Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1912-06-22

N sand. Material may be left in the
silo for two years or more, and when
taken out Is as good for feed
ing as II u had been in
only few months, rhe farmer who
has feed enough stored In silos TO
last two or three years may face
drought without fear.
sil0s may be- built above ground.
dug Ia the ground. or partly IN the
grOund and partly above. They may
be round or rectangular In shape.
The rectangular shape neldom Is use
because of the difficulty OF packing
the cut material into tiie corners. The
walls OF silos are built of variety
Of materials. such as wooden slaves.
solid reinforced concrete, concrete
bolcka reinforced. brick or tile.
Pit silos are much cheaper than
silos built above ground and they pre-
serve the fodder just as well as those
built above ground. The ground OF
much OF the dry-farming territory ia
New Mexico % splendidiy adapted 10
making pis silos. There is not much
rock requiring blasting. The earth
stands up we'll, so that II will not
have TO be brGccd while digging. The
water table rs far enough below the
surface OF the ground 60 give suffi-
cient depth 20 the pits without strik-
Ing water. The farmer can dig the
pit with the help OF one man. The
following description Of a pit silo On
the farm OF n. X. Odcil near Wagon
Mound, will illustrate many points In
making a pit silo:
A pit WAS dug IL feet In diameter
and So feet deep. Quito thickness
OF shaley rock was passed through
which was hard TO dig. The face Of
the wall was trimmed SMOOTH the
surface was then plastered with ee-
ment and pockets or holes In the dirt
or shale face were filled with cement.
The layer OF cement averaged between
one and two inches thick The sur
face was made as smooth as possibie
The mixture used consisted OF five
parts sand 10 three parts cement; no
grayel was used. When tho cement
lining had become well set. the sur
face was given two successive coats OF
neat cement wash. applied with
whitewash burshes. The first coat OF
wash was allowed 20 dry before the
second YVES put on. This lining was
quite solid. and seemed 20 be thick
enough. JabbinB with pltcbfork aid
not show any weakness In the lining,
although there were spots where the
cement ild not take firm hold on she
dirt or shale. This was shown, when
struck. by q dead sound instead Of q
clear ringing sound. Sixteen sacks
OF cement were used in the lining.
slxty-six dollaEs were paid for extra
labor, and the total money spent for
the completed silo was gt07. The
capacity Of this siio d about 100 tons.
Mr.. Odell has an ensilago cutter
with capacity OF so tons per day
Of green material. Such cutter costs
about ais. Three corn harvesters
are required Ia the field In order 10
cut The corn into One-half inch
lengths as fast as the cutter can
cut a.
This sllo was partially filled with
corn in the herd roasting ear stage
the middle OF september. Later a
layer Of sorghum about two feet thick
was placed on the corn. stock which
ate the corn silage readily refused
20 eat the sorghum siiago This pos
sibly was because u was too sour,
Sorghum should not form the top lay
eE Ia o sllo Il any other crop possibly
can be put on top OF u, As was men-
toned when discussing sweet soT-
ghum. sorghum silage sours more
readily than silage from other crops.
because of the high sugar content OF
sorghum. This high sugar content,
and the difficulty Of excluding air
from the lightly packed material near
the top 81 the sllage, make sorghum
very difficult 90 preserve when placed
near the top. When the writer visited
this silo, the last of November. the
corn silago was FIRST class The spoiled
layer next 20 the walls was not more
than Two inches thick. which showed
that the lining WAS practically air.
tight
Tho writef San not say definitely
whether on not the floor Of the pil
should be cemcntcd. but would al
wise not cemonting a. II 10 not prob
able that more iiduid will be formed
hy the fermentation than can be read
ily absorbed Ry the dirt floor
The pa Of Mr.. Odelis ailo was COW
erred ,Ith a fiat plank floor Hike nn