ANIMAL GROWTH AND NUTRITION. 243 



seems, by such trials as have been made by the Germans, that 

 hay may be so made as to lose nothing in the process ; but 

 at the same time they present facts to show that b}' over- 

 drving, or makinsT under bad conditions, hav may lose 

 mechanically by the shattering of its leaves in handling, and, 

 as Dr. C. Brimmer says, in case of clover rapidly (haying, a 

 loss of both proteine and carbohydrates may occur. While it 

 must be admitted that a loss by the former if not by the 

 latter cause may occur, yet in our favorable climate that loss 

 must be very slight. Still from rains and unskilful practice 

 there may be some loss ; but there is not that loss from the 

 evaporation of juices that those unacquainted with the facts 

 assert. Such loss, however, is more than offset by the loss 

 from fermentation in the silo. The character of the changes 

 in fermentation were set forth by Professor Goessmann, a 

 statement of the loss accompanying it. The facts of the 

 trials in Austria and in France are familiar to the public. 

 Professor McBryde, of the Tennessee University, weighed in 

 and weighed out his material, and lost four hundred and fifty 

 pounds per ton in an earth-silo. I am convinced, however, 

 that the losses froni the earth-silos do not give a fair basis of 

 loss for a good cement-silo. Comparing Professor Cook's 

 analyses of nine samples of ensilage from nine cement-silos 

 with the average of a sample of fresh corn-fodder as by 

 Connecticut experiment station report, neither the organic 

 materials nor the ash (this ash hardly more than in green 

 corn-fodder) warrant the belief that the losses are so great, in 

 a good, well-managed cement-silo, as have been quoted from 

 the earth-pits ; yet the evidence, so far, warrants the belief 

 that the loss in silos is as much or more than the vicissitudes 

 of open-air curing will give. From some facts before me, I 

 find that hay exposed to brief showers does not make so 

 great a loss as is usually apprehended. If but partly dried, 

 or in heaps, the loss would be still less. 



GREEN FOODS BETTER THAN DRY. 



Mr. Lawes, in a recent article to an American publication, 

 takes a contrary view, and questions whether a green food 

 for winter is the best. He expresses the opinion that Ameri- 

 cans are expecting too much of ensilage, and gives us to 

 understand that he has little faith in it. German work is 



