THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 2H9 



SILOS AND SILAGE. 



II. H. Cowles, Topeka, Kan., Before Oak Orange Institute, Kansas 



Farmer. 



A silo is a more or less air-tight structure used for storing feed in a 

 green and succulent condition. Ensilage, or silage as it is usually called. 

 is the stored crop. 



The history of the silo dates back to antiquity, the semi-barbaric 

 people of the old world having been known to bury their fodder in under- 

 ground pits to preserve it for future use and to hide it from their ene- 

 mies. But the first silo in the United States was built by F. Morris of 

 Maryland as recently as 1876. The number of silos now in the Unit*' I 

 States is estimated by F. W. Woll at over 300,000, located mainly in the 

 dairy sections of the country. 



THE BOUND SILO. 



Silos are built of all sorts of shapes, ranging from a hole in the 



ground to expensive stone and cement structures. I have had experience 

 only with the round wooden stave or tub silo, and will confine myself to 



that type. I think it at once the cheapest and the easiest to construct. 



It is at the same time the most durable of them all except, perhaps, the 

 stone and cement silo; and this for the reason that it dries out immedi- 

 ately the silage is removed, and does not hold moisture like those with 

 thicker walls. 



In planning a silo be sure to not make it too large, as a little has to 

 be fed off the top each day after the silo is opened to keep it from mould- 

 ing. Sixteen feet in diameter is about right for thirty head in warm 

 weather. To accommodate the required number of tons, build the silo 

 tall, thirty feet or more above ground and six feet or more below, if you 

 are not troubled with water. 



I think the best lumber to use is 2 by 6 cypress, beveled and also 

 tongued and grooved. Cypress is great lumber to warp, and the matching 

 helps keep it in shape. You will save a good deal of money by ordering 



your lumber some months before you want to use it, so that it can be 

 gotten out of the mill down south. The dealers here do not carry silo 

 lumber in stock. 



HOW TO BUILD A EOUXD SILO. 



If you plan to put it down in the ground a few feet, have the dirt 

 excavated and a smooth, circular wall laid up; if cemented, so much the 

 better for smoothness, but I do not yet see that the acid in silage rots the 

 rock and mortar, as some claim. Have the sill gotten out of the planing 

 mill. It will come in sections about four feet long sawed out of 2 by 10 

 plank. "Float" it in mortar, and then lay a second sill over it, breaking 

 joints, and spike the two together thoroughly. Have this ready when the 

 lumber arrives, so that it may be set right up before the staves get 

 warped. 



As cypress comes in short lengths, you will have to make the silo 

 two stories high, so to speak. In my last silo I used fourteen and sixteen- 



