172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



do is to reduce it to a certain lower proportion ; and that is 

 all that Mr. Goffart would claim. Probably his translators 

 have not given us his full views. The process of fermenta- 

 tion is so well understood, that it is no longer a matter of 

 controversy. Scientists agree on that entirely. The prac- 

 tical results, at least, are fully agreed upon. We know what 

 becomes of sugar in the presence of nitrogenous matter. 

 We know, that, whenever the cellular structure of a plant is 

 injured (as is the case with the contents of silos in the 

 majority of instances), transformation begins. The soluble 

 nitrogenous matter comes in contact with the saccharine and 

 starchy substances ; and what is the effect ? The sugar is 

 changed, accordhig to circumstances, either into lactic acid, 

 or into alcohol and carbonic acid, and subsequently into 

 acetic acid ; and we find, therefore, in our best-constructed 

 silos, with corn-fodder, acid to a large extent ; namely, acetic 

 acid and lactic acid. The former is the result of the oxida- 

 tion of the alcohol. That is the natural consequence. Fer- 

 mentation and oxidation are two distinct jDrocesses. The 

 one causes the breaking-up of certain substances into com- 

 pounds of a simpler constitution ; as, for instance, sugar 

 breaks up into alcohol and carbonic acid. Nothing is lost 

 from the make-up of the sugar. Acetic acid means the 

 access of oxygen to the alcohol, and the formation of water. 

 Alcohol and carbonic acid are only intermediate processes. 

 Therefore, if we are not careful, we may destroy the con- 

 tents of the cells as starch and sugar to a ruhious extent. 

 In other words, a silo treatment may destroy fifty per cent 

 of the feeding value of your food. The above-described 

 experiments tend to prove that we cannot prevent the de- 

 struction of from twenty to twenty-five per cent at least. 

 Scientists do not agree as to the physiological value of the 

 various compounds produced. In regard to starch and 

 sugar, we know by experience what they are worth in the 

 animal economy: wdiat lactic acid is worth, we are yet in 

 doubt, and what alcohol is worth is still a matter of dispute 

 to-day. We have thus, in one case, compounds of recog- 

 nized phj'siological value, whilst on the other side we have 

 a series of products of decomposition without any proof of 

 what they are relatively worth in the animal economy as 

 compared with the substances from which they originated. 



