THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART II. 79 



We all know that twenty years ago a very small per cent of our corn 

 was cut up and that about one-half of this, the most valuable crop we 

 have in Iowa, was wasted. 



With land at $60 to $100 per acre, the question now arises as to 

 what is the best means of saving, storing and utilizing this crop. 



I built my first silo in 1895. It was oblong and not deep enough. 

 In the use of this I found there was no feed as cheap as ensilage, if the 

 loss was not too great by spoiling. I concluded to try again, and visited 

 the dairy districts of Wisconsin, where silos are about as numerous as 

 corncribs in Iowa. I found these were nearly all round; and, after get- 

 ting all the pointers possible, I made my old one over into a barn below, 

 bran and feed room above, and built a new one circular in form. The 

 dimensions are as follows: Diameter, 25 feet; depth, 35 feet. I am win- 

 tering 125 head of Holstein Friesians. The matter of size and capacity of 

 silo must be regulated by the amount of feed required, and size of herd. 

 As the feeding is done from the top, arrange the size of your silo to take 

 off from one to two inches per day. 



The location of my silo is at the side of barn — about six feet from 

 same — with a building connecting it with barn. The foundation is of 

 good stone, 6 feet high, 18 inches thick. Two feet of this wall is above 

 ground; four feet in the ground; the excavation being twenty-eight feet 

 in diameter. The stone is laid in Louisville cement. The bottom is in 

 clay, well tamped, and covered with two inches of grout, and a good coat 

 of Portland cement put on bottom and sides up to woodwork. The wall at 

 top in inside is flat for the width of six inches, the building being put on 

 flush with inside of wall. The foot width of wall to outside slopes about 

 two inches, and is covered with Portland cement. The sill is formed by 

 cutting 2x6 in three feet lengths, hewing or sawing to radius of the build- 

 ing, laying on two layers of these, break joints, spike together. For stud- 

 ding I used 2x4, fourteen feet, lapped eighteen inches, and spiked together 

 to get proper height. Set on sill one foot apart from center to center, toe 

 nailed at bottom. In ordering studding get them sized. The plate at top 

 is same as sill at the bottom. The studding where doors come should be 

 double. Four doors are used for taking out silage. They are two and 

 one-half feet wide by three and one-half feet high. I used 2x4s cut to 

 circle on inside, laid on top of each other to fill the space in place of 

 doors and in filling lay tarred paper against these on the inside. The 

 silage will hold it there, if you will put in a few carpet tacks to hold in 

 place while filling. Inside lining use No. 1 dressed fencing resawed or 

 split and sized. By ordering the fencing resawed quite a saving will be 

 made, as this charge is about $1.00 or $1.50 per thousand. In putting 

 this on, rip first board to get a three-inch piece so as to break joints, 

 spring to circle of studding, nail on with 8d nails. Carry up for a ways, 

 then put on a layer of three-ply Giant P. & B. acid and water proof paper. 

 This is much better than common tarred paper. After this, put on an- 

 other layer of lumber, then paint the inside with coal tar. I know some 

 do not advise this, but my experience shows me that it is a preservative. 



