ECONOMIC PLANTS 



199 



Indian corn is preeminently the American crop suited 

 to be preserved in silos, but clover, alfalfa, cowpeas, soy 

 beans, Canadian field peas, sorghum, and sugar beet pulp 

 in this country, and meadow grass and aftermath in 

 England and the Scandinavian countries, are also pre- 

 served in this manner. Agricultural literature mentions 

 the siloing of a large number of plants, like vetches, 

 small grains (cut green), cabbage leaves, sugar beets, 

 potatoes, potato leaves, turnips, brewers' grains, apple 

 pomace, and refuse from corn and pea canning factories. 



Advantages of the Silo. i. The silo preserves a 

 larger quantity of the nutritive materials of the orig- 

 inal fodder for the feeding of farm animals than is 

 possible by any other known system of preservation. 



Grasses and other green crops lose some of their food 

 material when made into hay. Indian corn loses at 

 least 10 per cent of its food value when cured in shocks 

 even under the best conditions, while in ordinary farm 

 practice the loss approaches 25 per cent. Exposure 

 to rain and storm, rubbing off dry leaves and thin 

 stalks, and other factors tend to diminish the nutritive 

 value of the fodder, so that very often only one half of 

 the food materials originally present in the fodder is 

 left by the time it is fed out. In addition, the remain- 

 ing portion of the fodder is less digestible and less nu- 

 tritious because the fermentation occurring during the 

 curing process destroys the soluble sugar and starch 

 so necessary in digestion. 



On the other hand, the maximum loss in the modern, 

 deep, well-built silos is 10 per cent. Professor King 

 believes that the necessary loss of dry matter in the 

 silo need not exceed 5 per cent. 



2. Ensilage is juicy, and juiciness is characteristic of 



