1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
285 
Live Stock and Dairy 
HOW TO BUILD THE STAVE SILO. 
FROM FOUNDATION TO IIOOPS. 
Why and Where. —It is quite remark¬ 
able bow the stave or tub silobasgrown 
in popularity. In Bulletin 167 of the 
Cornell Station, L. A, Clinton gives a de¬ 
tailed account of the construction of this 
form of silo. He says the chief excuses 
offered by farmers for not having a silo, 
a-e that the original cost is too great, 
and that too much of the ensilage turns 
up sour and moldy. The stave silo more 
nearly overcomes these objections than 
any other form. There are no corners 
which may pull apart and admit air, and 
the original cost is slight, as no expert 
labor is required. 
The place to put the silo is where it is 
handiest to feed the stock. The bottom 
of the silo should be on the level of the 
main feeding floor, whether that is the 
basement or upper story. It is cheaper 
to elevate the ensilage as it is cut, than 
to lift it at feeding time in a basket. 
Silos are often built outdoors, when the 
barn has been already built and planned 
before the silo was thought of. It may 
well be planned for in building the barn 
so as to have it inside. The silo should 
not be too near the milking room, or the 
ensilage should not be thrown out until 
the warm milk is placed out of range. 
How Large ?—Mr. Clinton says that a 
1,000-pound cow will eat about 40 pounds 
or one cubic foot of ensilage per day. 
This will give a basis upon which to 
calculate the capacity of the silo. A cow 
fed a full ration of ensilage from Novem¬ 
ber 1 to May 1, would require 7,240 
SCAFFOLD FOR BUILDING SILO. Fig. 110. 
center will serve as a pivot. Use a string 
or twine half the length of the proposed 
diameter, and fasten a nail or pointed 
stick to the end. Swing this around, 
and thus mark out a circle where the 
staves are to stand. 
The Staves. —Mr. Clinton says that 
southern cypress is the best material for 
the staves. It usually costs too much, 
however, and hemlock, White pine and 
Yellow pine are usually cheaper. Hem¬ 
lock, sound and free from loose knots, is 
BARREL STAVES FOR STAYS. Fig. 117. 
at present the cheapest material. With 
a diameter of 12 feet or less, Mr. Clinton 
would use 2 x 4-foot material, unbevaled, 
and neither tongued nor grooved, or 2x6 
material, beveled slightly on the edges. 
If more than 12 feet in diameter, the 
staves should b 3 2 x 6 and neither bev¬ 
eled nor tongued and grooved. The staves 
should be surfaced on the inside. If hem¬ 
lock is used, both sides should be planed. 
F g. 116 shows how the silo is set up. 
The posts a a are of 2x6 material, and run 
up the entire length of the silo. Two- 
by-four scantling are set up at the points 
marked b ; boards nailed between b and 
a make a rigid frame, across which 
planks may be laid to make a scaffold 
p'atform. 
Before the scaffold is all in place, the 
staves should be stood up within the in¬ 
closure. The first stave set up should be 
plumb, and should be toe-nailed at the 
top, to one of the posts. One man works 
at the top of the staves, another at the 
bottom, and a third helps raise them. 
As soon as the stave "s set in place, it is 
toe-nailed at the top, to the preceding 
stave. Old barrel staves are used, as 
shown at Fig 117, to hold the staves in 
pounds, which represents a storage 
capacity of 181 cubic feet; on this basis, 
15 cows would require 108 600 pounds or 
2,705 cubic feet. The bulletin gives an 
interesting table, showing the capacity 
in tons of stave silos with varying diam¬ 
eters. The average weight of a cubic 
foot of well-settled ensilage is given at 
40 pounds. This is the approximate 
weight. It is known that, in the upper 
part of a silo 24 feet deep, a cubic foot 
will weigh not much more than 35 pounds, 
while in the lower part, it might reach 
45 pounds. Mr. Clinton says it is always 
desirable to build a silo somewhat larger 
than the present needs seem to demand. 
The Foundation. —The foundation of 
a silo must be solid. Dig out three or 
four inches, or to the bottom of the loose 
surface soil, make the diameter at least 
two feet greater than the proposed 
diameter of the silo. Provide drainage 
if necessary. Fill the hole with stones, 
large ones at the bottom and smaller 
ones worked in and pounded down. 
Gravel, if well pounded, makes a good 
filling, finished off with cement. Use 
first a thin mortar and one part Port¬ 
land or Rosendale cement, and three 
parts of sharp sand. Make this mortar 
so thin that it may be poured and run 
down between the stones. When this is 
set, use a finishing coat of one part cem¬ 
ent and two parts sand. Finish off be¬ 
fore quite dry, by dusting over the top 
some clear cement, working it in with a 
trowel. While the cement is still soft, 
strike the circle. A nail driven in the 
DOOR ; ENDS OF HOOP. Fig. 118. 
place. A sugar barrel gives a good stave 
for a 12 foot silo, a flour barrel for a 16- 
foot, and cement barrel for a silo 20 feet 
or more in diameter. If there is any 
delay about putting on the hoops, boards 
should be nailed across the top of the 
silo to hold it, in case of a high wind. It 
is sometimes necessary to splice the 
staves for a silo 30 feet deep; 20-foot 
staves may be used, half their full length, 
and the others cut to 10 feet. The ends 
are squared, and then the staves set end 
to end, and toe nailed securely together. 
They alternate so that first a long stave 
is at the bottom, and then a short one, 
thus breaking the joints, and giving 
greater strength. 
Hoops and Doors. —The hoops are 
usually from %-inch iron or steel rods. 
One successful stave silo at Cornell has 
the common woven wire fencing used as 
hoops. Where round hoops are used, it 
is better to have them in three or four 
sections for a 12-foot silo ; three sections 
are enough. Fig. 118 shows how the 
hoops are fastened. The hoops should 
be long enough so that they can be let 
out if the strain becomes too great after 
the silo is filled. The bottom hoop should 
be about six inches from the base of the 
silo, the second hoop not more than two 
feet from the first, the third 2>£ feet 
from the second, and the distance thus 
increased until they are 3% feet apart. 
The hoops should be drawn fairly tight, 
but not perfectly so before the silo is 
filled. The staples should be driven over 
the hoops into the staves to prevent the 
hoops from sagging or falling down. 
After filling, the wood absorbs moisture 
and begins to swell, which puts an in¬ 
creased stress upon the hoops. They 
must be watched and eased if necessary. 
The best form of door for the stave 
silo is shown at Fig. 118. The doors 
should be located on the side most co 1 - 
venient for feeding. They may be in 
line one above the other, or placed where 
fancy or convenience dictates. The lower 
door should be between the second and 
third hoops. The other doors will 
usually be in every second space between 
there and the top. Plan for the doors 
when the staves are set. Saw the staves 
on a bevel as shown in Fig. 118, so as to 
STAVE SILO COMPLETE. Fig. 119. 
make the opening larger on the inside of 
the silo. Thus, the door will be removed 
and put in place only from the inside, 
and will be pressed out and down with 
the ensilage. The door is usually two 
feet wide by 2% feet long. Cleats 2x3 
inches should be bolted to the top and 
bottom of where the door is to be cut. 
After bolting, the door may be sawed 
out, and is then ready for use. When set 
in place, at time of filling the silo, a 
piece of tarred paper on top and bottom 
will fill the opening made by the saw, 
and prevent the entrance of any air 
around the door. 
When built outdoors, various forms of 
roofs are U3ed, the one shown at Fig. 
1 l 9 giving good results. Mr. Clinton 
says that these outdoor stave silos have 
given good results, even when the tem¬ 
perature was as low as 20 degrees below 
zero, In one instance, the ensilage was 
frozen around the edge next to the 
staves, but the frost had not penetrated 
more than six imhes. The top of the 
ensilage had been covered over with a 
foot or more o! buckwheat straw, and 
this covering seem3 to be necessary. The 
frozsn ensilage, when thawed out, show¬ 
ed no loss of value. It is a matter of 
taste whether the silo should be painted 
on the outside or not. Common gas or 
coal tar put on hot makes a good paint, 
but do not apply any paint while the 
staves are green. If gas tar or paint is 
applied, it should be done after the hoops 
are made tight, and the staves drawn 
close, otherwise the paint is likely to 
enter the cracks, and harden 
Killing Lice on Cattle. —We often 
have inquiries as to the best remedy for 
lice on cattle. A press bulletin from the 
Kansas Experiment Station says that 
the following remedies are of special 
merit. For long-haired animals, such as 
calves, shearing may be necessary, but 
a mild sunshiny day is the best for the 
operation. It should be repeated after 
four days or a week. Weak and run¬ 
down animals are generally the worst 
afflicted, and have need of some special 
nursing in order to recover. 
1. Mercurial ointment, diluted with a 
little oil, is very effective on horses and 
pigs. It is applied in small quantities to 
the affected parts only. It must not be 
used on cattle. 
2. A tobacco decoction (one pound to¬ 
bacco and three gallons boiling water, 
allowed to stand for half an hour) with 
or without the addition of two pints of 
vinegar, is very effective, but often pro¬ 
duces nausea in horses and cattle. 
3. Five-per-cent solutions (three tea¬ 
spoonfuls to a pint) of creolin or lysol, in 
water containing 20 per cent of alcohol, 
well rubbed in with a stiff brush, are 
very effective. 
4. The remedy which has given the 
most satisfactory result is kerosene 
emulsion, made as follows : Kerosene, 
two gallons ; common or whale-oil soap, 
one quarter pound ; water, one gallon. 
Heat the solution of soap, and add it 
boiling hot to the kerosene ; then churn 
the mixture for 10 minutes. Dilute the 
emulsion with 20 gallons of water, and 
apply with a spray pump. If no spray 
pump is at hand, drive the animals, if 
many are to be treated, into a narrow 
chute, and apply the emulsion with a 
common watering-can, being careful to 
treat all parts of the body. 
Breeders’ Directory. 
This oolnmn Is reserved for small oards of live 
stock, ineluding poultry, breeders. No outs. Rates 
on application. 
C HENANGO VALLEY STOCK FARMS, Greene, N 
Y.—Dutoh Belted and Jersey Cattle; Dorset and 
Ramboulllet Sheep; Poland-China, Jersey Red and 
Suffolk Pigs; White and Bronze Turkeys, Peafowls 
and Blooded Chiokens. J.D.VAN VALKENBURGH. 
P rize Winner Berkshlres. Sows b.-ed to Carlos Lee 
48992. Select stock. Address F. S. AMOSS, Amoss.Md. 
Closing-Out Sale.—10 Red Short-horn 
Heifer Calves. 3 to 4 months old, crated at $24.50 each 
Also, four Bull Calves, at $30, crated, 3 and 4 months 
old. IoON & LITSEY, Harrodsburg, Ky. 
4 Registered Jersey Bulls 
from 9 to 12 months old, sired by Importel Bull I.e 
Brocq of Clearviesv. J. S. CAVlt-BELL, BuGer. Pa. 
The Finkst Herd of Red Polls in the 
great State of Pennsylvania. A limited number for 
sa'e. D. L. STEVENS, Klkaale, Susq. Co., Pa. 
Pigs - Eligible to Registry, and First- 
class stock at Reduced Prices. Chester White, 
Berkshire. Poland-China and Jersey Red. 
Also, Poultry. WM. B. HARVEY, West Grove, Pa. 
Guernsey Cattle for Sale.—H ighly 
bred and reg'stered J. P. WELSH, Bloomsburg, Pa. 
IHQ LIDI QTPIMQ F0K SALE—Two Pauline 
lUu nULO I Lino Paul-De Kol Bulls ready for 
service. Butter-bred Bulls as low as $50 Calves sired 
by our famous Royal Paul, and rich-milking cows and 
heifers bred to him. Dellburst Farms, Mentor, Ohio. 
Woodland Short-horns heifers (bred) for sale 
W. 1. WOOD, Williamsport, Pickaway Co., Ohio. 
VnilMP QH\A/Q bred at $15, all sold. Have some 
I U U N U u U IV U line ones that have had one Ut¬ 
ter, and are safe with pig no v at $20. Good value. 
F. H. GATES & SONS, Chittenango, N. Y. 
IMPROVED CHESTER WHITES 
of the best breeding and all ages for sale at reason 
able prices. Pamphlets and prloes free. 
It is the easiest thing in the world to have 
LUMBAGO OR LAME BACK, 38 easy 
No remedy has made surer 
and quicker cures than 
IT RELAXE8 THE STIFFENED MUSCLES. 
ST. JACOBS OIL. 
