Volume Xil 0CT013EK, 1922 Part IV 



- LiS i t.AKY 



NidW YOWC 

 aOTAM tCAIL 



TEMPERATURE AND OTHER FACTORS AFFECTlNCi 

 THE QUALITY OF SILAGE. 



By ARTHUR AMOS, M.A. 

 AND THE LATE GWILYM WILLIAMS, M.A., N.D.A. 



(Schoul of Agriculture, Cambridge University.) 



Introduction. 



In 1883 Mr George Fry, F.L.S.^ described a series of observations which 

 he had made upon silage. From these he drew the conclusion that if 

 the conditions of silage making were such that the temperature exceeded 

 45° C. sweet brown silage resulted, but that if the temperature failed 

 to rise above 40° C. then sour silage with a rather repulsive odour was 

 produced. These results were obtained in the type of silos then commonly 

 in use, which varied in depth generally between 12 and 18 feet, frequently 

 had a considerable surface area and were filled comparatively slowly. 



In 1884 Dr Augustus Voelcker, F.R.S.- confirmed Mr Fry's ex- 

 perience with silage in the regulation and maintenance of a proper 

 temperature and mentions 125° F. (51-o° C.) as being the point below 

 which sweet or hay fermentation does not take place. He further stated 

 that sweet silage keeps only a short time on exposure to air, whereas 

 sour silage may keep {J-9 months exposed to air. 



In 1886, Dr J. A. Voelcker^ described the making of sweet silage by 

 ensuring the temperature of fermentation rising to 122° F. = 50° C, 

 "the point which Mr George Fry considers must be reached to get sweet 

 silage."' 



M. Goffart^, however, is quoted as follows: "My maize, my green 

 rye, my fodders of every kind have scarcely changed colour after eight 

 or ten months of ensilage."' From this it is obvious that the silage of 

 M. Gofi'art, which had "scarcely changed colour" was very different 

 material from the "sweet brown silage" advocated by Fry. 



Babcock and Russell'^ state that " the popular opinion that good silage 

 can only be made with considerable heat is erroneous."" Good silage 



1 Agricultural Gazette, Aug. 27th, 1883, Nov. 26th, 1883 and April Uth, 1884. 

 cvj " Voelcker. Journal of the Eoijul Agricultural Society, \%M. 

 ^ ' Voelcker. Il>id. 1886. ^ Silos for British Crops by the sub-editor of the Fivld. 



_^ ^ Babcock and Russell. Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, I7th and 18th 



J " Annual Report, 1900. 

 _., Journ. of Agric. Sci. xii 22 



