THE STAVE SILO. 53 



periment Station, we find the stave silo spoken of as "the most 

 practical and successful silo which can be constructed," and the 

 Ottawa Experiment Station is on record for the following state- 

 ment in regard to the stave silo: "From extensive observation 

 and study of silos and silo construction, and from experience here 

 with a number of different silos, it would appear that the stave 

 silo is the form of cheap silos that for various reasons is most 

 worthy of recommendation. It combines simplicity and cheapness 

 of construction with the requisite conditions to preserve the 

 silage in the very best condition for feeding." 



Stave silos are, generally speaking, similar to large railroad 

 or fermentation tanks, and to make satisfactory silos should be 

 built as well as a No. 1 water tank. The first stave silos were 

 built in this country in the beginning of the nineties; they soon 

 found some enthusiastic friends, while most people, including 

 nearly all writers and lecturers on silo construction, were in- 

 clined to be skeptical as to their practicability. It was objected 

 that the staves would expand so as to burst the hoops when the 

 silo was filled with green fodder; that they would shrink after 

 having been left empty during the summer months, so that the 

 silo would fall to pieces, or at least so that it could not again 

 be made air-tight; and finally, that the silage would freeze in 

 such silos, and its feeding value thereby be greatly lowered. In 

 addition to this, it was claimed that a substantial stave silo 

 would cost as much as a first class ordinary all-wood silo of the 

 same capacity, which would not have the objectionable features of 

 the former. 



In spite of these objections the stave silo has, however, grad- 

 ually gained ground, until of late years it has quite generally 

 been adopted in preference to other kinds of silos, particularly in 

 the Eastern and Central states. This being a fact, it follows that 

 the objections previously made to the stave silos cannot be valid, 

 that the staves do not swell so as to burst the hoops, or shrink 

 so as to cause the silo to fall to pieces, or become leaky. As re- 

 gards the danger from freezing of the silage, the criticisms of the 

 stave silo are in order, as silage in outdoor stave silos will be 

 likely to freeze in cold weather, in any of the northern states or 

 Canada; but, according to the testimony of farmers who have 

 had experience with frozen silage, this is more an inconvenience 

 than a loss. The freezing does not injure the feeding value of 



