THE STAVE SILO. 85 



facturing firms have, furthermore, made a specialty of 

 stave-silo construction, and pushed the sale of such silos 

 through advertisements and neat circulars. Having made 

 a special business of the building of stave silos, and hav- 

 ing had several years' experience as to the requirements 

 and precautions to be observed in building such silos, these 

 firms furnish silos complete with all necessary fixtures, 

 that are greatly superior to any which a farmer would be 

 apt to build according to more or less incomplete direc- 

 tions. 



It follows that the stave silos sent out by manufactur- 

 ing firms will generally be more expensive than such a 

 farmer can build himself, because they are built better. 

 It does not pay to build a poor silo, however, except to 

 bridge over an emergency. Poor, cheap silos are a con- 

 stant source of annoyance, expense and trouble, whether 

 built square, rectangular or round. The cheap silos de- 

 scribed in other places of this book have not been given 

 for the purpose of encouraging the building of such silos, 

 but rather to show that if a farmer cannot afford to build 

 a permanent good silo, he is not necessarily barred from 

 the advantages of having silage for his stock, since a tem- 

 porary silo may be built at a small cash outlay. 



We can therefore consistently recommend that parties 

 intending to build stave silos patronize the manufacturers 

 who have made silo construction a special business. These 

 firms furnish all necessary silo fittings, with complete 

 directions for putting up the silos, and, if desired, also 

 skilled help to superintend their building. Perhaps a 

 large majority of the farmers of the country cannot, how- 

 ever, patronize manufacturers of stave silos because the 

 expense of shipping the lumber and fixtures would be pro- 

 hibitory. For the convenience of such parties and others 

 who may prefer to build their own stave silos, directions 

 for their construction are given in the following: The 

 specifications for a 100-ton stave silo, printed below, which: 

 are taken from Woll's Book on Silage, were furnished by 

 Claude & Starck, Architects, Madison, Wisconsin. 



