158 Colcord's System of 



posed was true and reliable, and to hang up as 

 doubtful some things I had considered scien- 

 tific facts. 



Any one attempting to fathom the depths 

 and mysteries of fermentation will find him- 

 self in a broad road, with no sharp lines, like 

 wheel-ruts, to guide him, but more like the 

 path of the rainbow, shading and blending, yet 

 never going in a straight line, but always 

 pointing in one direction. 



I should never have known what I now do 

 about fermentation, as regards its operations 

 in green forage in silos, had I continued to 

 follow in the direction of other investigators ; 

 but when I built a perfect silo, large enough 

 to work the processes in quantity, in which 

 I could try any required experiments, find out 

 all that was going on in the silo, examine all 

 the gases that came from it, ascertain the tem- 

 perature in it at any time and at any depth, 

 press it level, and enough to get free juice in 

 it from bottom to top, to make the forage very 

 nearly represent canned goods, to prevent heat, 

 fermentation, and foul odor of any kind, and 

 be able to remove the forage in perfect condi- 

 tion, and feed it out without change, in the 

 coldest weather in winter or the warmest 

 weather in summer, I found all my theories 

 and hopes more than realized, because two- 



