CHAPTER XXVII. 



CHEMISTRY OF THE SILO. 



THAT important chemical changes take place during 

 the curing of green forage plants by the system of Ensi- 

 lage cannot be doubted. I believe there is a formation 

 of acetic acid to a greater or less extent in all cases, and 

 that the acetic fermentation is the first change which 

 takes place. There can be no saccharine fermentation 

 until after acetic fermentation takes place. I doubt its 

 being a saccharine fermentation at all : it is rather a trans- 

 formation. 



I understand the changes to take place as follows : 

 the oxygen of the air in the mass acting upon the sugar 

 in the plant converts that sugar (in corn about 1 1 per 

 cent) into acetic acid ; the acid acts upon the starch (in 

 corn about 56 per cent), and converts it into grape- 

 sugar, or glucose, in much the same manner as sulphuric 

 acid acts upon the corn in the manufacture of glucose. 

 The next stage of fermentation is the conversion of 

 the grape-sugar, or glucose, into alcohol, which, being 

 very volatile, passes off into the atmosphere. Then, and 

 not until then, does real putrid fermentation or decay 

 begin. The previous stages are metamorphoses or 

 changes from one form to another of the elements of 

 nutrition. 



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