ENSILAGE. 505 



&quot;When the ensilage is fed out, it should be exposed to the air fifteen or twenty hours, in 

 order that the alcoholic fermentation may commence. The proper time depends upon the 

 temperature, but if kept longer than this, the fermentation becomes excessive and injurious. 

 The spontaneous heat which is produced in the feed should never exceed 35 or 40 degrees 

 (R.). Two years ago I had no silos at my farm at Gouillon, and I carried every other day 

 from Burtin what was necessary. From the second day the heat exceeded these limits, and 

 the alcoholic vapor abundantly emitted indicated the serious loss that was going on. The 

 acetic acid was not slow to join the party. In the north of France the best pulp that is fed 

 in winter is nearly always quite sour. It is to this circumstance that I attribute the poor 

 quality of milk and butter obtained from the animals kept on this food. 



It is indispensable to superimpose four or five hundred kilogrammes per square metre of 

 heavy materials upon the covering or movable planks of the filled silos. I meet here the 

 most important question that which 1 have had the most trouble to solve, and which I have 

 only really solved quite recently. When a silo has been filled, it does not answer only to 

 prevent the external air from penetrating it ; it is necessary at once to seek means for expel 

 ling the mass of air that it encloses between its disks and in its cells. It is here that the 

 heavy materials with which I load my silos become important ; it is necessary that the air 

 inclosed in the silo should find between the joints of the covering planks an outlet ; it is 

 necessary that a strong compression should compel this air to pass out quickly and to quit 

 the place where it would cause most serious damage if it remained. It is necessary that this 

 powerful compression should con 

 tinue during several months, be 

 cause the tramping of the work 

 men is insufficient, for the follow 

 ing reasons : At the moment 

 when the green maize is cut, it 

 is all alive, and is so elastic that 

 it reacts forcibly against the 

 momentary pressure of the feet 

 of the workmen. It is not the 

 same several days or weeks there- A FILLED SILO BEIXG EMPTIED BY VERTICAL SLICING. 

 after, but its elasticity diminishes, or, in other words, its compressibility increases in consider 

 able proportions; it is then that the heavy superimposed materials follow the maize down in 

 its softened condition, continuing to press it in proportion as its compactness increases, and 

 brings it to that state of density that is necessary in order to put it out of reach of all 

 alteration.&quot; 



Some farmers who have had experience in the ensilage system advise mixing clover, and 

 grass in which clover predominates in the same silo with fodder corn, millet, or sorghum; the 

 clover becoming, after slight fermentation, a putty-like mass which renders the whole amount 

 more compact and weighty, excluding the air, while at the same time it improves the quality 

 of fodder. Farther experiments will doubtless greatly improve this system, the greater 

 number of experiments made thus far having been with fodder corn. 



As has been previously stated, great care is necessary in order to exclude as much of 

 the air as possible, and to distribute the fodder evenly in the silo. Some object to tramping 

 down the mass in order to compress it, for the reason that any portion of the stalk subjected 

 to pressure will cause the juice to exude, and when this pressure is removed the air immedi 

 ately rushes into the cells of the plant taking its place, which results in fermentation. A little 

 salt, sufficient to render the food palatable, is sometimes sprinkled into the silo during the 

 process of filling ; this is not, however, necessary for preserving it. 



After being filled sufficiently full, the plank covering should be put on across the silo so 



