Concrete Silos 35 







A silo, if made with impervious walls so as to exclude the air 

 and retain the moisture, if made so as to be sufficiently rigid and 

 of sufficient strength to resist the bursting pressure of the silage, 

 and lastly if smooth on the inside to permit the silage to settle 

 properly, will keep the silage regardless of the kind of material 

 used in the construction. Concrete silos can be made to meet all 

 these requirements. There is abundant evidence of this and in 

 no case have we found spoiled silage in any silo where these 

 essentials were incorporated. J. B. DAVIDSON, Professor of Agri- 

 cultural Engineering, Iowa State College, Ames. 



I have constructed quite a number of concrete silos and have 

 found that when the concrete silo is constructed properly, it will 

 preserve the silage in good condition. I have also found that the 

 acid of silage has very little effect on the concrete. J. W. RIDG- 

 WAY, Professor of Dairy Husbandry, Agricultural and Mechani- 

 cal College of Texas, College Station. 



Concrete silos on the whole will keep silage as well as any 

 other silo. With concrete walls made of properly proportioned and 

 well mixed cement, sand, gravel, and the inside washed with grout, 

 one need not fear injury to the walls due to the acids in the silage. 

 I have examined quite a number of concrete silos and have not 

 seen a single one where the acids have made any permanent injury 

 to the walls. It is my opinion that the effect of the acids in silage 

 on a concrete wall is a minor matter. C. F. CHASE, Assistant 

 Professor Agricultural Engineering, North Dakota Agricultural 

 College. 



It is my opinion that concrete silos keep silage as well as 

 other makes, and that when the concrete of the silo is properly 

 glazed the acid in the ensilage does not have any injurious effect 

 upon the concrete. W. L. FOWLER, Head Department of Ani- 

 mal Husbandry and Dairying, University of Arkansas, Fayette- 

 ville. 



There is positively no truth in the statement that cement silos 

 are destroyed by the acids in the silage. These silos have been 

 in use for about twenty years. A few days ago I was talking to 

 a gentleman who had just examined a stone silo that was plas- 

 tered with cement plaster twenty-five years ago and had not been 

 lepaired since, and it is now in perfect condition. We have seven 

 of these concrete silos on the college farms that are keeping silage 

 fully as well, if not better, than our two wooden silos. A. S. 

 NEALE, Dairy Husbandry, Kansas State Agricultural College, Man- 

 hattan, Kansas. 



A great many objections are made to concrete as a suitable 

 material for silo construction. These statements, of course, come 

 from competing builders, mostly wood stave silo people. Obser- 

 vations of concrete and wood stave silos standing side by side show 

 that the freezing is not greater in one than the other. By coat- 

 ing the concrete walls with a wash of neat cement or tar pitch 

 they can be made perfectly air, water and acid proof. That 

 concrete stave silos are a success has been demonstrated beyond 



