200 



LACTIC ACID BACTERIA IN FODDER 



cool air lies a broad zone wherein the precise temperature (4o-5o C.) most 

 suitable for the development of the acid bacteria in question prevails. The meta- 

 bolic products from these organisms then gradually permeate the entire mass. 

 The chief material for these fermentations is afforded by carbohydrates (starch), 

 as may be seen from the foregoing table, according to which the air-dried hay 

 contains 40.9 per cent!, whilst the brown hay contains only 23.2 per cent, of 

 non-nitrogenous extractive matter (starch, sugar, &c.). Of the nitrogenous con- 

 stituents, those soluble in water, i.e. amides and kindred bodies of which the 

 brown hay contained i.i per cent, and the air-dried hay 3.0 per cent. are for 

 the most part consumed. The loss of matter attendant on the preparation of 

 brown hay is calculated by Dietrich as about 14 per cent. 



Brown hay exhibits one advantage over both air-dried hay and burnt hay, 

 namely, that its preparation is much less dependent on the weather, a couple of 

 fine days sufficing for protecting the finished hay. These days can, however, be 

 selected at convenience, since the ricks of brown hay can be left untouched for 

 a long time without dread of spontaneous ignition. Hence this method is fre- 

 quently employed in rainy districts, e.g. the North Sea littoral and the Austrian 

 Alps. It is, however, inadvisable to resort to this practice where good air- dried 

 hay can be made from the green fodder at disposal, because the feeding experi- 

 ments performed by G. Kiihn and others, and reported by FR. ALBERT (I.) and 

 FR. FALKE (I.), concordantly demonstrate that the preparation of brown hay is 

 attended with a considerable loss (amounting to as much as 50 per cent, of the 

 total) of digestible protein substances. 



155. Sweet Ensilage. 



The preparation of brown hay is also partly dependent on the weather, in so 

 far that a certain amount of dryness in the material before stacking is essential. 

 Now, in many cases, it is either practically impossible or economically dis- 

 advantageous to remove from the green fodder even the small quantity of water 

 that must be got rid of in making brown hay. One instance of this kind is 

 afforded by the enormous quantities of beet leaves available for a few days only 

 in each year (during the ingathering of the beet crop), and another is the drying 

 of the de-sugared slices of beet, an operation impracticable in many places owing 

 to the lack of the necessary costly drying apparatus. In such, and many other 

 similar cases, putrefaction of the readily decomposable masses is prevented by 

 subjecting them to an acid fermentation without any previous drying. Formerly 



