562 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Gurler: It is better most of the time. This completed silo costing 

 $1.03 per ton cost lOy^ cents for each foot of surface. If you will get in 

 touch with Mr. Glover, at Elgin, he can tell you all aljout it. If I am 

 positive about anything, I am positive if you build a silo you ought to 

 cement it inside. 



Mr. Drischel: What do you consider a standard size silo? 



Mr. Gurler: Now, I am glad you brought that out. You must have 

 your silo to feed the number of cattle you want to feed, and you generally 

 need six surface feet to each animal you wish to feed. I have one silo 

 thirty-eight feet in diameter, and when I open that silo up, I plan to feed 

 my whole herd out of that. I was making some 1,800 pounds of milk a 

 day, and they were having some trouble with their butter, and they called 

 my attention to it and I went out to the farm and found out they were 

 feeding decayed silage. Six surface feet per animal is a safe working 

 plan to Avork on. If you have a silo twenty feet in diameter, that is prac- 

 tically 300 feet, and you can feed fifty cows safely from a silo that is 

 twenty feet in diameter. 



Mr. Shugart: In building a silo, can you go below the surface of the 

 earth? 



Mr. Gurler: It is all right if you can get drainage. 



Mr. Shugart: What is your experience with the depth of a silo? 



Mr. Gurler: The deeper the better. 



The Secretary: How high is it profitable to try to elevate it above 

 thirty feet? 



Mr. Gurler: I have a sixty-foot elevator. 



Mr. Shugart: Did you ever try a blower? 



Mr. Gurler: No, sir; I don't know anything about it; I never used it. 



Mr. Burnside: Hoav thick do you put your cement? 



Mr. Gurler: On an average of five-eighths of an inch; and that makes 

 me think of another thing. Be sure of your cement; don't put in cheap 

 stuff, and be sure that your sand is clean, using two parts of sand and 

 one part of the best cement you can buy, and you are all right. 



Dr. Woolen: Is your object in cementing to prevent rotting? 



Mr. Gurler: The object of the cement is to preserve the silage and 

 preserve the wood, 



