252 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



this information would mean a search through the 

 file copies of the entire American agricultural press. 

 Much of it has doubtless never been published, since 

 men are prone to cover up the story of failure rather 

 than to hang it up as a beacon for the guidance 

 of others. No question however was more discussed 

 by contributors to the agricultural press during that 

 revolution period in American siloing, and no ques- 

 tion was more controverted. Even the most san- 

 guine advocates of the silo during the decade re- 

 ferred to could scarcely have hoped so soon to witness 

 the completeness of the triumphs won by the modern 

 silo. None would then have dared to predict that 

 the last days of the century would look out over not 

 fewer than one hundred thousand successful silos in 

 the United States. 



It is claimed that the first silo built in America 

 on the modern plan was made in 1876 and that it was 

 erected by F. Morris of Maryland. The first wooden 

 silo built west of the Alleghany mountains was that 

 erected by John Gould of Aurora Station, O., in 

 1884. The province of Ontario took its full share 

 in helping forward the evolution of the American 

 silo. V. E. Fuller, then of Hamilton, erected the 

 first silo built in that province on his Oaklands Jersey 

 farm in 1881. It was located in the bay of the barn 

 and in making it the ground was excavated far down 

 through gravel hardpan. The walls and floor were 

 lined with bricks and the bricks were overlaid with 

 concrete. Though Canada is not essentially a corn 

 producing country like unto the states in the corn 

 belt, many silos have been successfully built and op- 

 erated in Ontario. The marked attention given to 



