54 CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



horrible. Dairy cows cannot be fed on it without their 

 milk being tainted. Even without the cows actually 

 eating the stuff, if sour silage is brought anywhere in 

 the neighbourhood of milk, the milk is tainted. 



SOUR SILAGE 



The sour silage is made by keeping the temperature 

 low, so that fermentation is slow and very complete. 

 Now just as in the method of hay-stacking described 

 in the preceding pages, the temperature can be con- 

 trolled by excluding air. 



In the making of sour silage, the greenstuff is put 

 together very quickly, and as soon as the stack is built, 

 or the silo pit is full, weight is immediately applied to 

 it. In making sweet silage, the stack-making or silo- 

 filling is done slowly ; generally, carting is done on 

 alternate days. This admits a large amount of air, and 

 causes the temperature to rise. 



It is generally stated that sour silage is made at a 

 temperature not exceeding 120 deg. F., and sweet 

 silage at from 140 to 160 deg. F. It is also stated that 

 if the temperature passes 140 deg., the silage is brown, 

 and if the temperature becomes higher than 160 deg., 

 the stuff is burnt. All this may be true when silage is 

 made in the ordinary way, but on the system here 

 described it is different. The writer has frequently 

 brought the temperature of silage up to 160 and even 

 175 deg. without either browning or burning. The 

 essential differences between the two methods are : 



1. Under the ordinary system, the stuff is carted 

 wet and green. 



2. The temperature is regulated by increasing or 

 decreasing the speed of putting the stuff together. 



Under the plan followed by the writer the stuff is 

 partly dried, and the temperature regulated partly by 

 the rate of stacking ; but more so by the use of salt. 



