Silos and Silage in Colorado. 
the walls perfectly tight it makes an efficient silo. 
Wisconsin Silo .—The author has seen but one silo of this type 
in the state, and it was built a number of years ago and was still 
giving good service. This silo was built with two by four uprights 
two feet apart and sheeted on the outside with one thickness of 
shiplap on tar paper, and on the inside with two layers of matched 
flooring laid horizontally with tar paper between. It would be 
rather an expensive structure at present prices of lumber. 
Gurler Silo .—The Gurler silo is much on the same order as 
the Wisconsin silo, except that the lining on the inside is a plaster 
of cement or wall plaster on wooden or metal lath. Such a silo 
should be very satisfactory, particularly if metal lath of good qual¬ 
ity is used and several coats of rich cement plaster are applied. 
The framework should be rigid, otherwise the plaster is likely to 
crack. 
Concrete Silo .—Cement is coming to be used more and more 
for construction work on the farm. This is only in keeping with 
progress made in concrete construction along other lines. A great 
many objections are made to concrete as a suitable material for 
silo construction. Besides a number of others, the following are 
some of the most common: Concrete walls allow mold and decay 
around the walls, are affected by the acid of silage, and they can¬ 
not be built to keep them from cracking and thus leak air. These 
statements, of course, come from competing builders, mostly stave 
silo people. Observation of concrete and stave silos standing side 
by side shows that the freezing is no' greater in one than the other. 
By coating the walls with a wash of neat cement or tar pitch they 
can be made perfectly air, water and acid proof. If properly re¬ 
inforced and made of suitable material they should not crack any 
more than does other concrete work. There have been failures in 
all types of silos, but it is safe to say that the percentage of failures 
is less in concrete silos than in most other typ'cs. That they are a 
success has been demonstrated beyond a doubt by those built not 
only in this state but other states as well. Silos of this type are 
known to have been used successfully for eleven years without the 
least sign of deterioration, or loss of silage through spoilage. 
The common causes of failure in concrete construction are: 
(1) Insufficient reinforcement, (2) dirty sand and gravel, (3) too 
lean a mixture or insufficient amount of cement used, (4) poor 
mixing of cement with sand and gravel, (5) poor placing of mix¬ 
ture within the building forms, (6) washing out of cement by ex¬ 
cessive water. 
Solid ’ Wall Concrete Silo .—This type has been thus far the 
favorite among concrete silos, and in fact among all silos for Colo- 
