Tke Silo and Silage-stack Competition, 1885-86. 291 
12 feet. It is a simple framework made of timber, the vertical mortised 
into the horizontal, top and bottom, and braced together at corners with 
iron braces. The whole sides are lined inside witii Ij-inch boarding, 
tongued and grooved, and the timber was pickled in a solution of lime, 
according to Kj-an's patent. The boards are screwed on from the inside. 
The price of the whole, delivered at Roby, was only 18/. 10s. The floor 
of the barn was brick and stone already existing. The roof was that 
also of the barn. The silage was weighted with 10 tons of ships' ballast, 
{it a cost of 45s. per ton, and is always worth its money. The silage 
was not chafled. The mowing cost 4s. per acre, and 4s. M. for hauling, 
and 2s. for filling and treading the silage — in all about lis. per acre. There 
was in the j^ard another silo of concrete slabs, covered with Willesden 
paper, 15 feet by 12 feet, and 10 feet deep. The silo was weighted with stone 
slabs on planks. There were 31 tons 4 cwt. 3 qrs. of rye-grass and clover put 
into this silo, which cost Is. 2d. per cwt., or 11. 3s. Ad. per ton, brought from 
the neighbourhood, and it cost 2s. %d. per ton to fill and tread. The silage 
was excellent, with only a few specks of mould, caused by air having 
penetrated through some cracks in the slabs. In the silo entered for com- 
petition there had been about 6 acres of second-cut clover and rye-grass, and 
considered to be, after careful weighing, about 47 tons 8 cwt. Mr. Earle 
has a small but very choice herd of first-class Devons for dairying. They 
were in excellent condition, very handsome, and were fed on silage, with a 
small admixture of meal. The dairy and all the appliances were perfect, and 
after luncheon, at which we tasted the butter, no taste of silage being even per- 
ceptible, we pronounced it perfect. Mr. Earle breeds thorough-bred horses. 
Some mares and foals were shown us, and some remarkably fine cart-horses 
of great power, which are partly fed on silage. It should be stated that the 
highest temperature reached in the silo was 165° F., and this went down to 
1)4° F. 
The Silo of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres at Haigh Hall, Wigan. — 
In the entry paper. No. 1 was stated to be a new silo, 20 feet in length by 
15 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, built in the corner of a rick-yard, the sides of 
which are 5 feet below the natural level of the land adjoining. The floor is 
3 feet below the level of the rick-yard, and the walls are 4 feet above the 
level of the adjacent higher ground. The cost of the silo was 751. 16s., in- 
cluding roof (23?.). To this must be added 28?. 16s., for Reynolds's patent 
pressing apparatus. The amount of 75/. 16s. was made up as follows : — 
£ s. d. 
Excavation of 56 cubic yards of earth . . , . 110 0 
Stone and ground mortar 16 inches thick .. 22 12 0 
Portland cement lining 8 9 0 
2i inches thick of concrete 3 15 0 
Furniture and fittings 16 10 0 
Cost of roof 23 0 0 
75 16 0 
Pressing apparatus 28 16 0 
£104 12 0 
The roof was constructed of timber and iron framework, covered with Willes- 
den paper, the entire roof being run on or off the building by means of 6-inch 
wheels on iron rails, resting on the wall-plates. The silo was excellently 
constructed, and the roof simple and ingenious. From the configuration of 
the ground the silo can easily be filled, and, as a doorway is formed at the 
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