The Portland daily press., 1883-05-08

from bend in the barn, and If there Is a
scaffold over it, remove that also; If there is
already a cellar under the barn, a silo can
be built with little trouble and expense,
Make the silo or u feet below the barn
floor as may be most convenient, and sur
round this part with solid masonry or con-
crete walls, surface made even and smooth
with cement mortar sufficiently strong TO be
impervious to water The bottom must also
be water tight with cement, for If water
soaks in, the ensilage would be spoiled to
the depth of the soakage water. Ensilage
keeps much better in warm weather, and
solid cement walls will last an age and are
much cheaper in the end than any wooden
structure which would rapidly decay In this
situation. But all above ground may be
built of wood and be durable. A strong
frame is necessary to stand against the lat
eral pressure which is very great. This
frame work should be sheathed with match
ed planed boards on the inside, one thick.
ness being sufficient. have QUE built In
this way which has given perfect satisfac-
ton. The dimensions are 10 feet by Is and
Is feet in depth of masonry walls, and II
feet OF wood above, making 80 feet In depth
in ALL This silo was filled full of corn ensl-
lage last October, and not bushel has been
injured or wasted, and there is no reason
why the wooden walls should not last as
long as any other part of the barn. This
silo was five days in being filled, and no heat
was perceptible from day to day. After fill
ing the ensilage was covered with sections
five feet wide made of matched boards, nail
ed to battens and laid directly on the ensi-
lage. A covering of straw is Objectionable,
and is sure to decay. This board covering
was weighted with such stones as man
could easily handle with about 200 pounds
to the square foot My experience and OBJ
seryation teach me that the above is the hest
plan of building silo under similar condi-
tions. Other conditions might suggest other
plans. taking into consideration conyeniences
of filling and feeding out. Suitable masonry
walls can be built at a cost of from $3.50 to
So per ton capacity, and the wooden part for
about so cents per ton capacity. 1t has been
shown that pail of warm milk standing ten
minutes in strong smelling stable, or ex-
posed to any other offensive odor, will re-
ceive faint that will never leave it. And
as strong odor does emanate fr,m ensilage,
a silo should not be built too near where the
cows are MIXED, and still should be built
near enough to, be convenient for feeding.
In every instance known where milk or but
ter has been tainted with the odor of ens-
lage, it has been found to have been affected
by exposure after milking, rather than from
the cows having been fed with it. A farmer
about to build silo should take into con-
sideration the structures already on his farm
for building as described above, the adyan-
tages of a side hill for the purpose of filling
at the top and taking out at or near the bot
tom, the kind of material at hand to build
with and the convenience of feeding out the
ensilage to his stock. In most cases a silo
may be built principally by his own farm
labor, in a way that he need not feel the cost
very perceptibly. The objection to the silo
that is often made, that it will do for the
h,,f
ly erroneous. The rich man may get along
without a silo, bnt as has been shown by
the experience of many, and as propose to
prove in future articles, poor man cannot
afford TO be without Some. Benjamin p,
Ware, in Mirror ard Farmer.