80 SILOS, ENSILAGE AND SILAGE. 



cated in regard to average nutritive values. Some of the 

 objections to the thick seeding of fodder corn have 

 apparently been observed by farmers, as instead of the 

 one, two or three bushels of seed per acre of a few years 

 ago, we now oftener see recommendations of the more 

 consistent and rational quantities of but eight to ten 

 quarts, per acre. This is progress in the right direction 

 and in harmony with the well-known laws of vegetable 

 nutrition and growth. 



As seen from the published analysis quoted above, the 

 amount of water in fodder corn is liable to wide varia- 

 tions, and in all experiments with maize as a field crop, 

 the amount of dry substance obtained per acre, in 

 connection with the variety and quantity of the seed 

 planted, and the conditions under which the crop is 

 raised, should be clearly and fully stated, as they are 

 matters of the first importance in the interpretation of 

 results. In a succulent, large-stalked plant, like maize, 

 a statement of gross weights only may be misleading in 

 discussing nutritive values. 



When immature fodder corn is ensilaged, whether from 

 thick seeding or premature harvesting, the excess of 

 water it contains is a real source of annoyance and prob- 

 able loss. From the weight of the superincumbent mass 

 the juice is pressed out of the silage in the lower half of 

 the silo, and there is towards the bottom an accumula- 

 tion of liquid containing more or less of the food 

 constituents of the silage, which cannot be disposed of to 

 advantage. 



In a number of cases of this kind, to which my atten- 

 tion has been called, the accumulation of liquids in the 

 bottom of the silo has been attributed to the soaking in 

 of water from the outside, and the real cause of the dif- 

 ficulty was not suspected. The crops ensilaged should 

 contain no more water than can be retained in the cells 

 of the plant under the conditions in which they are 



