The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1917-04-06

(By J. B. DAVIDSON and M. L. KING.
The farmer, who has been thinking
of building a silo should get into &C
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 few
types, is of such construction that 1t
does not need the protection of a COW
cred building. 1t is not economical
to place silo in a building where 1T
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 a silo outside
| of the building and only connecting IL
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
| q 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-
CARELESS of its 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
silage 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-
wilton.
Deep SiIo Best.
By building a deep silo a greater
percentage of good silage is obtained,
which is, of course, matter of econ
ony. 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 so 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
level with the footings, very cheap |
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 silo below the
lower door is Objectionable, and be-
yond a 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.
SdPaCity NaTfee.
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
the silo should be of as
arge diameter as possible.
But there are other limiting factors
involved. When sflage is left exposed
o The air for short time, more than
! day, 1t spoils. Enough must be re-
moved daily SO that 1t will keep fresh.
In the well settled silage, the air
loes not penetrate much over an inch
md If an inch and half or two inches I
re fed from the surface daily the
ilage will remain fresh.
In warm weather the spelling will '
IKE place much more rapidly than In i