130 SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



with the making of silage, the practice can only be 

 regarded as a makeshift to be resorted to when no 

 other method is practicable. Where the making of 

 hay is possible it should have the preference over 

 ensilage, and the latter practice be limited to the 

 conservation of beet leaves, beet slices, frozen 

 mangels and potatoes, etc. Most careful considera- 

 tion is required before using fodders rich in protein, 

 such as clovers, for the preparation of silage, and 

 it would be quite useless to mix bran or other by- 

 products with the fermenting material. 



(3) The storage of cereal grains. 



Cereal grains, if in a well-ripened condition and 

 not attacked by mould, are usually stored without 

 further treatment in dry cool buildings. The 

 grains are either spread out on the floor and the 

 layer turned over from time to time with a shovel, 

 or else they are stored in tall metal holders (eleva- 

 tors). The grains undergo a process of respiration, 

 as do all living substances, taking up oxygen and 

 giving out carbon dioxide, and so using up organic 

 substances. Experiments which have been made 

 with oats have shown that when they were kept 

 in the air they lost in the course of a year, through 

 respiration, 6-5% of the original carbon present. 

 In closed vessels this loss is smaller, because the 

 oxygen which is in the vessel is soon used up. The 



