282 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



of concrete silos have been built by men with little or no ex- 

 perience, the success of the concrete silo has been remarkable. 



In order to secure a first-class concrete silo, it is necessary 

 that good materials, well mixed in the right proportions, be 

 used in preparing the concrete, and that the whole be skillfully 

 handled. If these requirements are fulfilled, the writers upon 

 investigation 'are confident that the concrete silo is satisfac- 

 tory in every way. The investigations, however, would indi- 

 cate that it is not advisable for the man with no experience in 

 concrete construction to attempt the building of a concrete 

 silo. The expense involved is too great to warrant the indi- 

 vidual farmer who has not previously constructed buildings of 

 concrete in making the experiment. The work should be 

 turned over to the concrete contractor under a guarantee 

 that only a first-class silo be built. In time, when the use of 

 concrete on the farm becomes more general, this suggestion 

 will not have the value that it has now. 



As the concrete silo must be constructed where it is to be 

 used and as it comes into competition with a well established 

 industry, it is to be expected that it should meet with much 

 opposition and advantage taken of all the features which would 

 in any way prevent it from being a first-class silo. The argu- 

 ments raised against it are that the concrete walls permit a 

 transfer of moisture and air through them and do not prevent 

 a loss of heat, that the concrete neutralizes the acidity of the 

 silage, that this acidity causes the walls to become soft and 

 crumbly, and that cracks due to the pressure of the silage can- 

 not be prevented. In answer to these arguments, it may be 

 stated that the walls should be nearly water and air tight. They 

 can be made so if properly built and painted on the inside with 

 a wash of pure cement, which will fill all the pores of the wall. 

 It is very doubtful if more frozen silage will be found in a 

 single wall concrete silo than in a stave silo. Wood, as a ma- 

 terial, is no doubt a better non-conductor of heat than con- 

 crete, but the thickness of the wall is very much less. There 

 is nothing better than the double wall cement silo in this re- 



