A. Amos and H. E. Woodman 34:3 



from the former whilst drainage must have been considerable from the 

 latter. 



Silo No. 2 was opened on November 17th; it had been filled from a 

 croij which had been cut 24 hours before ensiling, and was consequently 

 much drier when ensiled, containing only (i4-3 per cent, of moisture. 

 There were 8 or 9 in. of spoilt mouldy material on top, doubtless due 

 to the drier crop being more difficult to press down by the soil covering 

 for the exclusion of air. The silage in bags Nos. 4 and 5 contained in 

 this silo was practically identical. It was olive brown in colour with 

 no trace of the green colour found in bags 1, 2 and 3, and had no trace 

 of the "fruity" smell associated with these. The smell, on the other 

 hand, though pleasant, was distinctly acidic and was characteristic of 

 much commercial silage made from similar crops under similar con- 

 ditions. The rise in temperature as recorded by the maximum thermo- 

 meters was again low, rising only from 16°-r) C. to 23°-5 C. and 24°-5 C. 

 in each case. This is lower than the tem])erature commonly recorded 

 with similar silage, for which the maximum temperature is normally 

 about 30 " C. In both cases the moisture percentage increased during 

 ensilage, a result occasioned by the disapjaearance of some of the dry 

 matter during the process, and not by addition of water, for the silos 

 were kept covered to protect from rainwater. 



Finally the loss of dry matter during ensilage in this case was con- 

 siderably less than in the first three samples, a fact wliich suggests that 

 drying the crop for 24 hours before ensiling is desirable. It should, 

 however, be remembered that when this is done two other sources of 

 loss in the field may be occasioned, namely, that due to respiration and 

 to the breaking oft of the leaves as the crop dries. 



Bag () contained a sample which was allowed to dry for six hours 

 only on a scorching hot day after cutting. It contained only 67-4 per 

 cent, of moisture when ensiled, but this increased to 70 per cent, in the 

 silo, partly by loss of dry matter during fermentation, and possibly also 

 owing to absorption of moisture from other layers in the silo which were 

 moister. In this case the maximum temperature rose to 34°-5 C, and 

 yet the loss of dry matter was only 7-2. The silage produced imder these 

 conditions had a pale brown colour with just a suggestion of green about 

 it, and possessed a smell which was faintly fruity with little or no acidic 

 smell. It was by no means typical silage and was characteristic only 

 of a very small layer in the silo. Possibly this represented a transition 

 stage between the green "fruity" silage below and the brown acidic 

 silage about this layer in the silo. 



