SILOS, ENSILAGE AXD SILAGE. 



CHAPTEE I. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES. 



The preservation of green fodder for winter feeding 

 has for many years engaged the attention of practical 

 men as a matter of great economic interest, and the 

 results obtained in the many attempts to solve the prob- 

 lem mark a gradual process of development which must 

 be recognized as a phase of the law of evolution, which is 

 now generally accepted as an essential factor of human 

 progress. 



In his " History of the Inductive Sciences," Whewell 

 emphasizes the fact that " in all cases the arts are prior 

 to the related sciences," and that "powers of practical 

 skill" "prepare the way for theoretical views and sci- 

 entific discoveries." 



The history of the development of the best practice ki 

 the preservation of green fodder furnishes a good illus- 

 tration of the correctness of Whewell's views in regard 

 to the relations of Art and Science, as we find that the 

 progress of practical discovery has always been in ad- 

 vance of the theoretical or scientific explanation of the 

 results obtained, and, moreover, it must even be admit- 

 ted that the indiscreet application of theories in science, 

 based on imperfect data and hasty generalizations, have 

 a tendency to retard the real progress of practical meth- 

 ods, by directing attention to unimportant details. 



For at least half a century green fodder has been suc- 

 cessfully preserved in silos, and yet we knew nothing of 

 the causes of fermentation until Pasteur established the 

 true theory of the process by his masterly investigations, 

 from 1857 to 1869, and proved conclusively that living 

 organisms were the active and essential factors of fer- 



