Preserving Green Forage 57 



and outside stagings were securely fastened 

 together, the connections being sawed away 

 as the wall was built up between the stagings. 

 The wall planks were 18 inches wide, planed 

 to even thickness. These were placed all 

 around the pit and mitred at the corners. 

 Between these planks the wall was built up 

 daily from 12 to 16 inches. 



When the inside staging was removed, there 

 was not a variation of J/6 inch in the length of 

 the walls from top to bottom or from end to 

 end. 



I was thus particular in building, because I 

 was trying to make an air-tight pit, in which 

 I could exhaust, which was equal to packing 

 384 square feet of covering tight enough to 

 exhaust 6,528 cubic feet, which every one said 

 I could not do. 



The mortar was composed of one part 

 cement, two parts coarse sand, two parts 

 small, clean cobble-stone, two parts small 

 broken stone, and water in the proportion 

 of about 30 gallons to each barrel of cement. 

 This was taken to the pit in buckets, poured 

 in and packed with trowels, to keep the 

 stones from the plank. Iron rods i% inches 

 in diameter, with strong flanges at the bottom, 

 terminating 4 feet above the top of the wall, 



