AT HANGMAN'S WOOD, GRAYS.
267
form of a silo is a hollow scraped in the ground for holding the
objects to be hidden. The trappers of America call them "Caches"
but equivalent words are found in every language from pole to pole.
To "hoard" in English is essentially to conceal, a habit belonging to
a period when the winter's provisions were buried out of sight of
thieving neighbours, and hidden from marauders whose delight was
not to acquire, but to destroy all they could see above the soil, such
as houses, ricks or barns. Without going further afield than need
be, it is proposed to give a sketch of the use and history of the silo
in those countries which are nearest to Britain, but it is impossible
to avoid appealing for illustration in such an enquiry to the customs
of distant countries when the connection between them consists in
insensible variation in the modes adopted ; the transportation of the
custom by a migrating people; or the comparison of instances, under
similar circumstances of climate, soils, and racial peculiarities.
It is unfortunate that there is no circumstantial account left of the
hoarding of grain in pits or "burys," either in this country or in Europe,
in early times. It might appear that in Britain the habit of burying
provisions deep in the soil, and especially in large quantities, was
abandoned before the written description of agricultural methods
came into fashion; but that is not quite the case, inasmuch as the
earliest writers on agriculture were monks and students of latinity,
who loved to describe the store places advocated by Vitruvius and
such elegant authors, but who wilfully omitted to mention the humble
"burys" of the poor provincials.
The modern grain pit of Central Asia is a hole in the ground
with a narrow orifice. Taken generally, the mouth or opening is
just wide enough to let a man pass, and not too wide to admit of
being well secured by cross stakes or boards, so that when the sods
are replaced nothing can be seen above, and the plough can pass
over the pit. In the uncertain movements of those nomads who do not
wander all the year, and few do that, the habit of those who culti-
vate grain is to sow it in spring, and leave it to grow unattended.
Returning to harvest, they store in pits sufficient grain for winter use
and for sowing next season, selling the rest; and when the winter snows
come they live in the neighbourhood of the grain pit, with the cer-
tainty that they will find it safe until the spring comes again. They
take care for the safety of the pit by covering it over and planting
the corn above. Indeed, the store is often more in danger of being
lost by the owner than found by the robber. In the case of those