450 JAMES M. SHERMAN 



The observations reported in this paper would appear to 

 indicate that acid producing bacteria might play a part in the 

 fermentation of silage. How much of a factor they are in 

 ordinary silage can not be answered from the meager data 

 which have been collected. From the evidence presented by 

 various workers, there can hardly be any question but that 

 cell respiration is of vital importance in the fermentation of 

 normal silage, but that this may be supplemented greatly by 

 the action of bacteria certainly appears reasonable. It would 

 seem that microorganisms might be responsible for the fermen- 

 tation which takes place in silage made from shocked corn. 

 The ensiling of shocked corn and corn stover, a practice which 

 has been in vogue to a limited extent in some localities for years, 

 in which we would expect the plant cells to be inactive, must 

 be largely dependent, it would seem, upon the action of bacteria. 



A laboratory test on this point was made by ensiling some 

 corn stover with double the amount, by weight, of water in a 

 glass jar. The stover used had been shredded and baled and 

 was about fifteen months old. After one month at laboratory 

 temperature the jar was opened and the ensilage examined. 

 The material had a clean acid odor quite typical of ordinary 

 silage, but on comparison of the two it was found to lack a 

 certain richness in aroma so characteristic of silage put up in 

 the usual way The juice expressed from the stover silage had 

 an acidity of 1.35 per cent, calculated as lactic acid, and a bac- 

 terial count on lactose agar of 1,700,000,000 organisms per cc. 

 of which 600,000,000 were of the high acid producing type. A 

 direct microscopic examination of the juice revealed a count of 

 11,000,000,000 bacteria per cc. 



The subject of the fermentation in stover silage is under 

 further investigation at this station. 



The constant occurrence of a group of organisms in silage 

 with characteristics which differentiate its members from 

 other related groups is of interest from a biological as well as 

 from the practical viewpoint. The question naturally arises 

 as to how they gain entrance to the ensilage, or what is their 

 habitat in nature. Observations made in this connection indi- 



