Aug.6. I9I7 Chemical Studies in Making Alfalfa Silage 



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Table II. — Chemical analysis of alfalfa silage — Gjntinued 



MADE FROM WILTED ALFALFA PLUS WATER 



o The bottle with 25 per cent pack graded only 90. 



Moisture content. — The moisture was determined by drying loo gm. 

 in a steam oven for lo hours. As it is best to use the sample in its 

 original condition without any previous preparation, a large sample is 

 taken. Preliminary trials showed that lo hours were a sufficient length 

 of time to bring these samples to a fairly constant weight. It is prac- 

 tically impossible to get a constant weight because of the amount of lactic 

 and acetic acids present. All samples were dried a second time, however, 

 in order to check accidental errors. The bottles containing silage from 

 fresh alfalfa had a higher moisture content than the bottles containing 

 wilted alfalfa and wilted alfalfa plus water. The sets of four where all the 

 bottles had bad silage had a higher moisture content than any other sets. 

 In individual cases bad silage had no more moisture than that which was 

 good, the moisture content being only one factor of several that may cause 

 poor silage; but too high moisture content is undesirable. The difference 



