AT HANGMAN'S WOOD, GRAYS.
271
exports grain from such stores, and it is likely that some may reach
this country.
Silos are in use in parts of Southern France, which also is the
continuance of an ancient prehistoric habit, although commonly
credited to the Moors or Saracens. The preservation of corn in pits
was certainly practised in Northern France during the first half of the
last century, and, from what can be gathered, it is probable that the
practice continued into the present century.18
Silos are the regular stores in Morocco, where, as in Spain also, they
are called Matamores. In Morocco, the corn is threshed on the spot
where it is harvested, and buried for indefinite periods. Thus im-
mense accumulations may occur, and from such sources in 1830
great quantities were exported into Spain; in 1848 also some 15,000
fanegas were exported to Dublin, each time in aid of countries suffer-
ing from scarcity. In various parts of Northern Africa and eastward,
silos are often square in shape, as well as round, some being of
large size, and gathered in collections of surprising numbers. Most
of these are dug in tufaceous soil or soft limestone. The custom
prevails over all Italy, most of the pits being built in with masonry
or brick, and in Tuscany largely with unbaked brick. In Styria,
Austria, and Hungary, and in Central Europe generally, this habit
is the rule. Some pits, as in Germany and in Poland, are of a more
conical form than those in the south, while others are more bulbous,
having marked shafts; while, again, the interior of others is square.
They are occasionally plastered with some kind of cement, and all
have straw or boards to keep off the damp from the corn. In Russia,
fire is frequently employed to burn the sides to a kind of brick. In
Hungary, Poland, and Eastern Europe, the pits are deep, and the
corn frequently is placed in them undried or in a sprouting condition.
The custom is to cover the whole with soil, which is ploughed and
sown to efface the signs of the hoard—a sad evidence of insecurity
and a relic of unsettled life. It is plain that the customs of Central
Europe are nearly connected with those of Central Asia ; and though
18 It may, indeed, be continued to the present day in some out of the way places, for agricultural
customs are strangely persistent.
Note.—The writer has experienced great difficulty in procuring information on the subject of
the subterranean storage of grain, and in the search for caves which might have been excavated
for this purpose, especially in this country, where the practice has been discontinued for so long
a time. M. Doyere, who was investigating the subject at the same time as the writer, in like
manner says:—"I have been astonished in Spain, and equally in France, at the insufficiency
of positive information that one can collect while travelling, on things among which people
dwell, and of the greatest importance to them ; this it is which explains the erroneous notions
which have been spread, especially on ensilage." English archaeologists in general consider the
subject foreign to their studies, there being no remains left on which to found an enquiry. Most
antiquarians have given as little study to ensilage here in past times as the agriculturist gives to
it in the present day.