170 Concrete Silos 



farmer sees. This is because the wood silo is a factory 

 product, capable of being shipped out " ready made" 

 under the supposition that the farmer can put it up 

 himself, thus lending itself readily to the building up 

 of a large sales organization. These agents who are 

 sent out over the country know that their main business 

 is to get orders, and an important part of their equip- 

 ment for so doing is a handful of misinformation about 

 concrete as a silo building material. 



But with no knowledge to the contrary, a farmer 

 is perhaps not to be blamed if he believes the man 

 who assures him positively that the acids in silage will 

 eat out a concrete silo in two or three years. It is 

 necessary that this propaganda be combated, and the 

 authoritative statements which have been given out by 

 so many of the agricultural schools of the country 

 should be given wide publicity, as they will go a long 

 way toward forming in the mind of the user of silos a 

 saner and more correct view of the situation. State- 

 ments of this nature can well be included in some of the 

 printed matter sent out by contractors to develop the 

 silo business ; and editors of newspapers should be pre- 

 vailed upon to print matter pertaining to silos from 

 time to time. 



It is generally conceded that advertising in local 

 newspapers on the part of contractors will form a valu- 

 able adjunct to other forms of development work. If 

 this advertising can be given a local turn at times, such 

 as printing illustrations of silos which have been built 

 in the neighborhood, or letters of recommendation from 

 local men who are pleased with their silos, this adver- 

 tising will have a double value. 



A farmer can often be interested in concrete silos 

 by having pointed out to him the fact that most of 



