250 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL gouRNAL. [1 Aprin, 1898. 
want seasoning afterwards. The late Mr. Macansh, of Canning Downs, used 
to say that hardwood put in a waterhole for a fortnight to soak, and then taken 
out and dried, did not shrink much afterwards. 
The chief thing to be secured is to have the building airtight, or as nearly 
80 as possible. 
Each lining-board should be 14 feet 7 inches. ‘The first board should 
reach from the outer edge of the stud at b to edge of stud at c, the second 
from d to e, the third from f to g, and the fourth from h to 7, thus making one 
complete round of the silo. They should each be so fitted as to cover the 
2-inch sill as well as 12 inches of the studs, and be nailed to both sill and studs. 
Each board to be nailed firmly to all the studs inside the building that it 
touches, and to the broad face of the corner stud from which it starts. The 
second round of lining-boards begins at m, and goes round the opposite way. 
In this way every alternate board is fixed like a dovetail to the studs near the 
‘corners, and the building is made so strong there that it would take a great 
earthquake to burst it open. 
I recommend 4-inch by 1-inch hardwood t. and g. lining-boards. They 
cannot shrink much. 
In fixing the boards put the groove uppermost. This is not the usual 
way. When the first round of boards is finished, fill the groove with boiling 
tar. Put the next row of boards in position and force the tongue down into 
the tarred groove, using a clamp for the purpose. Do not drive them down 
with a hammer or mallet, or you will send the tar flying out in your face. 
When you have} put in all the lining-boards, give the whole of the inside a 
good coating of boiled tar. The tar should be well boiled; it can be done in 
a kerosene tin if care be taken to prevent it from catching fire. 
The coating of tar will not hurt the ensilage; on the contrary, it will 
check moulding, preserve the wood, check its shrinkage, and improve its 
quality as a non-conductor of heat or cold. Tar is cheap, and need not be 
sparingly used. 
Put a 2-inch or 3-inch fillet in the corners well coated with the tar. 
It is not necessary to enter into details of roof. Any roof that will keep 
out heavy rain will do; but a door must be left in the gable above the wall- 
plate through which to fill in the green stuff. It should be large enough to let 
a man get in and out beside the carrier, or there may be a door in each gable— 
one for the carrier, and the other for a man to go in and out by. 
The feeding-out door need not be cut until the ensilage is wanted for use. 
Sketch B shows end elevation with filling-in door 4 feet wide in gable, 
also feeding-out doorway 2 feet wide in the clear, and also the 4-inch boards 
dovetailing at the corners. 
It is scarcely to be expected that the whole of the details can be fully 
explained in a paper such as this. Inquiries will be readily answered as far as 
possible. 
Now comes tke question, how is it to be filled? In the first place any 
green stuff which is good for stock may be converted into ensilage. Some 
crops are better than others. Any of our fodder grasses may be so treated. 
But maize is the great ensilage crop. It should be cut when the cob is in the 
milky stage or when the glazing stage is reached. It is then that the greatest 
weight of nutritious food can be obtained. Maize for ensilage should be 
grown as it is for grain. What is not wanted for ensilage may be let grow on 
for grain. Broadcast maize does not make such good ensilage as that sown in 
hills or drills. 
The maize or other crop should be put through a chaff or ensilage cutter, 
set at -inch or 1-inch cut, and taken from the cutter by one of the ordinary 
carriers and dropped into the silo. All the trouble and expense of the heavy 
weighting or pressure formerly in vogue is thereby avoided. Put in enough 
the-first day to make a layer of 3 feet or 4 feet deep over the floor of the silo, 
