Show A r F y wa 4 0 agh AM in oy bert H I 1 iou rw z 0 farmers in semiarid semi ari arid d regions of west and fl rt 5 VIM southwest make inexpensive p silos glos by dwing digging pits and lining ing t them hem W with th co cement men t 0 M method 6 eth od 5 N may be used profitably in any part of country 7 mw N THE pit silo the farmers farmei of the serial arid re regions gioni of the southwest have bavei found a valuable aid In their efforts to wrest 6 a living from thol the soil boll in the winter of 1913 14 following the unprecedented drought of 1913 it proved e d its value to such an exi extent ent that hun deeds of them have beep been constructed by the term eis of western wes terii kansas hansas oklahoma aas eastern tern colorado northern texas and new mexico in one colorado county alone el paso the th existence exl stence of a few pit silos last fall saved worth of live stock which would have perished in thel the eyere li winter following tho the dry 1 8 summer there were more than pit silos dlos in this county the jhb past summer sumbler the tha silo Is getting to be an old story on tho the prosperous farms of the middle west Th the value evalue of f the great unk tank to bopre preserve bergethe Ber the feed values of forage cr crop stand utilize them through the winter and spring when the pas iw r for about 35 and their method Is pr practical throughout western kansas and eastern colorado since there la 18 very veryl little rock above a depth death of 40 to 30 feet the 11 harner ariner brothers use the blower of a abr threshing ashing machine with which to remove remove the dirt r from roin the p pit 11 b blowing 1 0 W it th through ou t the h e air and so scattering it about that there thera Is no uns unsightly 1 pile of earth left A five horse power engine furnishes furnish es the motive power the blower and funnel are lowered into the b hole ole the men throw the are been tested so 0 o that near every successful farmer f has I 1 constructed c ted one or moreon more of them the aft silo 1 Is only about three years old and has been in extensive use for far only two years it if ignot Is not a new thing but it la Is new in the tee southwest where it Is more valuable than in any other farming r re klon glon in the united states A few silos have be been ell in use in iowa lit in illinois and even in mississippi for or a number of I 1 jears years but bilt their use in the these se regions gions 0 fia has s hot spread A silo Is a watertight water tight structure into which corn en end dother other fodder are f ticked while gree green anso so tightly that no space Is leff r im and with 6 enough no ugh moisture to insure urd fermentation the material Is generally cut into more than an anIn chor two I 1 ip p length in tb the ahier aln iti after the fermentation and curing process have been completed the silo is opened and the mash Is fed to live stock it Is 14 as palatable and nourishing as aa green green fodder und nud exhaustive and long continued ed eap exp ertme ants have proved that beef cattle cows hogs horses mules and sheep thrive fon on it tifa P robess preserves about 90 per cent of the food values cf bf t holgreen the ho green fodder if the fodder Is left in stack Wor shock s it loses fully one half of the food balue value through ough ahe he drying put gut process in the southwest last lasi winter and spring espriu dg the own erlof alt silos learned that the immature and hot wind dried out cut fodder crops which would have been practically worthless aldry as dry food mude made a very good food when converted into int a enell ensilage a ji in the pit silos one illustration will prove its value in this regard J 0 C michael Is a former farmer in the lincoln district t hofei of el pasq paso county in east eastern ern colorado in august auguet If liu when n it wai was apparent th that atthe the drought and bo hot j winds had already made it Impossible to secure a crop michael as assisted by two men working at odd times builds built en 85 ton pit silo the cash outlay IV was aj 0 only into this hole in the ground michael packed the corn from ten acres the best of which would oui riot yield more than teri ten bushels per acres acre the corn was Imma immature and there was daano no chance for atto aitto improve if harvested and stacked for use ms cs fodder in dry form it would have been worth only n tev few dollars per acre from late fall until spring mr michael micha el fed the ensilage to 30 10 all mile ca cows and 12 hel helfers feri 0 20 O pounds head for the cows and five pounds for a day per fed but the cattle were the heifers heffers hei fers no gronaas grain gron was little millet and out oat straw tor for 1 roughage a iven ilven f rhe he entire hei herd d kept in good condition and the provided mr michael with ten dollars ten cows worth of crea cream M every week the pit silos in the southwest are generally nothing more than holes in the ground lined with ce ment mant pt varying thickness some sora of thorn them are constructed collar to prevent ted with a heavy concrete the ground caving g in and to keep out the moisture some som e of them have concrete extension kubove the surface of the ground there are till nil sorts sorta and arid kanda of construction for sizes and ill shapes the p andi t 16 Is still such a new farm device that it lias bas not been standardized the cost ranges from cash outlay of bf mr air michael to for afie ones with an inch cement lining and heavy harger concrete merete nerete collars exten extending dOg deep into the ground co find aboveground above ground exten extensions kons the average cost of the hundreds that tha t have been built ranges between 15 and 20 A number of interesting methods have been brought into u use se to make the most of this pew form ot of silo two brothers ray and fay hainer who live near dear colby in western kansas have discovered a method by which they can d footle ole bior or a pit illo s llo ina lna iotis out two days they contract to aft f k ahna ina in ah fm feoff jn in e er and 80 feet deed darf into the receiver in sandy loose soil sell they have sunk a 20 foot hole in e ight eight holers hours a task which falch would require two laborers working in the usual way froma froni two to three days isacco the homers dug ug one pit 80 feet de deep epand and 12 feet acrons in ila hours the dirt being carried 12 feet above the ground through an owning made IP in th the erlof roof of the barn and blown to the winds one man in akl oklahoman Okla a homas panhandle last year afterpe after he had bad built br dug a bif salo at af atonal cost of 10 proved that russian thistles whistles es can tin bacon be converted Int into i fair stock feed this man was arbert albert stone who lives near guymon when his 17 silo was finished with W a 2 shed over it 1 he found he was short of feed feed and filled ailed it if with thistles whistles es broomcorn kafar and mile the whistles thistles es wre were cut too late to make good feed but to in the fermenting process the thorns were softened andi the cattle ate at ethem them readily dily there was was not enough fr from m his 80 30 neres acres to fill the small silo but mr stone ston e found that the results were to repay him all winter he fed I 1 rat ich cows 12 horses 6 calyes and several hogs bogs I 1 nothing but the silage it lasted for three thre e months As dry feed it would have bean in three weeks weela that pit silo N was the only nue on the farm for the year and t the e milk kept the family in groceries und 01 other her ne necessities experiments covering a period of three years m made ade at the kansas agricultural college have haye proved that silage from co corn r n from kahr and from sorghum have equal i al feeding value to ton n for ton for both beef cattle and dairy cows when each variety Is ii pinc placed edIn in thesila the silo 0 rt at th the proper tl time ethi athi athla proper time for corno corn ls is when the kernels arabe arebe ginning to dent for kafar and sorghum bhea aben the tha seeds have grown grown so liard hard they cannot be crushed between thumb and forefinger and while tho the stalks and leaves fire are still green these rhese tests have proved that the practice lif in 1 the he past has been to cut 1 afar and sorghum i to 0 to 1 get the full feed value antle in trie silage these tests hlll havea very important aearl bearings upon farming in the semiarid ld districts i the best silage crop will ill be corn where the rainfall is ample kafar where W here the rainfall is moderate and sorghum where it Is light sorghum Is practically a cure crop where it I Is swell well cultivated t ed inthe driest years in western kansas and oklahoma ala panhandle of texas and alid in eastern new mexico and andian aln colorado i every fanner farmer in the southwest i it t Is said needs a aello silo is as badly as he hd needs anything it Is further said that not two men in denare ten are ablerto able to build an aboveground above ground silo because because oi of the expense the pit silo costing only one tenth as much and capable of being built by the far farmer nier film 19 expected to solve this problem until farmers are able to purchase chase ahe the more more expensive and better above aboveground ground ground sll silos as of woods tile concrete or metal |