8 SILOS, ENSILAGE AND SILAGE. 



mentation and putrefaction, and even then the new the- 

 ory was reluctantly adopted by chemists. 



It has been difficult to obtain a general recognition of 

 the fact that the changes taking place in green fodder, 

 when preserved in silos, are essentially, and perhaps 

 almost exclusively, the result of biological processes, and 

 that the observed chemical transformations are but inci- 

 dents of physiological activities and therefore to a greater 

 or less extent independent of the ordinary laws of com- 

 bination which obtain in inorganic chemistry. 



From what is now known of the phenomena of fer- 

 mentation it is evident that biological lines of investiga- 

 tion must be followed to place the science of ensilage 

 fully abreast of the best practice. 



The terms "silo" and "ensilage" were familiarly 

 used in the French agricultural papers as early as 1870, 

 while the English papers of the same date referred to 

 the French experiments as the "pitting" or "potting" 

 of green fodder. In a communication to the "Country 

 Gentleman" of October 5th, 1876, giving an outline of 

 the discovery and progress of ensilage in France, and of 

 my own experiments in 1875, I made use of the word 

 silo, and suggested the adoption of the word ensilage, in 

 the absence of any English equivalent. Since that time 

 these terms have been in common use in this country, 

 but as the word ensilage is used in a double sense, one of 

 its meanings may be best expressed by the word silage, 

 which has been introduced in England with advantage 

 within the past four or five years. 



For the convenience of those not familiar with these 

 terms, the following definitions may be given as repre- 

 senting the present nomenclature of the subject. 



Silo: a closed pit, or reservoir, in which either dry 

 grain, or green fodder is preserved. 



Silage: the green fodder preserved in a silo. 



Ensilage: the process of preserving green fodder in 

 silos. 



