GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 203 



field will also lose more weight in the stack than well-cured hay, as well as more of its nutri 

 tive qualities, the loss being occasioned by the conversion of the sugar and other nutritive 

 compounds into those which are innutritious. 



Conditions Favorable to Fermentation in Clover Hay. Air is always essen 

 tial at the beginning of the process of fermentation, but after it has been once commenced, 

 this process may be continued even after the air has been subsequently excluded. To illus 

 trate this principle, the reason why grapes will not ferment until the juice has been expressed, 

 or the skin broken, is because the air is excluded by the close, tight covering or skin which 

 envelops the pulp. 



Fermentation, which is that decomposition or decay which acts to all appearance sponta 

 neously, upon animal and vegetable substances, generating heat and throwing off gas in the pro 

 cess, is caused by a microscopic fungi ; hence ferments always contain the germs of fungi 

 which are more and more fully developed during the process. Moisture and heat will cause 

 any organic body, not living, to ferment. From sixty-five to eighty degrees Fahrenheit is a 

 temperature most favorable to rapid fermentation. When reduced much below this, it is slow 

 in its operation. 



Fermentation is also largely affected by the amount of water present. In the process of 

 fermentation, the elements of sugar and other carbonaceous compounds are re-arranged ; the 

 carbon uniting with the hydrogen to form alcohol, and with oxygen to form carbonic acid. 

 Tt is a fact well known to chemists, that if one part of sugar is dissolved in three or four 

 parts of water, with the addition of yeast, fermentation will not occur even in a warm room ; 

 but if an equal weight of water be added to the solution, fermentation will soon commence ; 

 and that if the water is increased to the extent that the proportionate quantities are as one of 

 sugar to sixteen or twenty of water, it will either ferment very slowly or turn acid. This 

 proves that too large or too small a proportion of water is unfavorable to fermentation. 

 Applying this principle to the curing of hay, and we can readily understand the reason why 

 grass or clover freshly cut does not ferment as readily as that which is partially cured. When 

 grass is freshly cut, its vitality has not wholly left it, consequently fermentation is deferred. 

 It also contains too large a proportion of water compared with that of the sugar and gum of 

 its composition, and the albuminoids have not at this period begun to change into ferments. 



But after the evaporation of the water contained in the leaves and stalks of the clover or 

 grass has continued for a time, the relations of the different combinations become such as to 

 favor fermentation, and if at this stage the drying process is arrested by any means, such as 

 cloudy or rainy weather, the hay will undergo a process of fermentation in the field which 

 destroys its nutritive properties, and leaves little else than the indigestible woody fibre. 



If the former condition (that of drying) be continued without arrest, long enough to 

 exhaust the amount of water contained in the clover, beyond the point where fermentation 

 can take place, the hay remains exempt from fermentation and is nutritious. 



The bruising of hay during the curing process has a tendency to produce fermentation, 

 therefore the less it is stirred or tedded beyond the point of sufficient exposure to air and sun 

 shine, the better. 



Ik 



How Fermentation May be Prevented in the Mow. Fermentation and mold 

 are often prevented in the mow by mixing, as evenly as possible, from ten to twenty quarts of 

 salt per ton with the hay when storing it, which can be done by alternate layers of hay and 

 salt. Although salt has a tendency to make hay moist, it is a preserving agent, and also ren 

 ders it more palatable to stock. Another method employed by farmers with success, is that 

 of mixing alternate layers of dry grass, hay or straw with the clover, which absorbs the mois 

 ture of the clover and thus prevents fermentation, while the juices of the clover, permeating 

 the straw or hay thus placed in layers between, improve the flavor of the latter for fodder. 



