Report on the Farm-Prize Competition of 1886. 
587 
Among other buildings erected at the tenant's cost is a silo, 
which he built in the year 1883. Those who have had expe- 
rience in ensilage, well know that success partly depends on amply 
treading the materials as they are put into the silo, and that 
the employment of manual power to do this constitutes a large 
part of the expense of the process. Attempts have been made 
to accomplish this by the use of a horse, whose weight gives a 
power equal to six or eight manual treaders ; the difficulty 
being to get him into and out of the silo after the first day's 
filling. The situation and construction of Mr. Taylor's silo so 
well overcomes this, that a plan and description are well worth 
a place in this Report. 
An old gravel pit, situated between the sewaged grass and the 
farm-buildings, offered an eligible site, and its capabilities are 
certainly made the most of. It was formed by excavating gravel 
from the side of a hill, and the walls of the silo built in it, at 
the eaves of the roof, are level with the surface above, from 
which it is filled ; and the floor being level with the surrounding 
ground below, it is both filled and emptied with great facility. 
A reference to the accompanying illustrations (Figs. 1-3, 
p. 588) will show that the silo is divided into three compartments 
of 19 by 14 feet, and 12 feet in depth, and that each is filled 
from folding doors forming part of the roof. 
The compartment marked A is filled first, the horse walking 
in on the level, and at the end of the first day's work he is 
brought out by the way he entered, by an inclined plane formed 
of rough boards. At the beginning of the second filling he 
enters the same way ; and at the end of it he gets out by the 
door at the top, when he enters for the third filling, which 
usually completes the compartment. The same process is re- 
peated with the other two ; and as the chaffed grass falls direct 
into the centre of each, both filling and treading are done with 
great economy. The arrangement for emptying is equally good. 
Eight-feet doorways in the partition walls enable a cart to be 
backed to the inmost compartment, and the silage from any 
part of the silo to be filled directly into it. Its capacity is about 
150 tons. Cost 90Z. The walls and floors being of concrete- 
and gravel being on the site, together account for the cheapness 
of its construction. 
Besides the above, there is at the outlying yards another silo 
capable of storing 60 tons. Dead-weight in the shape of old 
metal is the pressure used to both. 
Cottages. — There were nine of these on the farm, the remainder 
of the labourers being housed at Kirby, Trowse, and Bexley, 
adjoining parishes. 
Sewage from the city of Norwich, with a population of about 
2 Q 2 
