48 p. G. HEINEMAN AND CHARLES R. HIXSON 



per cent glucose and the colonies formed on whey agar were 

 always very small. However, from the latest samples a strepto- 

 bacillus was isolated which grew with relative abmidance on 

 glucose media and produced up to 11.5 per cent acid in glucose 

 broth in six to seven days. This bacillus appeared in long fila- 

 ments composed of rather short bacilli. The acid produced 

 consisted chiefly of lactic acid. It should be emphasized that 

 this strepto-bacillus was never observed in early samples, 

 although it probably was present in small numbers. 



Milk inoculated with two loopfuls of silage infusion coagulated 

 promptly, usually within twenty-four hours and when inoculated 

 with the infusion of earlj^ samples considerable amounts of gas 

 were produced. In some instances the gas formation was so 

 vigorous as to break up the coagulimi. As ripening of the silage 

 progressed the amount of gas formed in milk decreased and 

 finally in the last stages of fermentation no gas appeared. Stains 

 from the coagulated milk, prepared after twenty-four lioui s incuba- 

 tion, showed that in early stages organisms of the colon-aerogenes 

 group were present in abundance, accompanied by large numbers 

 of streptococci, but as the ripening process proceeded strepto- 

 cocci became more promment and finally were present practically 

 in pure culture. The milk cultures were not incubated for a 

 sufficient length of time to permit lactobacilli to supersede 

 streptococci, excepting when lactobacilli were searched for. 



In a recent paper Gorini calls attention to the presence of 

 butyric acid bacilli in silage and warns of the possibility of their 

 mfluence on the product. Since anaerobic conditions obtain, 

 at least in deep layers of silage, and since the temperature may 

 be relatively high, conditions for the grow^th of butyric acid 

 bacilli are not unfavorable. Gorini suggests that the tempera- 

 ture be not permitted to go beyond 50°C. nor below 30°C. in 

 order to favor the growth of lactic ferments (lactobacilli and 

 streptococci) and thus antagonize butyric acid bacilh. In our 

 lunited investigation no evidence of the presence of butyric 

 acid bacilli was observed, although they may have been present 

 in small numbers. Several anaerobic cultures prepared from the 

 silage infusion invariably gave a growth of streptococci, prac- 

 tically in pure culture. 



