CHAPTER XVI 



SILAGE SOILAGETHE PREPARATION OF FEED 



I. SILAGE AND THE SILO 



The preservation of beet leaves, beet waste, and other green forage by 

 gathering into heaps or into earthen pits and covering with earth has 

 long been practiced in Europe. For many years there has been consider- 

 able discussion as to who built the first silo in this country. Apparently 

 Fred L. Hatch of McHenry County, Illinois, should receive this credit. 1 

 In 1873 he built a square silo, 10 feet by 16 feet and 24 feet deep 8 feet 

 below ground and 16 feet above. The same year the silo was filled with 

 corn silage and was used each year until 1919. In 1877 the French 

 farmer, Goffart, published his "Manual of the Culture and Siloing of 

 Maize and Other Green Crops/' the first book oi its kind, covering 25 

 years of practical experience. In 1879 Mr. J. B. Brown of New York 

 gave American readers a translation of Goffart 's book, and in 1880 Dr. 

 J. M. Bailey issued "The Book of Ensilage, the New Dispensation for 

 Farmers. ' ' In 1881 Professor I . P. Roberts 11 at Cornell University, and 

 the senior author 2 at the University of Wisconsin, built and filled the first 

 silos used for experimental purposes in America. By these means silos 

 and silage were brought prominently before the farmers of this country, 

 and the interest which was awakened has steadily increased until the 

 ensilage of fodders has become a factor of vast importance in American 

 agriculture. 



404. How ensiling preserves forage. When green forage is packed 

 firmly into an air-tight chamber, such as a silo, fermentations take place, 

 caused both by the enzymes contained in the plant cells and by bacteria 

 and yeasts carried into the silo on the forage. During these fermen- 

 tations much of the sugar in the ensiled forage is broken down into or- 

 ganic acids, chiefly lactic acid (the acid in sour milk), with some acetic 

 acid (the acid in vinegar), and traces of other acids. In these changes 

 oxygen is taken up and carbon dioxid (carbonic acid gas) given off. At 

 first the oxygen in the air which has been entrapped in the ensiled mass 

 is used up, but if the mass has been well compacted, this is soon ex- 

 hausted. The enzymes and bacteria then obtain the additional oxygen 

 needed for these decompositions from the oxygen-containing compounds 

 in the forage chiefly the sugars. When the sugar in the forage has 

 been changed into the acids the fermentation is checked, for the other 



Prairie Farmer, Jan. 28, 1922. 

 ^Information to the authors. 



2 Wis. Rpt. on Amber Cane and the Ensilage of Fodders, 1881, pp. 60-69. 



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