at Home and Abroad. ' 
233 
cases — I have never been able to understand why — the floor has 
been sunk a few feet in that portion of the barn or other 
structure that has been converted into a silo. Some people 
have an exaggerated idea of the effect of fermentation upon the 
bulk of the fodder ; and therefore think that, without weighting, 
it must heave like dough in the process of bread-making ; that 
when weighted it cannot heave upwards, and must therefore 
bulge laterally ; and consequently that a silo above ground ought 
to be built like a fortress. These terrors are purely imaginary. 
A nine-inch brick (or concrete) wall carefully lined with cement 
is sufficient, but fourteen-inch work is better, on account of its 
superior durability. It is impossible to give any statement of 
the proper or probable cost of a silo constructed under such 
circumstances as I have indicated. In every locality, any local 
builder will very soon give a price for a brick wall of given 
dimensions. The only necessary extra expenses are (1) for the 
internal coating of cement, which should be very carefully done, 
and left as smooth as possible ; and (2) for the doorway, which 
requires special arrangements for closing up before filling, and 
opening before the commencement of using the silage. It will 
have been noticed by readers of the foregoing pages that this is 
sometimes done by brickwork, and sometimes by a double door 
of wood, with sawdust in the intervening space. 
Special constructions, whether wholly above or below ground, 
or partly above and partly below, are of course more costly, 
because all four walls, and the roof as well, must be built 
for the purpose. In England these silos are generally small ; 
but, in a few cases, three or four have been built in a line, 
and thus a certain economy has been rendered possible. On 
the whole, however, the cost seems with us to have generally, 
reached 1/. per ton of capacity, reckoning the cubic foot to 
weigh about 50 lbs., or, say, for the sake of round numbers in 
making mental calculations, half a cwt, — a small exaggeration 
which goes towards an allowance for the usual unforeseen 
contingencies. Thus a silo 15 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 
10 feet deep, would contain 1800 cubic feet, which at 56 lbs. 
per cubic foot would be 45 tons. Therefore the cost, roof 
included, should not exceed 45/. But this dictum must be 
taken subject to many causes of variation : — where wages and 
materials are both cheap — where, for example, stone can be had 
for getting it from a quarry close by — where timber or slates 
can be obtained on the estate — the cost should be very much 
less. On the other hand, in the suburbs of large towns, where 
labour and materials are alike very costly, the average price per 
ton-capacity may often be exceeded. Then the longer the silo 
the less the cost in proportion, all other things being equal, — a 
