THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 313 



The concrete roof of the Iowa silo has a wide, flat gutter in 

 which it is possible to stand while adjusting the blower pipe of 

 an ensilage cutter to the silo for filling. This is a valuable con- 

 venience compared with the usual steep roof upon which it is 

 impossible to stand, requiring that the work of adjusting the 

 blower pipe be done from the window or a ladder. 



Portability. 



In no sense can the Iowa silo be considered portable. If a 

 silo is desired which must be moved to a new location after a few 

 years, it is doubtful if the Iowa silo would fill the requirements. 

 The roof and door frame would be entirely destroyed in moving 

 and it would be worth nearly as much as the value of the blocks 

 to clean them for use the second time. 



Fire Proof Qualities. 



The Iowa silo is perfectly fire-proof. It is hard to see how 

 it could be even slightly damaged by a fire. In general, fire- 

 proof construction is given too little attention. One of the auth- 

 ors of this bulletin visited a masonry silo from which silage was 

 fed within twenty-four hours after all the adjoining buildings 

 had been burned from around it, leaving it unharmed and con- 

 taining the only feed stuff saved from the fire. Hollow, vitrified 

 clay building blocks are widely used for fireproofing purposes. 



Appearance. 



The Iowa silo presents a pleasing appearance of solidity, 

 durability and permanency. 



Simplicity of Construction. 



The concrete silo upon investigation has been found to be a 

 satisfactory silo when carefully built. Its construction, however, 

 is so difficult that very few really good silos have been found 

 which have not been constructed by the professional silo builder. 

 The manipulation and construction of the forms for building a 



