190 ILLINOIS STATE DATRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Capacity of silo 62 tons. Cost or make, per ton capacity, $1.88. 



The cost of this silo was much greater than it would have been in 

 many places. The ground on which the foundation rested was sloping. 

 and the subsoil was a porous gravel, so that more masonry work was 

 required than would be necessary on level or hard ground, so that the foun- 

 dations were unusually expensive; furthermore, the wooden sill might 

 have been dispensed with. Further, the cost for staves was $25.00 per 1,000 

 feet, which is much more than they would have cost in many parts of 

 Indiana or elsewhere. In fact, the cost of material represented high mar- 

 ket prices, but such as we had to pay in our vicinity. In northern Indiana, 

 I have reason to believe that an equally good silo could be built for less 

 than $100.00. 



In the construction of this silo, we gave some consideration to the 

 point as to whether it is necessary or not to bevel the edges of the staves. 

 Mr. L. A. Clinton of Cornell University Station has recommended during 

 the past year that the staves be not beveled at all, that they will join to- 

 gether tight enough without making bevelling necessary. 



A writer in Hoard's Dairyman of Dec. 16, also states that the staves in 

 his silo are simply 2x4 pine scantling, just as they come from the mill, 

 sawed square, with no bevelling or dressing, and that these edge to edge 

 and drawn together in a 10 to 12 feet circle, make a tight well fitting tub. 



"We, however, decided to bevel 1-16 inch on each edge, for we felt that 

 in case any edges were somewhat untrue in matching, that unbevelled, 

 cracks might occur that would be prevented by the wide touch secured by. 

 the bevel. 



The process of silo building, however, has from year to year invited 

 the adoption of many new plans, such as a dozen years ago would have 

 been considered sheer madness, so that today silos are erected with an 

 abandon entirely in defiance with preconceived notions. Mr. George T. 

 Van Norman, manager of Wauwinit Farms at West Newton, Mass., has 

 illustrated this spirit of independent breaking away from old ideas in a 

 manner that would fairly take away the breath of some of the pioneer silo 

 men. This method he has described in a late Hoard's Dairyman (Dec. 23, 



