14 SILOS, EHSILAGE AtfD SILAGE. 



" Moving granaries, and granaries with ventilators, 

 were suggested, but they are all extremely expensive, and 

 they do not safely prevent fermentation. They also pre- 

 sent no obstable to the development of insects. The 

 success that has been obtained by using these means 

 appears to be simply due to the dryness of the wheat. 

 But, as Doyere has asserted, dry grain can be preserved 

 for a certain time by any means. But it is not the same 

 with wet grain, that is to say, grain containing more 

 than 16 per cent, of water, as the greater part of French 

 corn does. ' I found/ says Doyere, ' that corn containing 

 21 per cent, of water, furnishes, at 68 Fahr. (20 cen- 

 tigrade), 120 milligrammes of carbonic acid per day and 

 per kilogramme (about 2 1-2 Ibs. English), in a state of 

 rest ; and about 17 milligrammes per hour under the 

 influence of a constant current of air, which latter 

 amount would make 408 milligrammes per day. Ven- 

 tilation, therefore, trebles the amount of decomposition, 

 of which carbonic acid is one of the products. 



" The last of these losses is enormous, for it represents 

 not less than 2 1-2 per cent, of dry matter destroyed 

 each month, owing to alcoholic fermentation. It is 

 probable that it would not be continued indefinitely to 

 the same extent as it hiippens for several hours ; but it 

 is renewed with the same energy during the whole time 

 of an intermittent ventilation. Otherwise, the loss of 

 120 milligrammes of carbonic acid per day, which hardly 

 requires any renewal of air, suffices to repel the hope of 

 a preservation of long duration, for it represents a de- 

 struction of dry matter amounting to 7 per 1000 per 

 month. 



" ' This is not only the loss in weight, for the loss in 

 quality which results from the formation of sour and 

 rank products is incomparably more to be feared. Fi- 

 nally, as the loss takes place in a temperature relatively 

 low, that of 68 Fahr., it would not only increase with 



