1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
55i 
CEMENT FLOOR FOR SILO. 
Wr are about to build a cement silo, and 
we are putting it down in the ground five 
feet. We are advised by some to put ft 
cement bottom in it, while others advise 
against it. claiming that where there is a 
bottom in it on account of no drainage the 
silage gets soft and mushy in the bottom and 
not so good as where there is no flooring. 
What do you advise? A, w. M, 
Ingersol), Ont, 
I have three silos, all with cement bot¬ 
toms ; two of them in the ground four 
feet. I Would by all means put in such. 
First—and if for no other reason—to 
keep out rats. They are exceedingly fond 
of the corn in a silo, and delight to bur¬ 
row from below. If given an opportunity 
they will often do a great deal of injury 
both to the silo and its contents. Sec¬ 
ond, because it will keep the water out, 
which, in a wet time, is likely to settle in 
the bottom of a silo that goes below the 
ground. If the silage is “soft and mushy” 
it is because it is put in too green. I have 
filled silos for nearly 20 years, and I never 
have any water in the bottom, except what 
leaked in through a poor roof. I did once 
in a silo, where the water ran through 
the staves, but it was filled with rank, 
immature corn, A cement bottom is not 
expensive. One part of Portland cement 
to five of good sharp sand, three to four 
inches thick, will be sufficient, and it is not 
necessary to employ a mason to put it in. 
See first that the cement and sand are 
thoroughly mixed before wetting. Then 
take a plank or joist as thick as you want 
the cement to be. Lay it across the bot¬ 
tom and put the cement back of and level 
with it, moving it ahead a foot at a time. 
This will make a level floor, and an ordi¬ 
nary trowel or even a smooth board will 
make it smooth enough. For the side 
walls, after the cellar is dug, and squared, 
set studding 14 inches from the bank, 
about four feet apart all around the silo. 
See that they are plumb, and stayed 
securely above the ground. Behind these 
set one inch boards, squared at the ends, 
so they will come out easily after the wall 
is in. This can be filled in with concrete. 
We use the lime and cement mixture with 
great satisfaction, if it is put down in 
warm weather, so it will dry out before 
frost. Make a box, 13 feet long, 614 wide, 
and 10 inches high. In this slake a barrel 
of good lime. With this put 10 or 12 
barrels of coarse clean gravel, or broken 
stone. After this is well mixed together 
put on one barrel of cement. As the cem¬ 
ent is worked in fill it in the box around 
the silo, working the concrete down close 
to the boards. Lay this as full of rough 
stones (cobbles arc all right) as will go in 
without coming nearer than an inch of the 
outer side, or touching each other. When 
dry I see no reason why it should not 
stand till Gabriel blows his horn. This 
makes a cheap and a good wall while it 
requires some hard labor to mix, it is of 
the unskilled sort. One wall 14 inches 
thick, 17)4 feet by 11)4 by 4)4 feet high 
took six barrels each of cement and lime 
to complete. I have a milk house built 
of this material, standing in a very wet 
place. It will be there long after I am 
gathered to my fathers. If lumber is not 
too expensive for frames it is the very 
best material of which to construct a silo. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
EFFECT OF MILKING MACHINES. 
At first thought it seems the milking ma¬ 
chine must have a tendency to consolidate the 
dairy business and knock out all of us little 
fellows who keep only eight or 10 cows. Then 
looking at it another way it may be like 
most other machinery, be a blessing. We 
could not get our hay now by hatfd as we 
used to when I was a hoy. I used to think 
It a pretty sight to see eight or 10 men mow¬ 
ing and all keeping stroke, but I do not 
know where I could find 10 men at the pres¬ 
ent who know how to mow. I have thought 
that the milking machine would reduce the 
price of dairy products, hut that is rather 
doubtful, for it must cost quite a sum to 
get one in operation, and also quite a little 
to run it, will require intelligent help to 
run it, and that kind is not working for fun. 
There are quantities of help who can milk 
from six to 10 cows an hour that could not 
he trusted with high-priced machinery. After 
one has got a lot of money invested 
and high-priced help he is not going 
to reduce the price below cost and I 
think it will not make much difference 
with the small farmer. Perhaps someone will 
come along with a machine after while that 
can be run with a crank, that can be bought 
at a reasonable price, which would help out 
the man with a few cows. At any rate I 
am Inclined to think that, like almost every¬ 
thing else, the demand for the goods will 
regulate the sale of the machinery, and also 
the price of dairy products, and there seems 
to be a growing demand for everything the 
cow produces. I never saw any ice cream 
until I was 13 years old, and now it is com¬ 
mon everywhere. The only drawback I see 
is that the middleman makes the price for the 
producer. geo. b. hall. 
Connecticut. 
There is only one thing that will save the 
small farmer. That is for him to wake up to 
the fact that milk reeking in stable filth can¬ 
not be sold in the average market as a 
first-class article. If he will learn this pri¬ 
mary lesson, the milking machine will be one 
of his best friends. The small producer feels 
the help question as greatly as, if not greater, 
than the large producer, because it costs him 
more to produce his milk than it does the 
large producer, and the extra expense of 
help, which the milking machine saves, is a 
greater hardship to him than to the man 
who can better afford to stand it. I believe 
the solution of the clean milk problem to rest 
with the milking machine, and when that is 
so perfected and cheapened that the small 
producer can afford to have it, the work of 
the sanitary inspector will be cut in two 
about twice. E. M. SANTEE. 
The milking machine question Is a matter 
that I do not feel capable of discussing in¬ 
telligently, as I have never seen any in opera¬ 
tion but otice, and then there was quite a 
number of people in our party, so that a 
close inspection was almost impossible. From 
what little knowledge I have it does not seem 
to me that they ate practical as yet, except in 
large dairies, 1 think they may in a measure 
solve the hired help problem which most 
farmers know is quite a serious matter for 
those who have to hire. I think if a suc¬ 
cessful machine could be manufactured at a 
price within, reach of small dairymen who 
would not have to expend too much for in¬ 
stalling a plant to operate it, it would be a 
help to them. I do not think the time has 
come yet for small dairymen to worry about 
the dairy busisess being concentrated into the 
hands of the larger farmers. H. p. b. 
It is a fact involved in the stern law of the 
survival of the fittest, that all changes when 
they come, however beneficial they may be to 
the world at large, nevertheless often work 
hardship and suffering to some . We talk 
much of the wonders and advantages of mod¬ 
ern transportation methods, yet it lias left 
stranded right here in New York State many 
a little village whose history and prosperity 
is now two generations in the past. When 
the Erie canal was opened in 1S25, it was the 
beginning of the end of the Great Western 
Turnpike, and all along that one-time imperial 
highway are strung hamlets and villages 
whose halycon days were in the far-off times 
when the little street rang lo the stirring 
music of swift rolling four-horse stages, and 
when the tollgate keeper often passed a hun¬ 
dred teams during the first hour of a morning. 
Improved transportation! for these communities 
has meant disaster, has meant decadence of 
wealth and population and church and social 
life, yet a hundred other places have been 
helped and enriched thereby, and no man can 
stay the resistless march of events. So, too, 
with new inventions. Every great advance 
in methods has brought sorrow and woe to 
some, and left some men in worse condition 
than before, and yet to the masses they make 
possible the industrial miracles which are the 
boast of our modern life. 
Certainly a milking machine is on the way, 
and when it comes it may work the extinction 
of some struggling dairymen. Yet in the 
end it must mean relief from drudgery and 
more time for those things in life that are best 
worth while. In any event to try to stand in 
the way of an economic movement is as idle 
as to chide the wind. I can imagine no 
greater social calamity than the extinction 
of the middle-class farmer, with the land 
brought together into great holdings and no 
one between the lord and peasant, but the 
course of events does not run that way. The 
day of the bonanza farm and the ranch are 
passing. The economic statistics of our agri¬ 
culture show that any change is in the direc¬ 
tion of sub-division rather than combination of 
farms, a few conspicuous examples to the 
contrary notwithstanding. Deep down in our 
business there seems to be fundamental rea¬ 
sons why corporation methods do not work 
when applied to farm life. The so-called 
“captain of industry” sits in his office and 
outlines every detail of his business policy for 
months to come, but the best-laid plans of 
the farmer must be changed instantly at the 
coming of a Summer shower. The very com¬ 
plexity and uncertainty of agriculture, the 
way In which it is at the mercy of the ele¬ 
ments is its salvation. 
Some day the milking machine may be like 
the silo—a part of the equipment of every 
well-conducted dairy farm, but I have little 
fear that it will mean any sweeping industrial 
change to the dairy business. Nearly all of 
the very large dairy plants of which we 
hear so much are still new, and are run by 
interests which have money to lose. They 
are not yet demonstrated successes. I am 
wondering if in the long run, with their 
salaried superintendents and suits of offices 
and imposing methods, they will be able to 
compete with the thoughtful, intelligent, hard¬ 
working farmer, milking his dozen cows up 
there on that stony hillside farm. I know 
that my sympathies and hopes are all with 
Dial. JABED VAN WAGENBN, JB. 
Saves Hours 
of Gleaning 
Of course your wife would try to 
wash even the worst cream separator 
bowl properly twice every day. But 
why ask her to slave over a heavy, 
complicated“bucket bowl,’’like either 
j IF^Ibs. IE/ 8 lbs. 8141bs. lOfalbT^k 
of the four on the left? Why not save 
her hours of cleaning every week 
by getting a .Sharpies Dairy Tubular 
I V Separator with a simple, 
light, Tubular bowl, easily cleaned in 
I ?. Di',Hates, like that on the right? 
It holds the world’s record for clean 
skimming. 
Sharpies Tubular Cream Separa¬ 
tors are different-very different— 
from all others. Every difference is 
I to your advantage. Write for catalog 
| 153, and valuable free book “Bus- 
' mess Dairying.” 
THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
West Chester, P?. 
Toronto, Can. Chicago, III. 
THE PAPEC 
PNEUMATIC 
Ensilage Gutter 
will prepare you a better silage and fill your 
silo In less time, with less power and with less 
trouble to you than any other blower ensilage 
cutter made. 
It is the most convenient and the easiest to 
operate. It never clogs, never gets out of 
order, never disappoints. We guarantee every 
machino to be perfect and to do the work 
claimed for it. 
If you need an ensilage cutter you need a 
Papec. Send for catalog giving full particulars. 
Papec Machine Co., Box 10, Lima, N. Y. 
ENSILAGE GUTTERS 
with blower are guaranteed to 
do more and better work with 
the same amount of power 
than other ma¬ 
chines of the same 
or even 
larger 
size. We 
nanufacture 
uifferent sizes 
ranging in ca¬ 
pacity from eight 
to twenty tons of 
ensilage per hour. 
A FAIR TEST 
will demonstrate the superior- 
57 Years ity of Ross machines over all 
Experience ^^competitors. 
Write to-day for FREE Catalogue. 
THE E. W. ROSS CO., Box 13, Springfield, Ohio 
Largest Manufacturers of Ensilage Mach inery in the World. 
Write for Boss Manure Spreader Catalogne. 
SILOS 
The kind that "Uncle Sam” uses. Contin¬ 
uous opening Front, Air-tight Doors, Per¬ 
manent Iron Ladder. Also Silo Filling 
Machinery, Manure Spreaders, Horse ana 
Dog Powers, Threshers. 
HARDER MFG. CO., 
Box 11, Cobleskill, N. Y. 
“SAVE-THE-HORSE” SPAVIN CURE 
Trade Mark cures these m 
Permanently Cures Splint, Wind- - 
puff, Shoe Boil, injured Tendons^ 
and nil Lameness. No scar or loss 
of hair. Horse works as usual, 
dj r* a bottle, with written binding 
V H guarantee or contract. Send _ __ 
for copy, booklet and letters s wa BmGBoat .CunZ TwkibvB 
from business men and trainers - - —•* ■ ■ 
on every kind of case. All Dealers or Express paid. ' ‘ 
Troy Chemical Co., Binghamton, N. Y. 
MINERAL 
HEAVE 
REMEDY 
NEGLECT 
Will Ruin 
Your Horse 1 
Send today for 
only 
PERMANENT 
SAFE 
CERTAIN' 
$3 PACKAGE 
will cure any case or 
money refunded. 
$1 PACKACE 
cures ordinary cases. 
Postpaid on receipt of 
price. Agents Wanted. 
Write for descriptive booklet. 
Mineral Heave Remedy Co.. 46I Fourth Avenue. Pittsburg. Pa. 
Is Your Horse' 
Worth $1.— ? 
That is what it will 
cost to cure his curb, 
splint, spavin, wind- 
puffs or bunches. 
We have thousands 
of testimonials covering 30 years’ use. 
W. B. F asig, Presid’t Ohio Breeders Ass'n, writes: 
Quinn’s Ointment 
is the most valuable remedy before the public.” 
At your druggist or by mail, prepaid, for $ 1 , with 
our guarantee to refund the money If you are 
dissatisfied. Sample free. Write for our booklet. 
Wm. B. Eddy & Co., High St., Whitehall, N.Y.j 
Trade Mark. 
250,000,000 , 
Sheep Every Year, 
Dipped In 
COOPER DIP 
Has no equal. One clipping kills ticks, lice 
and nits. Increases quantity and quality 
of wool. Improves appearance and con¬ 
dition of flock. If dealer can’t supply you, 
send 81.75 for 82.00 (100 gallons) packet to 
CYRIL FRANCKLYN, 72 Beaver St., New York. 
WM. COOPER & NEPHEWS, Chicago. 
HORSE POWERS 
THRASHERS Wood 
and CLEANERS Saws 
One & two-horse Thrashing Outfits. Level 
Tread, Perfect Governor, Feed & Ensilage 
Write for catalogue 
CUTTERS 
ELLIS KEYSTONE AGR’L WORKS, Pottstown, Pa, 
Many a farmer has failed and many a farm gone to rack and ruin 
and been abandoned for lack of a 
GREEN MOUNTAIN SILO 
Under the old and wasteful system of hay and gTain feeding in 
winter the cost of keeping cows was doubled, proper nutrition lacking 
and the milk-yield one-fourth less than it should be. 
But now fresh, green, juicy and nutritious ensilage, properly stored 
at small expense in the Green Mountain—the best of all silos—keeps 
the stock in the pink of condition through frozen winter and pasture- 
parching drought of summer and leaves a handsome cash balance to 
your credit besides. 
Agents wanted in unassigned territory. Write for Booklet ® 
STODDARD MFC. CO., Rutland, Vt. 
