SILOS, ENSILAGE AND SILAGE. 79 



The effect of what physiologists call assimilation is to 

 increase the dry substance of the plant, and conse- 

 quently its feeding value. Defective assimilation, then, 

 means deficiency in dry substance and diminished value 

 as food. Indian corn, a semi-tropical plant, with its 

 wealth of foliage needs an abundance of sunlight and air 

 for its vigorous growth and development. When crowd- 

 ed in dense masses, as we see it in thickly planted fodder 

 corn, the upper leaves only receive sufficient light to 

 enable them to carry on the active assimilation of carbon, 

 while the pale lower leaves and stalks are thickly shaded 

 and unable to perform their share of the work in the 

 constructive processes of the plant. 



The yellow leaves and delicate, spindling stalks, with- 

 out a rudiment of ears, furnish conclusive evidence that 

 the plants are suffering from inanition, and that insuf- 

 ficient supplies of nutritive materials, in proper form 

 and under proper conditions, have been provided for 

 their perfect development and maturity. 



Dr. E. H: Jenkins, in a table on the "Composition of 

 American Feeding Stuffs," * gives the results of seventy- 

 five American analyses of maize fodder, the dry matter 

 of which varies from 7.1 to 48.5 per cent ; and in fifty- 

 nine analyses of maize fodder ensilaged, the dry substance 

 ranges from 13.0 to 35.6 per cent. 



As these differences evidently exceed any reasonable 

 margin of error in analysis, they must be attributed to 

 differences in varieties ; to the stage of maturity at time 

 of harvest ; or, to methods of cultivation ; but unfortu- 

 nately we have not the data for determining the influence 

 of each of these factors on the results obtained. 



It is evident, however, that fodder corn varies widely 

 in the amount of dry substance it contains, and that 

 silage must vary in value with the quality of the crops 

 ensilaged, so that no definite statements can be predi* 



* Connecticut Agr'l Ex. St. Rep't 1880, p. 40. 



