ENSILAGE. 411 



nitrogenous matter which is not albumen. There is evidently 

 going on in the silo some process destructive of albuminoid 

 matter, and there is no doubt that that is a change brought 

 about by the work of the living organisms already referred to. 

 There is also another process going on, which accounts for some 

 of this loss, and for that of the soluble nitrogenous matter, viz., 

 the constant draining down of soluble matter, including soluble 

 albumen, through the mass, so that the lower layer of the silo is 

 drenched with sap carried down from the superincumbent 

 mass. When the silo is first cut into, and the ensilage removed 

 from a part of the floor, this sap flows into the vacant space, 

 forming a pool several inches deep. This liquid is not lost,'as 

 it can be soaked up by chaff or other dry fodder and given to 

 cattle, and may be used as a means of giving a relish to straw or 

 other inferior feeding material. 



The figures containing the carbohydrates and some other 

 extractive matter are got by difference, and cannot be compared 

 with those on I)r Wolffs table, which are got in a different way. 

 There is a great disappearance of oil whose quantity at the best 

 is very small, and there is no doubt that there is a loss of 

 carbohydrates in the silo, as the result of alcoholic and acid 

 fermentations. We should have expected a relative increase 

 in woody fibre, due to the conversion and soaking away of tlie 

 constituents ; but there appears to be rather a decrease in that 

 constituent, and it is probable that a certain proportion of that 

 substance which chemists usually classify as woody fibre has 

 been converted into carbohydrates. When cellulose or woody 

 fibre is digested in a weak solution of acid for a long time it 

 becomes converted into dextrine and sugar, and it seems probable 

 that this is one beneficial change going on in a silo. Against 

 this beneficial change we must put the absolute loss of some 

 carbohydrates, which is inevitable, and the loss of some albumen. 

 The extent to which these important constituents of fodder are 

 lost in the process of ensiling depends on the amount of 

 fermentation that is allowed to go on, and there can be no doubt 

 that much of that loss is preventible by adopting a more perfect 

 system of ensiling. We have good reason to believe that this 

 loss, at least to the extent indicated, is not inherent in the pro- 

 cess; on the contrary, it is liighly probable that if proper 

 precautions are taken to prevent fermentation, there is no way 

 in which it is po.'^sible to preserve fodder so well as in the green 

 state. 



In the making of liay there is a considerable loss, and when 

 badly secured that loss frecpiently amounts to two-thirds of the 

 whole nutritive constituents. Some analyses by I )r Wolfi' (Tabic 

 III.) show this veiy clearly. The first three analyses show that 

 meadow hay in fine condition has about three times the value 



