10 



The silo which furnished this ensilage has been described in the 

 first annual report of the Station. The fodder corn which filled the 

 silo was well tasselled out, and had a few da3's previously suffered 

 from a severe frost on the night of Sept. 3d. ; it had been cut into 

 pieces fijpm two to three inches in length, before it was well tramped 

 down, covered and suljjected to a pressure of sixty pounds to a 

 square foot of surface. The silo was opened for the use of its con- 

 tents on April 29th. The color of the ensilage was dark yellowish 

 green ; it had an acid taste and odor. On the top of the mass and 

 around its sides could be noticed for some inches in thickness some 

 mould. The main bulk of the mass, — ^judging from the opinion 

 expressed by many visitors to the Station — who claimed to be famil- 

 iar with the usual appearance of corn ensilage, — corresponded evi- 

 dently with a large proportion of the ensilage fed during the past. 



A comparison of the above stated analysis of the dried ensilage 

 with an analysis of the frost-bitten corn fodder collected at the time 

 when the silo was being filled (No. 211) shows a decrease of non- 

 nitrogenous constituents, except in the case of fat ; and a decided 

 increase in nitrogenous matter (crude protein). The nutritive prop- 

 erties of the corn fodder had been greatly modified in consequence of 

 its treatment in the silo ; its nutritive ratio (i. e. relation of nitrogen- 

 containing food constituents to non-nitrogen-containing constituents) 

 had been raised to that of our better grasses. This result is not an 

 exceptional one in character ; it is only marked in degree, — judging 

 from well endorsed observations in competent hands elsewhere ; and 

 is cooperated in the case of all kinds of ensilage. Yet these changes 

 in quality are accompanied by a considerable destruction of valuable 

 organic matter. The fact that the nitrogenous constituents (crude 

 protein), resist better the destructive influences in the ordinary silo, 

 than the non-nitrogenous plant-constituents,- — as starch, sugar, cel- 

 lulose, etc. — is the real cause of the alteration in the nutritive char- 

 acter of the fodder in consequence of our present management of the 

 silo. An analysis of the liquid, which under a partial pressure upon 

 our ensilage, accumulated upon the cleaned floor of the silo, admits 

 of no other explanation. The investigation of the production of a 

 good ensilage, together with a determination of cost as compared 

 with hay, will be resumed at an early date. 



