Connecticut western news., 1907-02-07
BUILDING THE sILo.

| There may be several readers of these notes who are this year planning ito build a silo. While there are a 1 number of different designs for build ing them and many of them have giv- en very satisfactory results, we de scribe here somewhat In detail the plans of a POO ton capacity silo which has recently been built on big dairy farm within a few miles of the writ :! er,s home. It furnishes most of the ! winter ration for a herd of 100 pure bred Jersey COWS and was built .ac- cording to the best specifications that ! conld be secured. The foundation scon- l 1sists of a circular stone wall two fleet I thick and measuring twenty feet ill l diameter from outside to outside. This is set about three feet and a half be l low the surface of the ground, the bot
 tom ,of the silo proper consisting of six l inches of gravel, packed down and fin ,5shed with cement, much after the manner of the ordinary cement walk. The top of tho wall is made perfectly a}so .the inside of the wall. The tower (which rests on this wall sets in about six inches, which gives it nn outside diameter of about nineteen feet. It is thirty feet high and is made of 6 by 6 timbers tongued, grooved and beveled
 bought finished and ready to put to gether. Any good creamery supply house can furnish them In putting together the slaves are made ito vary in length and lap so as to stiffen and strengthen the structure. Section al iron rod hoops are used to hold the framework together. When this lis in place the shoulder left on the inside and on top of the wall is covered with 1 bevel of cement extending up on to the timbers about four inches, so as to make an air tight joint. The silO dn question is finished with a cone shaped ' water tight roof and is stayed with guy wires to prevent overturning by the wind. To counteract possible air leaks the interior is lined with tar pa- per. The product from about thirty acresaof corn is required to fill the sflo, on which cutting is begun about a
 week before the time of harvesting for ordinary dry fodder. The last corn put in the silo may be little too ripe, but this does not matter. Where help can be hadathe most satisfactory way is to have a man inside to scatter and tramp fhe silage down as it is deIiv- cred from the elevator. If help is short all hands may turn In after half days cutting and level and tramp down The way in which the sf1age will keep depends much upon the man ner In which this work Is done There | are eleven, openings three feet square
 one above another, on the side of the silO nearest the barn, the doors being ! beveled and fitted to the opening so l that the pressure from within will
 make themgfit the tighter In case a silo of smaller capacity is desired these plans could be easily reduced The I silage Is fine best possible food for | the dairy ration, but the owner of this silO finds 1t excellent for the stock In ! the field lot UNSATISFACTORY CREAM TESTS.
 Experience of. individual sellers of ] cream, together. with the evidence of those who are at present looking Into the question Mith definite object in | view, seems to go to prove that the l BaDcock tests as used in many of the ! .creameries of fhee country are very far from satisfactory, and, while the diff fulty may not he due to a desire on the part of buyers to be dishonest, the system, of testing is. decidedly unrelia-
 ble and unsatisfactory. Samples of l the same batch of cream sent to differ F ent factories will show a wide varia- | tion in the amount oof butter fat In ] almost, every case the test mentioned rresults in advantage to the buyer, many E instances being noted where the buy ,er's test showed from eight to ten pounds less butter t0 100 pounds of ecream than shown by the churn. fWhere. none of the patrons of the con- | pany are holders of its sstock, every man. of. them Is systematically feeced and with little opportunity for re- I dtess. With cooperative ccreameries
 the stockholder patrons aTet themselves the benefciaries, the profit made from the low Babcock test in the case of those who are patrons and not stock
 holders often serving to cover the cost
 of making the whole output of the creamery. The only way out for the
 sufferers from a situation such aas the one described is to secure stock in a cco-operative concern or make a united protest to the managers of the con- Ipany which handles their product The abuse mentioned is simply a graft that is worked under, the guise of what has heretofoRe been supposed to be an au- thoritative and scientific method of testing, and evidence piling up would
 seem to indicate that before long there will be a -Fadical change.
 THE CRAZE FOR LAND.
 Many'S the man-for it is more often
 due te the husband than the wife-who
 when gray hairs have come and his
 body is stiffened with hard work and
 rheumatism awakes to realizing sense
 that the yearning for the next eighty,
 the inordinate desire for mere posses |