Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1905-04-08
FRAME FOR MAKING su-o HOOPS

FRAME FOR MAKING Su-O HOOPS.
filing. how much tramping is necessary.
and after filing how often is tramping
required? should oats be sowed on top
as protection etc?
Please give best Instructions to a
young farmer. 20 build a good. but cheap
silo. The above letter is from a Green
ford co. farmer. and the Ohio Farmer
answers the queries Is follows:
Your plan is all right. and you viii
have little cause 10 regret building a
wooden hoped silo. especially when
you see your neighbors' iron hoped
silo In a state OF utter collapse. Incl
dent TO shrinking slaves and length
ening hoops. that are in "cahoot" with
hot weather. Yes. your built-up hoops
OF elm will be all right. though for the
five lower ones / would make them OF
five layers. You will not need your
hoops. anywhere. nearer than 20 inches.
from center 20 center. as well-nailed
wooden hoop never pulled in two yet.
II I were you. would lire up the silo
on the inside with a single thickness OF
one-inch Georgia pine flooring. well
matched, jointing on the hoops. having
this flooring not over three inches wide
Then you have a lining that will not
shrink or swell and will stay with your
hoops. which can never expand or con-
tract the fraction of an inch. Before put
ting on your maple outsiding give the
outside OF the silO. hoops and all. a heavy
coat OF Portland cement paint. and then
add the outsiding of maple. II you use
skim-milk TO mix the cement with Il
will prove 10 be about as durable as II
oil was used. Ten years later on. IL any
defect comes in the walls. YOU can then
line up with tarred paper inside and nail
on another ceiling.
There is difference OF opinion as
TO the kind of silage corn to plant. For
a dozen years we have sent direct TO
Albemarle county. Va. and got their
common. white field corn. and have
never met with its equal as a corn for
the silo. We do very little tramping be-
yond keeping the silage highest along
the walls. With a blower and flexible
nozzle. the silage will be blown about as
compact as one could tread il. and the
men are scarce who crave" the Job OF
moving away silage under the discharge
of the blower.
II will be well enough 20 tramp down
the surface Of the silage three times
within a week the last time putting onto
your l2-foot silo at least three barrels of
water, being sure that the outside gers
quite little more than its share. Oats
are all right on the surface. if there is
considerable light. If you SOW oats. you
will need To put on more water a week
after they are sown. Sometimes il paws
and other years II does not. TO put on
the oat crop. A tight roof is more orna-
mental than useful. In regard to hoop
making so that they will be accurately
round. it is we'll TO have pattern made
like that depicted in the cut.
Take inch thick. foot wide boards. and
six or eight feet long. and cut them
bias" on the ends. and by doubling and
we'll mailing. one soon has the form. on
which circle can be marked. and the
pattern is then quickly sawed and
hewed into a perfect circle. which will
be two inches thick. This can be placed
on saw horses and the hoops Quickly
sprung 10 the exact form. George Z.
Scott, the well-known institute lecturer.
Is a great advocate of this wooden
hooped siio, and WAS fortunate enough
TO have an old high-wheeled velocipede.
which made an admirable form for hoop
making. and think he loans IL TO silo
builders for hoop making. though any
carpenter can quickly make one as above
described.