INTRODUCTION. 11 



fine and well packed and carefully covered, there can not 

 be sufficient air present to allow fermentation to go on to 

 an injurious extent. 



The fact that injury may occur to the contents of the 

 silo from undue exposure to the air, should be kept in 

 mind at every step in filling the silo and in feeding its 

 contents. 



At first it was supposed that the fodder was subjected 

 by the heat of fermentation to a kind of cooking, and 

 that its tissues were thus made tender. This idea is at 

 present abandoned, and it is known that the most success- 

 ful silos are those in which the least fermentation takes 

 place, and consequently the less heat is produced, hence 

 the contents are preserved so far as may be in the most 

 natural condition. 



