SURFACE SILOING. 167 



and this assertion seems to be endorsed by many of the leading 

 authorities who state that with straw in the silos the mass 

 undergoes considerable loss of dry substances. 



Mixing of pulp with moJasses is practiced by some farmers; 

 the sugar thus introduced is soon converted into alcohol and 

 carbonic acid. The fermentation is very active and must be 

 watched. Excess of alcohol in pulps may in certain cases be 

 very objectionable. Just whether the sugar added does facili- 

 tate keeping remains to be demonstrated. 



Other investigators have endeavored to establish a very radi- 

 cal method. They attribute all these losses to fermentation, 

 and attempt to do away with it entirely. They apparently 

 justly declare that such losses are not justifiable, even when 

 making allowance for the advantages gained, such as giving to 

 the cossettes all the qualities of taste that cattle seem to relish. 

 They go so far as to propose to mix the residuum with some 

 antiseptic, such as salicylic acid or borax (^ oz. of borax per 

 100 Ibs. cossettes). The results obtained were no more encour- 

 aging than those realized by the addition of lime or salt, which 

 has the opposite object in view, that is to say to actuate the 

 fermentation. Lime helps the fermentation by the formation 

 of butyric acid, which gives to the cossettes, however, a disa- 

 greeable flavor. 



All chemical substances added to cossettes have but the effect 

 of putting them into such condition as will cause them to be 

 rejected by the animals to which they are fed. 



It may be admitted upon general principles that the cossette Surface siloing, 

 residuums will be possessed of keeping powers provided the 

 water they contain can drain off, and that the product be well 

 protected from the rain and variations of the exterior air. A 

 very simple arrangement for surface siloing is shown in Fig. 10. 

 On each side of the pile are suitable ditches that carry off the 

 dripping water from the moist pulp; the earth covering is 

 taken from the ditches. A and B show layers of straw pro- 

 jecting beyond the sides, and these act as drains from the in- 

 terior. 



The system of surface storing of beet cossettes as it exists at 

 Alvarado, in connection with the silos and the dairy, is fully 



