Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1913-07-05

the large hole. This left the end of
the board with the two small holes
ia lose, so that we could swing it
around in circle. We pushed two
large spikes through the small holes
so they would scratch on the ground
when we moved the board and by
this means we marked two circles.
The inner circle was just seven feet
in diameter and the larger one just
four inches from this all the way
around. We dug out this four inch
space between the circles, down to
depth of two feet. This space we
filed up level with the top of the
ground with l ue cement and sand
mixture, and left. for twenty four
hoursAto set.
We got an inch rope As feet long,
two pulleys and a barrel The barrel
we sawed in two in the middle and
fastened-en two bales for dirt buckets.
We used horse to pull up the dirt
After the cement collar had set
we got inside it and dug down about
eight feet; then we stopped and plas-
tered the wall one half inch thick
with to L cement mixture. Then
we dug down six or eight feet more
and again plastered up. BY plaster
ing every few feet we avoided having
to build scaffolding to stand on while
plastering. We kept going down in
this manner until we had pit 25
feet deep. We plastered the bottom
the same as the sides and washed the
whole with pure cement and water
made as thick as cream. Then the
silos were done. We built two, each
seven feet i1 diameter and 25 feet
deep.
One man did the digging, one took
care of the dirt at the top, and a
small boy drove the horse. It took
8 1-2 days to dig and plaster the two
silos and we paid the men SI7 for
their work. Just a little. less than
20 sacks of cement at 40 cents a sack
was used. The sand we had, so we
did not count 1t in the COST of-Haking
except in the labor of hauling. The
two silos, complete cost me SI2 so
each
We bought Silage cutter with IL
inch knives, but without an elevator
or blower, for S37 laid. down here
freight paid. We had a four horse
gasoline engine and it furnished
ample power to run the cutter. The
cutter is rated at from three to five
tons green fodder per hour at half
inch cut, and will easily cut that
much.
We filed the first siIo half full of
a mixture of corn and cane. We
were afraid we would not have corn
enough to fill both silos, SO we at
first used some sorghum. Later see
ing there would be corn to spare, we
did not use any more sorghum. At
first we did not put in any water,
thinking it was wet enough, and
right there is where we made mis-
take. The silage packed well and
did not spoil, but the cows did not
like it so well as that we put water
on, for the coarse parts of the corn
stalks did not soften up like it did
when we used water. When we had
the first silo half full we concluded
to use water, and from then on we
used as much water as 34 inch
hose would siphon out of a tank into
the siIo and kept it running steadily
while cutting. We shall use lots of
water after this.
We draw the silage out with a pull
ley and a windlass. The bucket
holds 150 pounds and has a full trap
bottom. 1t is drawn up the trap
sprung and the silage falls into a
large shallow Ebox- or wheelbarrow.
"A boy of4-Is~ draws up sthe7 bucket
easily. This silage has been as good
as any we ever saw, and it has GER
tainly been very cheap and also con-
venieHt to feed. Great care should
be taken to keep the walls true and
smooth, else the silage will not set
tie weH.-KansaS Farmer.
:. Unsiehtly Face Spots