330 Temperatnrc afeci'nuf the QuaHtji of Sildf/e 



The silo was opened on November J 0th wlieii it was found that the 

 silage at 1 ft. deep, the level of the first set of temperature readings, was 

 of dark hrown colour with a "sweet" pleasant smell in every way similar 

 to that immediately below the to]) of the silo in the previous year although 

 this part of the silo was filled with freshly cut crop. The maximum 

 temperature recorded at this depth was 49° C. and the silage contained 

 72 per cent, of moisture when taken out. It is in fact almost invariably 

 the case when a silo is filled with oats and tares or some similar crop 

 that, after the mouldy surface is removed, a shallow layer of "sweet"' 

 silage is found; this, however, in most cases rapidly gives place to silage 

 of different character. 



At 4 ft. deep, where the temperature did not exceed 36-25° C, the 

 character of the silage was of pnlnr brown colour and had a pleasant 

 smelling though acid flavour. 



At 8 ft. deep the temperature records are higher than at 4 ft., and 

 starting at the comparatively high figure of 4.')° C. on July 9th fall con- 

 tinuously to .Tuly 21st. The explniuition of this apparent paradox is 

 that the 8 ft. level di])])ed just below the top layer put into the silo on 

 July Gth. This being easily accessible to air from July .")th to July 8th, 

 during the interval of the filling of the silo, fermented readily and so 

 reached a high temperature before the silo was refilled on the latter day. 

 It is quite probable indeed that 4^i' V. was not the true maximum, for 

 some cooling may have occurred before the thermometer was inserted 

 on July 9th. The silage at this depth was similar to that at the 1 ft. 

 level in that it was "sweet" with a dark brown colour, but the crop 

 having been cut a couple of days before filling the silage was much drier. 



In this same silo five sample bags were put at regular intervals 

 during filling, and below each bag a maximum thermometer was placed. 

 Table III gives in the first column the number of the bag, in the 

 second the condition of the crop when ensiled, in the third the per- 

 centage of moisture in the green crop, in the fourth the maximum 

 temperature, in the fifth the ])ercentage of Tuoisture in the silage, and 

 in the last column tlu' type of silage produced. 



