The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-03-17

lures are resting, has been tested so often that
nearly every successful farmer has constructed one
or more of them.
The pit silo is only about three wears did and has
been IN extensive use for only two years. 1t is not
u new thing, but 1T is new in the Southwest, where
II Is more valuable than in any other farming re-
Gion in the United States. A few silos have been
in use in Iowa, in Illinois, and even in Mississippi,
for a number of years, but their use in these re-
gions has not spread.
A silo is a water-tight structure into which corn
and other fodder are packed while green so tightly
that no space is left for air, and with enough mois-
ture to insure fermentation. The material is gen.
orally cut into strips not more than an inch or two
in length. In the winter, after the fermentation
and curing process hive been completed, the silO
is opened and the "mash" is fed to live stock. 1t
is as p~alatabhe and nourshing as green fodder,
and exhaustive and long-continued experiments
have proved that beef cattle, mich cows, hogs,
horses, mules, and sheep thrive on it. The process
preserves about 80 per cent Of the food values of
the green fodder. If the fodder is left in stacks or
shocks it loses fully one-half of the food value
through the drying-out process.
In the Southwest last winter and spring the own
ers of pit silos learned that the immature and hot
wind dried-out fodder crops, which would have
been practically worthless as dry food, made q very
good food when converted into ensilage In the pit
silos. One illustration will prove its value in this
regard. y
]. C. Michael is a farmer in the Lincoln district
of Ell Paso county, in eastern Colorado. In August,
1913, when 1t was apparent that Tie drought anu
hot winds had already made it impossible to secure
n crop, Michael, assisted by two men working at
odd times, built a 35-ton pit silo. The cash outlay
was only S4.45. Into this hole in the ground Michael
hacked the corn from ten acres, the best Of which
would not yield more than ten bushels per acre.
The corn was immature, and there was no chance
for II TO improve. If harvested and stacked for use
as fodder in dry form it would have been worth
only a few dollars per acre.
From late fall until spring Mr.. Michael fed the
ensilage to 10 mich cows and II heifers, 20 pounds
n day per head for the cows and five pounds for
the heifers. No grain was fed, but the cattle were
given n little millet and oat straw for %roughage.
The entire herd kept in good condition, and the
ten COWS provided Mr.. Michael with ten dollars
worth of cream every week.
The nit silos in the Southwest are generally moth
ing more than holes in the ground lined with ce-
mont of varying thickness. Some of them are con-
structed with a heavy concrete collar to prevent
the ground caving in and to keep out the moisture.
Some of them have concrete extension above the
surface of the ground. There are all sorts and
sizes and all shapes and kinds of construction, for
the nit silo is still such a new farm device that it
hos not been standardized. The cost ranges from
"a. 45 cash outlay of Mr.. Michael, to $3.50 for the
larger ones, with an inch cement lining and heavy
concrete collars extending deep into the ground
and above-ground extensions. The average cost of
tbe hundreds that have been built ranges between
SIS and $50.
A number of interesting methods have been
brought into use to make the most of this new form
of silo. Two brothers, Ray and Fay Harner, who
live near Colby, In western Kansas, have dascov-
cred a method by which they can dig a SO-foot hohe
for q pit silo in about two days. They contract to
dig pit silos 10 feet in diameter and 30 feet deep