THE IRRIGATION A GL 



163 



brown coffee and in much the same way. 

 When mixed with good coffee at the rate 

 of one part chicory to four parts coffee it 

 makes a more pleasant and agreeable din- 

 ner beverage. Where a factory is ap- 

 proachable there is money in growing 

 chicory and these are being established in 

 different sections. If no factory is in reach 

 then the plant may be successfully cul- 

 tivated for the hay and the home value of 

 the roots for feeding and as substitute 

 for coffee. The farmer who has sheep or 

 hogs or feed cattle for market will find in 

 this plant a valuable addition to his crops. 

 It may be used as a soiling crop on any 

 worn farm to great advantage. It stands 

 for years as a forage plant and assists in 

 reclaiming worn-out land. 



JOEL SHOMAKER. 



HOW TO CONSTRUCT A SILO. 



Mr. John Gould, of Ohio, who is in 

 this respect well qualified, gives a detailed 

 statement in the Michigan Farmer. We 

 have rarely seen a more thorough presen- 

 tation of the matter. By following close- 

 ly these directions you cannot go far astray 

 in building a silo. We quote from Mr. 

 Gould as follows: 



"To start with, a cow wants, in 175 

 days, about five tons of silage, or 50 

 pounds a day. This means (to cover all 

 losses, waste on top, evaporation, etc), six 

 tons as it falls on the hill in the field, and 

 will, we think, make five tons of fed silage. 

 Figure that an acre of good corn planted in 

 3 feet rows, 10 to 11 quarts of peed to the 

 acre, will make 15 tons of silage. Don't 

 expect 30 to 75. Around silo 20x15 feet 

 in diameter will hold 60 tons; 24x15 feet, 

 78 tons; 28x15 feet, 96 tons; 32x15 feet, 

 105 tons; 30x17 feet, 135 tons. In build- 

 ing, two smaller silos are preferable to one 

 very large one, and for summer feeding, a 

 small one in comparison is a necessity, 

 on account of feeding off quite a thickness 

 from the surface each day to prevent waste. 



''At present the round stave silo seems 

 to be the much-inquired-after sort. The 

 experience with them has been quite as 

 satisfactory as with the most costly framed 

 ceiled silos. The discovery that freezing 

 did not in any way injure the silage sur- 

 face, and that silage was pretty difficult to 

 freeze anyway, has made the tub silo all 

 the more popular. As carriers have been 

 so much improved, and 'man holes' so 

 easily cut in a round silo, the disposition 

 is now to make them deep, 30 feet if pos- 

 sible, so as to get great pressure from the 

 weight of the silage itself. Staves can be 

 made of any good timber feee from shakes 

 pine, hemlock, spruce, white wood and 

 cucumber. The favorite width of staves 

 2x4, and 2x5 inch stuff. A wide stave is 

 apt to 'buckle'. There is a wide difference 

 of opinion about whether the staves should 

 be matched or beveled, or both. 



"In silo building long staves are avoided 

 by splicing the ends of two staves of un- 

 equal length, so that when in the silo walls, 

 the splice joint would not all come in the 

 same circle. The ends of two staves are 

 made square; both ends are sawed into one 

 inch, and a tongue, made of a piece of gal- 

 vanized iron 2x3| inches is put in and the 

 stave hammered up to a close fit. In set- 

 ting up the silo, before the hoops are 

 tightened much, the staves should all be 

 sprung back to a smooth surface. If 

 staves are irregular widths, have the out- 

 side show it. 



"Of hooping there is no end of a mixup 

 between bands, rods and woven wire fence, 

 the latter having points of much super- 

 iority over any other. The rods and band 

 hoops need iugs and threads with double 

 burrs so that the latter can not pull off, 

 and when the silo either swells or shrinks, 

 the burrs can be loosened or tightened as 

 demanded. The coil wire fence with its 

 torsion, makes a hoop that gives or takes 

 up of its own accord, and the silo staves 

 when dried out are up snug and can not 

 'fall together' on a hot day by looseness. 



