Middletown transcript., 1917-03-31

(By J. B. DAVIDSON and M. L. KING.)
The farmer, who has been thinking
of building a silo should get into ac-
ton, and the man who has not been
thinking of the silo should think and
act promptly. Because many farmers
are thinking "silo" these days the fol
lowing points as to good silos are
worth keeping in mind:
The walls must be alright.
The walls must be smooth inside.
The best type of silo is round.
The roof should be waterproof.
The substances should be substan-
tial enough to stand great pressure.
The silo, with the exception of a few
types, is of such construction that it
does not need the protection of COW
cred building. It is not economical
to place a silo in a building where it
will occupy space which may be put
to other use.
Unhandy Location.
A silo located inside of building
is often unhandy to fill. The forage
cannot be delivered to the cutter con-
veniently. By locating silo outside
of the building and only connecting 1t
thereto with a passage provided with
doors, the Objectionable odor of the
silage may be kept out of the build
Ing.
By arranging the silo so as to be
connected to the feeding room with
a feedway, it should be as convenient
for feeding as when located in the
building itself. A very common ar
rangement is to so locate the silo that
the passageway from the silO to barn
is a continuation Of the feedway in
the barn.
The fundamental principle in the
preservation of green forage when
placed in a silo is the exclusion of
air. 1t is the purpose of any silo, re-
gardless of it's construction, to exclude
air as far as possible from the silage
and in this way prevent decay.
Construction Of Walls.
The foundation wall, and in fact the
walls of the entire silo, should be as
smooth as possible. If due care is
used in tramping the silage during the
filling, doors which extend into the silo
are not a serious objection, though
perfectly flush doors are certainly an
advantage.
A vertical wall is the only satisfac-
tory wall to use, as wall inclined out
ward will support the silage to GER
tain extent and prevent settling sat
isfactorily, thus creating air pockets.
When the wall is inclined inward the
sifage will settle away from it. In the
case of concrete silos with tapering
walls, these should be vertical on the
inside.
The quantity Of silage increases with
the depth, due to the weight above.
The usual silo today is 80 or more
feet deep. A larger percentage of
moldy and otherwise inferior silage is
found near the top Of the silo than at
the center or near the bottom, prov
ing that certain weight is necessary
to compress the silage and exclude the
air so as to insure its perfect preser-
walton.
Deep SiIo Best.
By building deep SilO a greater
percentage of good silage is obtained,
which is, of course, a matter of econ
omy. Good practice at present seems
to dictate that the depth should be at
least 80 feet. A large percentage of
good silos are built considerably deep
er, even 80 to 60 feet.
Foundations should extend below
the frost line, so if the earth inside
the foundation wall be excavated to
this depth and the floor placed on a
level with the footings, a very cheap
addition to the silo is secured without
increasing the height Of the silo above
the ground.
The difficulty in removing the sill
age from the part of the si1o below the
lower door is Objectionable, and be-
yond certain depth the difficulty in
removing the silage is so great as to
more than balance the economy of Sc
curing additional space in this way.
Three or four feet up to the first door
is not considered Objectionable.
Capacity Varies.
The capacity of silo varies as the
square of the diameter while the wall
surface varies directly as the diameter.
This means that as far as capacity is
concerned the silo should be Of as
large diameter as possible.
But there are other limiting factors
involved. When silage is left exposed
to the air for short time, more than
a day, it spoils. Enough must be re-
moved daily so that it will keep fresh.
In the well settled silage, the air |
does not penetrate much over an inch |
and Il an inch and q half or two inches |
ar1 fed from the surface daily the |
silage will remain fresh.
In warm weather the spelling will
take place much more rapidly than in |