110 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



with 6 inch, spikes, up to nearly one-half of the height of 

 the silo, and 2x8 in. the rest of the way, fastened with 20 

 penny spikes. The girts should be 16 inches apart at the 

 bottom for one-third of the height of the silo. They may 

 be 18 inches apart the second third of the distance, and 

 above that the distance between them can be increased 

 till they are 2 feet or more at the very top. A double row 

 may be used for a plate. Sound timber only should be 

 used. Care should be taken to have the girts securely 

 spiked at the corners, so that the joints will not give. 

 The horizontal girt sections take the place of hoops in the 

 round silo and must be strong. Not less than six or eight 

 spikes should be used at each splice. One of the causes 

 of failure in home-made silos of every kind is that the 

 ordinary carpenter, who has probably never built a silo be- 

 fore, has but a limited idea of the pressure on the sides 

 of a silo 30 or more feet deep, and does not realize the? 

 disappointment and loss occasioned by a poorly built silo. 



A simple method of getting the walls perpendicular 

 is to first lay the sill, which should be fastened to the 

 wall securely, by means of bolts set in the wall, and then 

 erect at each corner and on the inside a temporary post 

 or scantling to serve as a guide, braced in position so that 

 it is perpendicular both ways, and the girts then laid and 

 spiked in position, one above the other. 



The lining is, of course, put on up and down and 

 should be matched and of good thickness, say l 1 ^ or iy 2 

 if but one layer is used. If two layers, it need not be so 

 thick, ^-inch flooring, and the outer layer not necessarily 

 matched. The corners should be fitted as nicely as possi- 

 ble, and it is a good plan to block out the corners, as 

 shown at Fig. 26, a, a, a, so that the tongues and grooves 

 can be properly adjusted to each other. 



John Gould, a prominent dairy writer and lecturer, 

 recommends, where one thickness of matched lumber is 

 used in the above manner, that the lining be thoroughly 

 coated on the outside with heavy application of coal tar, 

 or other similar substance, so as to prevent the air pene- 



