Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-09-22
perience themselves undertook to in

eApeTlelce tHelllSelNeS undertook to in
StrIlct others.
l wonder if these men know or core
how many curses Were poured out on
their heads by their victimized follow
ers. or how much loss they have caused
these followers by their false teachings.
Look at the SiloS in Wisconsin with
stills placed on the ground or a little
mortar, now rotting down; at the tons
of silage lost through improper packing
and from earth floors letting the rats
IN at the bottom. 1t is my firm belief
that counting the deterioration of SiloS,
the loss of silage on the pits and of en-
silage corn by froSts in the field, the
deterioration of land on which Silage
mas been grown and of the expensive
machinery used to make it. the increas-
ed cost of protein foods largely induced
by the necessity of providing them to
balance the silage in feeding, the in
creased labor invested. and interest on
the whole investment, the Silo owners of
Wisconsin are, rs 4 whole, today poorer
for the introduction of the silo. Does
this imply that the siIo in Wisconsin is
a financial failure? BY no means, but
it does imply that the plainest teachings
of philosophy and science have been
thrown aside by these blind leaders of
the blind, with no regard for conse-
Quences, in order to follow some fad
of their own.
l think hear some one, probably one
of these teachers, say, 20 Rats Well,
my subject is rats and how to keep
them out of these same teachers siloS,
which by the way is practically impoS-
Sible, but perhaps l can help Il little.
Cats are good. We keep four to six at
the barns and think that they pay for
the quart of milk per day that they
never fail to get, always being on hand
at milking time. Set the sills on a wall
two feet high and rats will not get in
by gnaWing through the sides. For the
top, pack the silage properly and cover
with wet straw or slough grass if you
have means of Wettiug them, if not
then with tarred paper. On the paper
or wet straw place boards, entirely COW
ering the top, and weight the boards
with a row of stones around the whole
pit and also across the center crOSSWiSe
with boards, weighing heavily enough
to hold the boards to their places, leav-
ing no room for rats to find entrance.
This will keep them out from the top.
Our second siio has the six inch ledge,
but that did not keep them out, as we
were 50 foolish as to build it with an
earth clay floor. After using one year
we grOuted it with a inch floor and as
it is on a stone wall there has been no
trouble from rats. Our first silo is built
in the barn and was grOHted only one
inch thick on Il clay floor. This the
rats undermined and nearly destroyed
in two years, and when we grOuted it
four inches they gnaWed through the
sides under the sills (ban sills are Is
inches from grOund) on the sides where
there was no barn wall, and the only
permanent remedy will be to wall up
under the stills, solid all around
l saw that we could not keep them
out of this silo and that the cats could
not get them under the floor so | con-
Guided to try feeding them. Every
night for week we put a dish of corn
meal under the stable floor near the
took about a quart for a square meal.
Then we mixed in a box of Rough on
Rats and fed that, giving our barns a
very bad reputation for hospitality,
among all the rat tribes. Since then we
find that half a box of this poison along
in the fall when the rats come in from
the field practically frees us for the win
ter.
Now a word as to silOs The first
silos, wholly of masonry, were too ex-
pensive, but the reaction to silOs wholly
Of wood was carried too far, and they
will in the end prove more expensive
than the masonry ones. The Silo of
today should be composite, substitute
ture of masonry, superstructure of
wood. Such one will be rat proof,
and if the masonry be high enough,
nearly rot proof. L would excavate
nearly three feet below the surface
and build outer walls and cross walls
at least six feet high eight feet would
be better. On these place SXS silIs and
wooden building Is feet to the plates;
floor grOuted and dOOrWayS left under
the sill, so as not to have to pitch the
silage up over four feet while standing
on the bottom. Earth to be banked on
outside Is inches high and cave troughs
to carry off the rain. Sheath inside the
masonry with a single wall, which is
easily replaced when rotten. AS it is
the lower six or eight feet of silo
that rots, if the sills be put up high
enough to be kept fairly dry and so in
the life Of the silO may be indefinitely
heightened.