The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-02-23
THE UNDERGROUNDSILO
A Condemned Sketch Of a
Talk Made Before the Se-
ward County Farmers In
stitute at the Recent Meet
ing in January

| got my first idea of the un-
foreground silo in Nebraska, about
ten years ago. where four we'll to
do farmers and dairymen had this
class of silos. They were consid-
cred a success in that country,
and | could not see why they
would not be a success here in
Kansas, where there is a great
need for means for saving the
feed crop.
In company with a number OF
the farmers of the Wideawake
neighborhood, visited the under
ground silos near Hooker, Okla,
and as a direct result of that visit,
there are four of these silos in
Wideawake neighborhood, and q.
w. Light has two on his splendid
farm south of town.
l give you here a brief descrip-
ton of digging, and,the apparatus
used to hoist the dirt. 1t proved
very satisfactory to US and might
be found useful to others in case
they should find use for such a
machine: We took two old wagon
axles, secured one on each end of
a strong pole about twelve feet
long, put a wagon hub on one end
and a wheel on the other and then
set the pole upright, about six TT.
from the edge of the hole we were
digging. securing it with four
strong guide wires from the wheel
at the top of the pole, while the
hub at the other end was placed in
a hole in the ground. We then
secured crane to this upright, of
sufficient length to reach over the
hole and the bucket dropped from
the end of this crane into the hole,
and was raised by team working
directly back and on straight line
with the crane. When the bucket
was raised from the hole, the man
on top of the ground easily swung
it to one side, pulled the trip that
holds the bottom of the bucket in
place and the load was dumped
ready to be hauled away by the
team and scraper, while the buck
ct went back into the hole for an.
other load. To successfully work
this contrivance. requires seven
men and two teams, and if every
thing is strong and we'll made. it
will be successful. 1t takes four
days to dig hole twelve wide and
twenty feet deep.
My silo is thirteen feet in diam
eter and about nineteen feet deep
ten sacks or 1000 pounds of cement
and one load of sand were required
to plaster the walls. The cement
was put right on the dirt, just as
you would plaster a cistern or
house, and a man familiar with
cement work can put it on in one
day. Thus you will see that the
cost of the new silo, including
work, cement and sand, was only
$500. Its capacity is about 40
tons.
1t was filled with broomcorn
fodder, milo maize and cane. and
the job was completed in less than
a day and half. The feed was
cut with a header, two and three
barges being used to haul it to the
silo where a medium size cutter,
driven by a five horse gasoline
engine, cut it up deposited it in
big hole for safe keeping.
In filling the various silos, the
binders and headers were both
used and the header was found to
be much the faster and cheaper.
1t was slso found that large cut.
ter with ample power, though more
expensive in the beginning, was
cheaper in the end. Over the top
of the seed we tramped in q load
of straw. threw on some water.
and when we opened the silo for
feeding we found only thin layer
of spoiled over the top, the straw
having moulded and formed an