132 THE BOOK OF CORN 



will be no necessity for protecting it on the outside. 

 If, however, this is considered necessary, place stud- 

 ding against the outside of the wall and cover with 

 weather boarding. The stone silo will cost seven or 

 eight dollars a cord — stone, cement, lime and labor. 

 It takes thirty-six cords of stone to make a silo sixteen 

 feet in diameter and thirty feet deep. A silo of this 

 size holds about one hundred and twenty tons. 



Cement Lining — Of late years many wooden silos 

 have been lathed on the inside and given two or three 

 coatings of cement. This has worked well where the 

 laths are placed on a solid wall, such as is found in the 

 average wooden silo. When the work is carefully done 

 the resulting silo is in effect a cement silo, except that 

 the wooden parts are apt to decay and are not as dura- 

 ble as stone or brick. Some dairymen report good 

 results from the use of patent lathing nailed direct to 

 studding and properly cemented. The studding must 

 be close enough to each other so that the layers of 

 cement will not spring and crack. This is more liable 

 to occur in a square than in a round silo. 



PUTTING CORN INTO THE SILO 



Corn is the great silage crop in the United States. 

 A variety with heavy foliage and stalks of medium size 

 planted early in spring is most desirable. This, if 

 kept clean and well cultivated throughout the season, 

 will yield at the rate of ten to fifteen tons of green 

 forage per acre. When the plants are fairly well ma- 

 tured, say as the ears are beginning to glaze, and when 

 the indentations are well marked, is considered the 

 most desirable time for cutting. This is usually just 

 after what is termed the roasting ear stage. Consider- 

 able judgment will be required, even with this in mind. 

 With some varieties of corn and during some seasons 



