8 Preface 



any investigator will be a lucky man who will 

 investigate as many years as I have and not 

 find occasion to change his theories and opin- 

 ions quite as often as I have done. 



It should be remembered that it consumes 

 one whole year's time to make each experi- 

 ment, or each class of experiments, and that 

 it is necessary to verify the work in our own 

 silo by the labors of other men with other 

 silos. My silo, manipulations, and results are 

 always open to the investigations of others. 



Everybody ought to know how utterly im- 

 possible it is for any one man to make success- 

 ful experiments in opposite directions at the 

 same time, with opposite systems, theories, 

 and modes of operation: one with heat, an- 

 other without heat; one cutting forage very 

 fine, another packing it in whole ; one weight- 

 ing with portable weights of bags, boxes, or 

 barrels, another pressing with screws ; one cut- 

 ting down vertically, another forking off from 

 the whole top ; one making an ensilage more 

 or less repulsively odorous, another pressing 

 out juice in quantity, bringing it throughout 

 to the top of the silo, removing the air and 

 free gases, and producing a wholesome, nutri- 

 tious food, without waste or odor. 



I take great pleasure in thanking the press 



