all in days 
when we could get better kinds. I would advise the person who is intending 
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