The word silo derives from the Greek 'siros' which means a hole or pit in the ground for storing grain. A silo is a cistern or vat, air and water tight on the bottom and sides, with an open top, constructed of masonry or concrete. It may be square, rectangular, round or oval in shape, with perpendicular sides, used to store in their green state forage-crops, such as corn, sorgho, rye, oats, millet, Hungarian grass, clover, and all the grasses. This forage is cut and taken directly from the field, runthrough a cutter which cuts it into pieces less than half an inch in length, and trampled down solidly in the silo, and subjected to heavy and continuous pressure. The structure is the silo, which may be above ground, or partly or entirely below the surface of the ground. Thefodder preserved in silos is ensilage. John M Bailey, 1880.
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