22 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



fodder has been put forward lately, viz., that these are due not to 

 bacteria, but to "intramolecular respiration" in the plant tissue, 

 that is due to a natural dying-off of the life substance of the 

 plant cells. From a practical point of view it does not make any 

 difference whether the one or the other explanation is correct. 

 The facts are with us, that if much air is admitted into the silo, 

 through cracks in the wall or through loose packing of the siloed 

 mass, considerable losses of food substances will take place, first, 

 because the processes of decomposition are then allowed to go 

 beyond the point necessary to bring about the changes by which 

 the silage differs from green fodder, and, second, because the de- 

 composition will cause more or less of the fodder to spoil or mold. 



2. The silo must be deep. Depth is essential in building a 

 silo, so as to have the siloed fodder under considerable pressure, 

 which will cause it to pack well and leave as little air as possible 

 in the interstices between the cut fodder, thus reducing the losses 

 of food materials to a mininum. The early silos built in this 

 country or abroad were at fault in this respect; they were shallow 

 structures, not over 12-15 ft. perhaps, and were longer than they 

 were deep. Experience showed that it was necessary to weight 

 heavily the siloed fodder placed in these silos, in order to avoid 

 getting a large amount of moldy silage. In our modern silos no 

 weighting is necessary, since the material placed in the silo is 

 sufficiently heavy from the great depth of it to largely exclude 

 the air in the siloed fodder and thus secure a good quality of 

 silage. In case of deep silos the loss from spoiled silage on 

 the top is smaller in proportion to the whole amount of silage 

 stored; there is also less surface in proportion to the silage stored, 

 hence a smaller loss occurs while the silage is being fed out, 

 and since the silage is more closely packed, less air is admitted 

 from the top. As the silage packs better in a deep silo than 

 in a shallow one, the former kind of silos will hold more silage 

 per cubic foot than the latter; this is plainly seen from the figures 

 given in the table on page 25. Silos built during late years have 

 generally been over thirty feet deep, and many are forty feet 

 deep or more. 



3. The silo must have smooth, perpendicular walls, which will 

 allow the mass to settle without forming cavities along the walls. 

 In a deep silo the fodder will settle several feet during the first 

 few days after filling. Any unevenness in the wall will prevent 



