Preserving Green Forage 37 



THE SILO GOVERNOR. 



Whenever forage is pressed in a silo, it 

 packs where it is most dense, and becomes 

 so hard that the air can neither get out of 

 the corn nor out of the silo. It therefore re- 

 mains in, and is pressed into the forage, which 

 causes it to heat and ferment; it also prevents 

 the corn from settling as it should, and acts 

 as an air cushion, which causes lateral press- 

 ure upon the silo walls, and prevents settling 

 enough to get juice at the bottom, and bring- 

 ing it throughout the mass to the top. We 

 therefore lose the great benefit of having a 

 quantity of free juice in the silo, which benefit 

 consists in reducing the temperature, making 

 the forage soft and pulpy, rendering it more 

 assimilable, and greatly increasing its feeding 

 value. After Carbonic Acid has performed 

 its office of displacing the air from the silo, 

 it is absorbed by the juice, causing a partial 

 vacuum, which causes the juice to rise gradu- 

 ally to the top, and is kept there, under press- 

 ure, by absorption and capillary attraction. 



These operations are all brought about 

 and controlled by the silo governor. Its 

 action commences on the first day of filling, 



