Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-08-04
A Plea For the Plastered Silo,

Plea For the PlaStered SilO.
I am afraid that the zeal of the pro-
fessional silo builder has been allowed
to befog the issue as to the claims of
the plastered silo, and this, with a
failure or two that have been accepted
as the rule of conduct of this structure,
has caused its general rejection. Still,
l am sure that there is merit in it,
even if it cannot be sold on the market
ready made
On the old farm where my boyhood
was spent, there is one of the first
silos that was built in that neighbor-
hood. The barn had been moved and
set into the hillside, so that the stables
had been given room in the basement,
and the size of the barn was much
increased. This gave chance for an
inside silo through what had been the
horse stable, and in those primitive
days of dairy farming when the merits
and structure of the silo We're not we'll
understood, the plastered form was
chosen. l shall have to admit that this
is the only one of its kind that l know
of directly, but l have no doubt that
it is due to professionalism" that it is
so generally rejected.
1t has done its work we'll. This last
filling has been it's seventh, and it is
as sound and air-tight as it ever was,
keeping the ensilage as few others will,
for plaster is surely more impervious
to air than wood. We used to be told
so positively that the acid developed
in the ensilage would eat up the plas.
ter that we had to believe it, and so
the cheapest, and at least in many
cases the best, of all the slices, was
driven out There is plaster and plas-
ter of course, and it may be fact that
such as is generally used for house,
building, made of sand and lime, will
yield to the ensilage acid. But this
silo was plastered with mortar made
of half-and-half Portland cement and
sand, and If there is any liquid that
attacks it, such liquid is certainly not
fit for an animals stomach.
OF course this silo is an inside one,
which takes up room that cannot al
ways be spared, but when it can it is
very convenient arrangement Let
us reflect on the ease Of building one
of this sort. A basement adds to the
height so much that it will all go into
a Darn nicely, and the hosting of the
ensilage is then minor matter.
Choosing corner of the barn, if pos
sible, only two sides have to be laid
out; the work is all quite possible to
anyone who can lay plaster, and even
that can be undertaken safely by a
novice. The corners can be rounded
out easily by wood backing or they
can be left square, as in the case of
this silo. There is no complaint from
that source. The base of this siIo is
right at one side of the feeding floor,
and everything is as handy as possible
Add to this arrangement chute or
two from mows above, and the ques-
tion of concentration is settled,
l find that the hill country farmer in
New York state, is becoming more and
more convinced that his best profit
comes from the dairy cow and the
silo, but l am somewhat surprised to
find that in some cases improvement
of the land does not seem to follow
this style of farming. 1t is found
that in such sections the land is not
always naturally adapted to the rails
ing of corn, and practically all the
manure made has to be used to perfect
that crop. This unfavorable feature
is now one of the problems of the poor
or parts of the State. 1t is complained
that the old crops Of oats, for in
stance, which used to be n feature
with us, cannot be raised now as they
used to be, which means that artificial
fertilization has not been sufficient to
make good the exhaustion from crop.
ping the land so long.
l suspect that one cause of this elf
ficulty is lack Of a rotation of crops,
such as the soil demands. Oats ard
then grass ar sure to use up the fer.
tility in time, and neither furnishes
much humus. I am sure that we owe
to the sowing of shallow rooted grasses
and grains much of the extra dry,
hard soil that prevails in these later
days. The clovers ard root crops are
expert crops to considerable extent;
so we cling to shallow farming
John Chamberlain, in The Country
Gentleman.