1908. 
BUILDING A STONE SILO. 
Practical Details for Sound Construction." 
I wish to build a stone silo. These are some ques¬ 
tions I should very much like answered: Size 10x30 feet, 
or 25 feet above ground. Thickness at ground? Manner 
of tying with iron rods? Should rock be rinsed in a 
barrel of water before using? The rock is field stone 
of all sizes. What proportion of cement and sand? 
Can I build a foot or two one day and wait two or 
three days before adding more? Would you recommend 
building in barn or outdoors, covering with wood, leaving 
a dead-air space as protection against frost? I have 
no gravel nor crushed rock. I have plenty of sand 
and all sizes of held rock ready at hand. I could get 
gravel if necessary. w . j. 
Maine. 
1 o build a stone silo 10x30 feet the foundation 
should go from three to four feet in the ground, and 
the footing for the wall should be about 30 inches 
wide, and if made of good concrete about six inches 
thick. 1 he silo wall proper can then be made one 
foot thick till the top of the ground is reached. This 
three or four inches in the ground can be excavated 
the whole size of the silo and will give that much 
more capacity. If stone is to be used for the wall 
all the way up, and is to be laid up, it cannot be made 
less than 12 inches thick to build a good wall, and 
even at the best it must be thoroughly plastered with 
cement mortar inside and will probably be quite un¬ 
even and hence not a perfect silo. The stone should 
be free from dirt; that is all required. Mortar for 
laying up stone should be good rich cement and sand 
mortar, but the proportion can best be determined by 
a mason on the ground, as the quality of the sand 
is the only guide to the quality of the mortar, but 
one part cement to three or four parts sand makes 
a rich mortar with fairly good sand. If it is intended 
to make a form and the 
stones to be laid in it, 
and concrete poured 
around, then it could 
likely be cut down to an 
eight-inch wall if small 
stones were used. In that 
case the stones should 
not be closer than two 
inches to the face of the 
form on either side of 
wall, or they will leave 
holes'that will have to be 
plastered up. In this case 
the concrete could be 
mixed one part cement to 
five or six parts sand, de¬ 
pending on the quality of 
sand. To my notion a 
far better way would be 
to come up to the top of 
ground line with the wall 
one foot thick, and then 
put on a form about 30 
inches high and make a 
wall six inches thick of 
concrete without any 
stone; concrete to be 
made of a good grade of 
rather coarse gravel and 
mixed about one to six, and quite wet. The form 
should be filled full of this and kept tamped down 
well. After it is filled it will set up so that the form 
can be loosened and raised, and set and filled again, 
and in this way a course the height of the form can 
be put on each day in good Summer weather. 
It will be cheaper than the stone silo and take less 
material. The inside, if the work is done carefully, 
will only need a couple of coats of cement wash ap¬ 
plied with a brush, and any bolt-holes or rough seams 
plastered up, and the silo will be perfect. In any case I 
would put in a one-quarter inch iron rod clear around 
once each foot from bottom to the top. These need 
not be welded, but rods of any length hooked together 
at the ends. The concrete will do the rest. The 
proper way for the doors would be to make good 
frames to be set in the wall the same width of plank 
as the thickness of the wall; six-inch plank for six- 
inch wall; eight-inch plank for eight-inch wall, etc. 
Make these frames with an opening 24x30 inches, and 
to cover them for doors the very best, easiest to use 
and most lasting thing I know of is a sheet of 16- 
gauge galvanized iron 28x34 inches in size. Punch 
three holes in one end of it, and when you put in a 
door simply hang it over the inside of the door frame 
by driving a nail in each one of the holes. Drive 
them half way in and bend down tight, and they can 
then be easily removed when the door is to be taken 
out. After door is in place tramp some silage down 
against bottom end, and it is done and right. Don’t 
fear; it will not bulge out on a silo 10x30 nor 16x30. 
There should be at least five of these doors spaced at 
equal distances apart on a 30-foot silo, one above 
another, and a chute built down over them, with a 
ladder on its inside. 
THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
The roof can be put on anyway, but I believe as 
cheaply of cement as any other. Simply make silo two 
feet higher than intended, and put a flat wood form 
across top inside, strong enough to hold up 3J4 inches 
of wet concrete, and then cover form over with a 
layer of wire fence, any good field fencing and keep it 
up one inch from floor when putting on concrete, and 
put on concrete and a thin topping, same as would be 
done on sidewalk, and trowel it off. Let it harden 
three weeks and then take wood from under it and 
you have an everlasting silo. Such a silo can be built 
with 30 yards of good gravel and a few stones for the 
heavy foundation, 30 barrels of cement and 250 pounds 
of one-quarter-inch steel rods and the five iron doors. 
R. C. ANGEVINE. 
FIGHTING QUACK GRASS AND PLOWING 
POTATOES. 
Worrying Weeds With Constant Culture. 
In the Spring of 1905 we had a piece of meadow, 
about two acres in extent, badly infested with quack 
grass. It had been top-dressed during the Winter with 
stable manure, and early in May we plowed it for 
corn. In parts of the field the whole furrow-slice was 
a mass of quack roots, with very little soil adhering; 
however, we worked it up with harrows until a fairly 
good seed bed was formed. Corn was planted with 
a one-horse machine, which cannot drop the seed 
in check rows. In a few days, numerous small weeds 
had germinated, and the quack was sending up beau¬ 
tiful dark green leaves, which gave the field the appear¬ 
ance, from a little distance, of a thrifty piece of oats. 
At this stage in the game we went over the field 
with a light smoothing harrow, which destroyed most 
A POTATO CROP THAT RAN TO TOPS. Fig. 236. 
of the small weeds, broke up the surface crust which 
had formed, thereby saving moisture, and gave our 
friend, the enemy, a new source of vigor. As soon as 
the corn could be seen a 12-tooth cultivator, loaded 
with about 20 pounds of stone, was run between 
the rows. 1 his was twice repeated at intervals of a 
week, and then a five-tooth cultivator was put on, also 
weighted, which threw some soil toward the rows. We 
then went in with hoes, cutting and pulling the grass 
between the hills, following this with two more culti¬ 
vations, when the corn was left to shift for itself. It 
had a good start of the quack, and produced a heavy 
crop, but the quack also did a little “shifting” on its 
own responsibility. 
We had intended to plow this ground late in the 
Fall of 1905, in order to expose the quack roots to the 
influence of alternate sunshine and frost; but, like 
many well-laid schemes of mice and men, this part of 
the treatment was neglected, and the plowing left 
until the Spring of 1906. This time a much better 
seed-bed was formed, with less labor than before, but 
many vigorous root-stalks of quack remained in the 
soil. Corn was again planted, without fertilizer of any 
kind, and in check-rows, so that a cultivator could be 
run both ways. This reduced the hand work to a 
minimum, and had the effect of discouraging, to a 
certain extent, the strenuous efforts of the grass. How¬ 
ever, it was not by any means all dead, so just before 
the last cultivation, I went over the piece with a 
basket of buckwheat, sowing it thickly wherever the 
grass could be seen. In a few days the buckwheat was 
up and growing rapidly. The corn had already a good 
start, so between, them, they utterly took possession 
of the soil, robbing the weakened quack roots of 
moisture, and the leaves of sunshine. When the corn 
619 
was cut in the Fall of 1906 only a few straggling 
spears of grass could be seen. 
During the Winter of 1906-7 this piece of ground 
was again manured, at the rate of 10 or 12 tons per 
acre. The following Spring (1907) we went over it 
with a spring-tooth harrow, once each way. This har¬ 
rowing had tiie effect of destroying numerous weed 
seeds which had germinated, mixing the manure with 
the soil, warming and airing the surface, and of form¬ 
ing an earth mulch to conserve moisture in the sub¬ 
soil. We were now ready to plant potatoes, so I 
struck a straight furrow through the center of the 
piece (its dimensions are about 8x40 rods) and 
plowed the whole in one bed; in other words back- 
furrowed it. One man and two smart boys followed, 
dropping the potatoes in the first two furrows and 
after that in every third furrow. With four or five 
bushels of cut seed to start with, this gang was able 
to do the dropping, and, while waiting on me for the 
extra furrow to be placed, could cut enough to keep 
themselves supplied with sets. When the piece was 
plowed, it was also planted; the rows were straight 
and at a uniform distance apart. There is no difficulty 
in keeping the rows straight when plowing in potatoes, 
if the man behind the plow knows his business. In 
two weeks’ time after the potatoes were planted, the 
furrows were worked down with a smoothing harrow, 
and then, just as the rows became visible, given an¬ 
other good harrowing. They were cultivated four 
times at intervals of a week or ten days. One man 
did all the hand labor in a day, which was simply to cut 
or pull out an occasional weed in the rows. We dug these 
potatoes with six-tined forks, finding only now and 
then a stray root of the quack grass. In fact, a cleaner 
piece at digging time I have never seen. The yield 
was 212 bushels, of 60 
pounds, per acre, practic¬ 
ally all clean, large, 
marketable potatoes. 
CHAS. S. MOORE. 
Quebec, Canada. 
R. N.-Y.—Sometimes 
a small island of quack, 
a square rod or less, will 
be found in an otherwise 
clean field. By plowing 
and harrowing, this pest 
spot may be spread 
badly unless absolutely 
clean cultivation of the 
crop throughout the 
season is practiced. It 
pays to dig out these 
small quacky patches 
and haul the roots away. 
Every small piece of 
rootstock that is left 
makes a plant, and many 
of them will grow even 
though on the surface 
of the ground. For 
badly infested fields 
there is probably no bet¬ 
ter method than that 
practiced by Mr. Moore. 
If the use of the land can be given up for a year, one 
of the Cutaway plows run over the ground 20 times 
or more during the season will kill all weeds. 
GIVE ALSIKE CLOVER A TRIAL. 
On many farms the common Red clover does not 
succeed quite so well as formerly. The failures are 
usually due to the lack of available phosphoric acid 
and potash in the soil, or to soil acidity. Owing to the 
failure of Red clover more seed of Alsike clover is 
being sown. Tt seems the Alsike is surer in producing 
a stand. On soils where Red clover does not thrive 
from the lack of the proper soil elements, or from soil 
acidity, it is doubtful whether the Alsike will amount 
to much. Alsike clover will, however, thrive on wet 
heavy soils where Red clover will not. A few such 
fields in this section the past season produced luxuriant 
growths of Alsike. We mix some Alsike seed with 
our Red clover, and think it helps in securing an 
even stand. With us Red clover grows as luxuriantly 
as formerly, and as a nitrogen gatherer and to bring 
fertility from the subsoil we give it first place. But as 
above stated on wet, heavy soils where Red clover 
fails, the Alsike should be given a thorough trial, and 
it is a good plan to mix some Alsike with the Red 
clover even where the latter does well. Alsike clover 
was at first supposed to. be a hybrid between the Red 
and White clovers, but it is a distinct species native to 
Europe and is also called Swedish clover. It grows 
taller, more slender and grows more stalks from the 
root than the Red clover. It is, however, not so deep 
rooted. Alsike clover is one of the best honey plants 
and makes hay of most excellent quality. It does not 
require such heavy seeding as the Red clover, the seeds 
being much smaller. It is a very valuable plant, and 
every farmer should give it a trial. * — - 
Middletown, Pa. 
A. w. 8. 
