84 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



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 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, how- 

 ever, gradually 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 testi- 

 mony 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 the silage, or 

 its palatability. When the silage is thawed out it is as 

 good as ever, and eaten by cattle with a relish. 



Why Stave Silos Have Become Numerous. 



The main reasons why stave silos have been preferred 

 by the majority of farmers during late years are that they 

 can be put up easily, quickly and cheaply, and the expense 

 for a small silo of this kind is comparatively small. Many 

 a farmer has built a stave silo who could not afford to build 

 a high-priced silo, and others have preferred to build two 

 small silos for one large one, or a small one in addition 

 to an old, larger one that they may already have. Manu-. 



