Arizona republican., 1919-05-24
EXPLAINS NEW
 SILO IN USE IN I FARM

Superintendent c. J. Wood has just finished feeding out the first filling of silage from the new metal lath silo on the Arizona Experiment Station farm near Mesa. The quality was5 excellent throughout and no spoiled material was to be found either around the doors or sidess Concerning this type AIr Wood gives out the following statement:
 "The metal lath silo was designed by a member of the federal dairy division staff Q number ofyears ago. It was in troduced into Arizona by Prof. q. F. Thompson, agronomist of the Arizona Experiment station, the siIo on the Mesa experiment farm being the first of that type to be built in Arizona. A serviceable silo must incorporate per manency and virtually no upkeep with smooth, round walls that are absolutely plumb, since the main thing in making and keeping silage of first quality is in getting all air circulation excluded which means that silo must be constructed as to allow of the very | closest packing.
 'The metal lath silo is constructed at comparatively low cost, and requires the services of only two skilled work men, an expert plasterer and a fairly 1 good carpenter. A door frame is first made for continuous door. which if properly handled keeps silage perfect | ly, and which effects a very consider | able saving in labor when the silage is l removed The door frame is set up and plumbed and studding is set upright with a space of about IS inches between studs. Heavy metal lath is then tackled to the inside of the studs and plastered. Reinforcement is placed in the door frame and set in poured concrete. In all three coats of a rich cement plaster is put on the inside of the metal lath base. By this time the plaster has become rigid enough to support the structure and the studs are removed, after which further reinforcement in the form of heavy wire is wrapped around the out side of the metal lath and two or three coats of plaster are applied to the out side of the silo. A finish coat of a
 heavy cement wash is applied inside and out. The result is the very finest kind of a rich concrete wall, exception ally smooth and plumb"
 When asked about the condition of
 the crops on the farm, MT. Wood
 said: We have easily the most in-
 structive showing of grain that has
 ever been grown on the farm. Not only
 have we Early Bart wheat that has been bred with the utmost care for a
 number of years, but we have several
 hybrid wheats and few large plots of
 the new wheat known as Arizona 39 This wheat promises to make the high
 est yield of any large plot thus far \ grown on the farm. We also have oats
 and two kinds of barley as we'll as
 three plots of Abruzzi rye. a new va riety developed for warm climates.
 The cotton plots are mostly ferti-
 lizer tests and a test of the possibili
 ties of cotton intercropped with cow peas In the latter series we haze
 plots with every third row in cow ,, peas inoculated with different conner.
 cial cultures, plots with uninoculated cowpeas in every third TOW, and {
 check plot with every third row blank in order to determine whether possible 7 advantages claimed for coWpeas may be due to the spacing.
 We have a sixteen acre block O. & hairy Peruvian alfalfa which has al l ready yielded three and one-quartel
 tons per acre in the first two cutting! f this year on April and May 10 re Y spectively From present indication. p this alfalfa will be ready to cut agai1 
 ful results obtained from hairy peru.
 vian during the past ten years that tn,
 experiment station has been workine F On it, we now have cue that has showet
 up better for some time both as tt
 yield and quality. This is a French va
 riety known in this country as No. 4
 and if it continues to perform as well al
 in the past some seed will be available
 soon for general distribution. It is yer,
 likely that many of our visitors mex
 Saturday will take particular interes I in our cowpea test One variety tha we have worked with for three years
 the Red Ripper. is our best yielder fo both forage and seed, and from presen
 indications should soon replace all oth
 CT varieties in this region for genera n purposes. The red color of the seed i ' a slight objection"
 g MT. Wood will personally conduc T visitors over the Experiment Farm to e day and will be glad to explain all worl q Of interest to the community. In addi t tion to the inspection trip which take e place at 2:30 D. m. an excellent speak