18 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



silo may be laid up of logs as for a log-house, and by 

 taking special pains with the "chinking up," with clay, 

 both inside and out, an air-tight and temporarily useful 

 silo may be constructed. 



Silos have been built by partitioning off a space within 

 the barn, using two thicknesses of boards, and placing a 

 layer of tarred sheathing paper between the boards. It 

 is not likely that a silo with wooden walls can last a great 

 while, as a large mass of fermenting material in direct 

 contact with the boards will soon cause them to decay. 



Another kind of silo is possible in lumber districts, 

 where slabs are cheap. A frame may be made with slabs 

 set up about a foot apart, to build a hollow wall, which 

 is to be filled in with stiff, clayey soil, to be put in grad- 

 ually and rammed down hard. By either of these, and 

 other make-shifts, which are, of course, only offered as 

 suggestions, those who can do no better may secure the 

 benefits of ensilage, as well as those who can erect more 

 permanent and more costly silos. 



A detached silo must be provided with a roof. In 

 some cases it may be so placed that the roof of the barn 

 can be continued to extend over the silo, and thus mate- 

 rially lessen the cost of building. 



In building a silo, whether of brick, stone, concrete, or 

 other material, drainage is not to be forgotten, for to be 

 successful the silo must be not only air-tight but water- 

 tight. In building with brick or stone, the services of a 

 mason will usually be required. If the silo is of con- 

 crete, there is nothing in its structure that can not be 

 managed by a person of ordinary tact and ingenuity. 

 Probably the larger number of silos built in this country 

 will be of concrete, and, in view of the importance of 

 the subject, we give a separate chapter on building con- 

 crete walls. 



