H. E. Woodman 157 



material on top, silage of excellent quality was encouutered. It possessed 

 a good green colour and a pleasant "fruity" odour, the smell of butyric 

 acid beinr;: entirely absent. The silage as fed contained very few tare 

 pods and no tare seeds, nor did the oat husks contain any solid food 

 material. The sheep consumed it readily; the surplus was fed to stock, 

 and it was observed that they ate it with relish and throve upon it. 



Fresh samples of silage for feeding were taken every day and the top 

 of the silo was covered by a tarpaulin during the experiment. As the 

 trial proceeded, the quality of the silage fell oft' slightly, owing probably 

 to the slowness with which it was being used up. The last portions were 

 not quite so green and "fruity," hut still were of good quality and quite 

 free from butyric acid. 



AiKihjf^is uffiiJiifie ciiract. In order to gain some insight into the nature 

 of the changes which had occurred during ensilage of the green crop, 

 aqueous extracts of the silage were submitted to analysis. A 2()0 gm. 

 sample of the silage was submitted to extraction by shaking for four 

 hours in a shaking machine with GUO c.c. of distilled water. The extract 

 was filtered first through hnen, the residue being well squeezed out, and 

 then through a filter paper. 1.50 c.c. of the aqueous extract were made 

 up to 500 c.c. with alcohol. This occasioned the separation of a small 

 amount of precipitate, which settled readily, and the resultant clear 

 alcohol liquid was submitted to analysis by the Foreman titration 

 method^. Fuller details regarding the analysis of silage extracts will be 

 given in another communication. 



Table XII. Analijsis of silage extract. 

 (The data roter to 100 gm. of the fresh silage — moisture content = 72-9 °,',.) 



c.c. iV/10 



Total acid radicles (free and combined) ... 316'1 



Amino acids and amides of asparagine type 104-2 



Total organic acids of lactic and acetic type 211-9 



Organic acids volatile in steam ... ... 56-6 



Non-volatile organic acids ... ... ... 155-3 



Volatile bases ... ... ... ... 18-1 



Calculated as acetic acid, the percentage of volatile organic acids in 

 the fresh silage works out at 0-34 per cent. This, of course, is reckoned 

 as moisture by the customary method of determining dry matter, but 

 allowance has been made for it in all the data tabulated here in connection 

 with silage digestibiUty. To do this involved slight assumptions, which, 

 however, could only possibly aft'ect the result to an inappreciable extent. 



1 Foreman, Bioch. Joarii. 14, 451, 1920. 



