110 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Mr. HoYT. Since that question lias come up, I would like 

 to have the Secretary read a short article which I find in the 

 New England Farmer of December 10th. 



ENSILAGE IN NATURE. 

 The Stomach of a Ruminant a Silo in Miniature. 



If the following statements, by Mr. L. B. Arnold, concerning the 

 nature of acids, are true, they afford one of the strongest argu- 

 ments in favor of the system of preserving green food in silos 

 that we have seen published. They appeared originally in the 

 New York Trihune. 



"The anatomical construction of ruminants, notably their stom- 

 achs, indicates that their natural diet is bulky, green herbage de- 

 signed to be swallowed rapidly, and with little mastication, into a 

 capacious reservoir, to remain till the animals have time to retire 

 to some place of rest and quiet, to pulverize the half-ground mass 

 hy thorough mastication. But this is not the only purpose served 

 by holding green food in a huge sack for several hours before dis- 

 charging it into the division of the compound stomach for diges- 

 tion proper. A mass of succulent matter packed in a wet and 

 warm place will soon ferment and become sour. In the stomach, 

 lactic acid begins to form very soon after the bruised herbage is 

 swallowed. Though this is generally regarded as forming no part 

 of actual digestion, it is not without some bearing upon it. Her- 

 baceous food always abounds in crude, woody fiber, which, when 

 it enters the stomach, is indigestible from being insoluble, and in 

 this condition is useless as food. If it could be digested, it would 

 serve the same purpose that is served by its more soluble associ- 

 ates, starch and sugar. By souring, some of such fiber is rendered 

 soluble and digestible, and thus increases its food value. To the 

 greater extent to which this action upon fiber goes on in the 

 stomachs of ruminants above that of non-ruminants may be as- 

 cribed the better results of feeding herbaceous food to the former. 



An evidence of the more complete digestion of woody fiber in 

 ruminants than non-ruminants may be seen in the condition of 

 their respective solid excrements. For example, take those of a 

 sheep and a horse. In those of a sheep the fiber is almost ex- 

 hausted, while in those of a horse it is so little affected that it 

 constitutes the great bulk of the offal. In this respect the cow also 

 makes better use of fiber than the horse. As a green and coarse 



