14 PRACTICAL SILO CONSTRUCTION 



has a silo to sell of some other material. The unani- 

 mous verdict of those who have built of concrete is 

 that it has given the greatest satisfaction, with 

 practically no future expense for painting and re- 

 pairs, which is a large item with the wood and metal 

 silo. Adding to this the fact that a properly con- 

 structed concrete silo is everlasting, we have a bal- 

 ance in favor of concrete that no other building 

 material can hope to overcome. 



The word silo is used to designate a closed pit or 

 reservoir, in which green fodder or dry grain may 

 be placed for preservation. Ensilage is the process 

 of preserving the grain or green fodder in the pit or 

 silo. Silage is the preserved fodder or grain, or 

 the results produced by the process of ensilage. In 

 present-day use the silo is employed for green crops 

 almost exclusively, and upon our dairy farms of this 

 country green corn is usually the material for our 

 silage; in other countries, clover and other grasses, 

 tares, rye, and oats, are used to produce silage. 



REQUIREMENTS OF A SILO 



The requisites of a successful silo are, first, its 

 air-tight features. This can be accomplished for the 

 first year or so in the lighter and less durable meth- 

 ods of construction ; but, after the first few years of 

 use, the seams or joints of the wood silo will spread 

 apart and thus admit air. This demands repairs; 

 and, in the years of use, it is easily to be seen that 

 the slight extra cost of a concrete silo is saved many 



