270 AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY 



tile products formed. There is always a loss of dry 

 matter in curing silage. This is greatest in the top layer 

 and least in the bottom. The losses in the different 

 sections of a large silo may range from 5 to 25 per 

 cent. In a large silo the losses are less than in a small 

 one, and they need not exceed 5 per cent, of the dry 

 matter. 



The average of a number of trials shows that when 

 corn fodder is prepared as silage, there is a loss of from 

 5 to 25 per cent, of dry matter, of which a proportional 

 amount is protein. Including mechanical losses, there is 

 nearly the same loss in the field curing of corn fodder as 

 in its preparation as silage. 



The temperature of the silage, when undergoing fer- 

 mentation, ranges from 35 to 75 C. The lower tem- 

 peratures generally produce poor silage, while the higher 

 produce a better quality. In order to produce sweet 

 silage, the conditions should be such that the temperature 

 during fermentation is kept above 43 C., so as to render 

 the acid spore that produces the sour silage less active and 

 to allow other ferments to act. No appreciable amount of 

 alcoholic fermentation takes place in the silo. In the 

 production of silage, the corn should be cut in a green 

 condition rather than when overripe, aud evenly packed 

 in the silo so that all parts will ferment alike. Compara- 

 tively short fermentation at a high temperature is prefer- 

 able to slow fermentation at a low temperature. 



