240 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



foot staves for each story, alternating first a long one and then a short 

 one. Plumb your first stave carefully, and brace it thoroughly. Then set 

 the others one by one, toe-nailing the bottom and nailing a %-inch bat- 

 ten around the top as you go to hold the staves in position. After com 

 pleting the circles, put in two or three hoops, and repeat the operation 

 placing a fourteen-foot stave on top of a sixteen-foot, and a sixteen-foot 

 stave on top of a fourteen-foot, so making a two-foot splice in the middle. 

 For hoops I used three to six strands of No. 9 galvanized wire well 

 twisted into a rope with an eye-bolt twisted on each end. For tighten- 

 ing, pass the eye-bolts through a twelve-foot 4 by 4 oak scantling, and 

 screw up the nuts. I used eight wire hoops on the first story, and four 

 on the second. Over the matched ends of the staves at the splices I used 

 two flat iron hoops about four inches wide and perhaps 3-16 inch thick 



On my first silo I used some round iron and some flat iron hoops. 

 Both were trublesome to put up and to keep up, besides costing about 

 ten times as much as the wire hoops. Some people advocate using woven 

 wire fencing for hoops, fastening oak scantlings at each end and drawing 

 the scantlings together by means of bolts with a bur on each end. It is 

 said that the coil in fence made of hard steel wire, like the "Page," is 

 sufficient to take up the slack when the staves shrink, and keep them 

 under tension, whether wet or dry. 



THE EMPTY SIIX>. 



A tub of this size, when empty and thoroughly dry, is a very shackly 

 concern, difficult to keep either in shape or in place. After letting mine 

 blow down a few times, I have put around the top and the middle wooden 

 hoops, made of twelve-inch cypress, one-half inch thick, four-ply, breaking 

 joints, and well bolted and spiked. To further prevent the changing of 

 shape under stress of wind, I have put a triangle inside at the top made 

 of 2 by 10 plank and well braced and bolted to the wooden hoop. With 

 these precautions it looks as if with three or four long and strong wire 

 ropes for guys, it may be practicable to keep the silo on its foundation 

 and in an approximately cylindrical shape. 



DOORS AND ROOF. 



When the hoops are on and drawn tight, cut out the doors on the 

 side from which you want to feed, two feet square is large enough. Cut 

 on a bevel all round, cleat the pieces of staves together, and simply set 

 the door in place from the inside to be held by the silage. I have one 

 door above the splice and two below. It is not necessary to put a door 

 near the top, as the silage will settle six feet or more after it is filled 



As to the roof, I am somewhat like the Arkansas man who could 

 not mend his roof when it Avas storming and did not need to when it 

 was not. A roof is a matter of comfort, and not of necessity in keeping 

 the silage. 



Such a silo as I have described, thirty feet above ground and six 

 below, with a diameter of sixteen feet inside, will hold about 155 tons 

 of silage, and will ccst for labor and material about $200. 



