Preserving Green Forage 159 



thirds of all the difficulties I expected to en- 

 counter were removed when all the air was 

 out and my friend, carbonic acid, was in. But 

 let no one think that, when he tries an experi- 

 ment and makes a failure, it has no value. 

 The failures of others have been the land- 

 marks to guide me to success in this matter. 

 Whenever I saw failures in any silo, I was not 

 long in discovering the cause. If it was fun- 

 gus growth or black rot, I found that it was 

 caused by air getting in from the outside. If 

 I found true fermentation, I always found it 

 produced by air not being removed from the 

 silo, producing heat and fermentation, with 

 decomposition and recombinations, evolving 

 foul odors. I spent a great deal of time and 

 study to find some way of curing these evils, 

 when found in the silo; but, when I became 

 the possessor of a perfect silo, in which I could 

 find the truth of every theory, and prove the 

 facts by actual experiment, my theories and 

 practices became very much modified, and I 

 found two-thirds of my work could be done by 

 avoiding the difficulties, and the practical diffi- 

 culties so simplified that they could all be met 

 and perfect results obtained, even by persons 

 of ordinary capacity. I learned that by having 

 strong and tight silos, with smooth, level-faced 

 walls, the forage can settle without leaving 



