174 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Now I may be mistaken. I have not gone into it, althongli 

 I have studied the matter carefully ; but, if fermentation 

 cannot be prevented in that way, I fear that our system of 

 ensilage is not going to meet the expectations that I, at least, 

 had conceived of it. 



Professor GoESSMANN. "We apply the name "fermenta- 

 tion " to several changes which are taking place in vegetable 

 matter. We have the vinous fermentation ; and alcohol and 

 carbonic acid are its products. We have the slimy fermen- 

 tation ; and lactic acid, a non-volatile acid, is mainly pro- 

 duced. These latter changes are everywhere taking place 

 where nitrogenous matter is mixed with non-nitrogenous 

 matter under limited access of air. They are very serious, 

 £fnd cannot easily be prevented. It is a mere matter of 

 degree. Take, for instance, a simple grape-berry. You can 

 keep that berry by drying it carefully, as is done on a large 

 scale. But take that berry, and give it the slightest lacera- 

 tion with the finest needle you can conceive of, and that 

 berry is gone. From that spot disintegration will take 

 place, and it is only a question of time what shall become of 

 it. It is an illustration of the process of destruction that is 

 continually going on in the world. After life comes death. 

 The moment that cellular system is broken, there is a retro- 

 grade movement, and the grape-berry goes back to its ele- 

 ments. So it is simply a matter of degree. I might say, of 

 course, that the changes take place in different directions. 

 In one case, it is lactic acid ; in the other case, it is acetic 

 acid. But what does it matter ? A change from a valuable 

 constituent of fodder into a constituent of very doubtful 

 value is the result. We shall always find the largest losses 

 in the ensilage in the corn ; and, if we should take sugar- 

 corn, it would be still more ruinous, as sugar is a most 

 essential constituent of that kind of corn ; and for this 

 reason, ordinarily, the decomposition of the sugar-corn would 

 be far greater than of the common corn. 



Mr. Cheever. Before the professor leaves the platform, 

 I would like to ask him if our canned fruits do really keep 

 perfectly in glass jars, sealed tight, put up boiling hot, or 

 whether there is fermentation going on in those bottles. 



Professor Goessmann. When you can 3-our fruit, it 

 being heat€d up to a certain high temperature, you bring 



