ENSILAGE. 159 



dergoes a process of fermentation, by which considerable 

 heat is produced. That in this development of heat a large 

 quantity of carbonic acid is formed, by the fermentation 

 of the moist vegetable matter. That carbonic acid, being 

 considerably heavier than air, it forces or lifts the air con- 

 tained in the silo among the fodder, with which it is filled, 

 quite out of the mass, and thus practically seals it against the 

 future entrance of air, and thus once the fermentation is com- 

 pleted the silage is preserved for an indefinite time. When 

 the author studied this matter of ensilage at one of the great 

 French sugar beet farms connected with a sugar factory, 

 the leaves of the beets were then being packed into a silo, 

 then n mere pit in the ground, as they had consisted of 

 during more than a century, or several of them, during 

 which they had been common in parts of Europe, especially 

 in Hungary, where they were used for preserving green 

 corn stalks. One of these pits was opened after having been 

 kept for three years. The leaves of the beets were taken 

 out and fed to the oxen by which the beets were drawn to 

 the sugar factory. And they were in the very best condi- 

 tion of preservation, only having a brown color, as the result 

 of the heat by which they were partly cooked. These leaves 

 were eaten with avidity by the cattle, and it was their 

 staple food for the year round. This ensilage was called 

 brown hay. 



Since then these simple pit-silos were greatly improved 

 by the European farmers, especially by those of sufficient 

 means to build expensive stone structures, with cemented 

 pits at the bottom of them. But the Yankee always ahead 

 of the world soon improved on this process, which made 

 sour ensilage only, by securing perfect isolation from the at- 

 mosphere by which the acid of the silage was produced. 

 We owe the discovery of sweet ensilage to Prof. Miles of 

 the Michigan Agricultural College, by whom the completely 

 air tight silo was invented, and this discovery has been of 

 such importance to our agriculture as to have made the dis- 

 coverer entitled to the thanks, if not more substantial re- 

 ward, of the American people. 



Since then the silo has been simplified, and made more 

 useful, the device of the round or tub silo having been the 

 last addition to the process of ensilage. This silo is by far 



