494 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



have coarse gravel and no stone, you may put in five or six parts of gravel, and this will be 

 sufficient to cement all together. The gravel is best mixed in the mortar-bed, but it must be 

 used at once, as such mortar sets in a few minutes after wetting. But if you have rough 

 stones of any kind, cobble or flat stones, they can be worked into the wall to good advantage, 

 and save cement. When stones are to be worked in, put one or two inches of thin mortar 

 in the wall box, then bed into this mortar a layer of stone, keeping the stone back a half inch 

 from the boxing-plank, so that the cement may be tamped all around the stone, leaving a 

 smooth surface on both sides of the wall. This cement is a poorer conductor of heat, cold, 

 and moisture than stone. A properly built concrete wall never shows frost on the inside. In 

 many parts of the country, thin, flat, irregular stones &i e found in abundance, and these are 

 well adapted to concrete walls, it requiring only a thin layer of concrete mortar between 

 them, and the wall becomes solid in a few days. But with these flat stones, it is better not 

 to bring them quite to the boxing-plank, but to let the concrete come over the edges so as to 

 form a smooth surface. 



When this concrete wall is laid with stone, sand, and lime, as stated, so large a propor 

 tion of stone may be worked in, that the water-lime will be only one-tenth of the wall, and the 

 same when the wall is made of sand and coarse gravel ; so that, to find the amount of water- 

 lime required, count one barrel to 40 cubic feet of wall to be built. If water- lime is very 

 expensive, and you have flat stones, no matter how irregular, you may use quicklime after 

 you get one foot higher than the earth will come against it. One of quicklime to five of 

 sand will make an excellent mortar to lay these stones in, doing the work in all respects as 

 above stated. The concrete should be well tamped into the boxes, filling all crevices between 

 the stones, and solid against the planks. Water-lime will set hard enough so that these box 

 ing-planks can be raised 1 2 inches every day. That is, if you fill the box all around the silo 

 in one day, the next morning you may raise the boxing-planks where you began the day 

 before; and as you fill, raise section after section of planks till you get around again. This 

 you may repeat each day till the wall is completed, provided the mortar sets in the usual 

 time. But if quicklime is used, this sets slower, and will take two or three days to become 

 strong enough to raise the plank. It will be noted that the planks are 1 4 inches wide, but 

 are raised only 12 inches, which leaves a lap of 2 inches on the wall below, keeping the sides 

 of the wall smooth and even. The proposed silo wall will have 952 cubic feet in it, and 

 requires 22 barrels of water-lime, of the Akron or Rosendale brand. This lime in many 

 places will cost from $1 to $1.25 per barrel, or $22 to $27.50. The only other cost of the 

 wall is the labor, which can be done by common laborers. The standards can be set by any 

 one who can use a level and plumb. When the walls are completed, take a seasoned board 

 as wide as the wall is thick, tar one side and turn the tarred side down upon the wall. This 

 will prevent the moisture from rotting the plate rim placed on top of the wall. 



The roof placed over this silo must be elevated some 3 feet above the plates, so as to 

 give head-room for filling the silo full. This may be done by framing short posts into the 

 timber on top of the wall, and placing light plates on the3e, upon which the roof is to stand. 

 It will be seen that this silo can be built, by many farmers, with only a small expenditure for 

 water-lime, shingles, and nails, all the rest of the materials being from their own farms. The 

 bottom of the silo is cemented to prevent moisture from rising from below. 



I believe the silo is to be generally used in the future for storing green food for winter 

 feeding.&quot; 



Dr. Bailey s Silo. Dr. J. M. Bailey of Billerica, Mass, says: &quot;Having resolved to 

 try the experiment thoroughly, I broke ground on the 17th of July, selecting a side-hill, and 

 locating the silo so that the corner joined the northeast corner of my barn. I excavated on 

 the west side and south end, seven feet deep, and put in a solid stone- wall on the west side, 

 44 feet long and 12 feet high. This was built of very heavy stone, and in the most substan- 



