EUSILAaE, -147 



tion not only brings up the temperature to the right point, but as a 

 direct result of the formation of carbonic acid, -which is heavier 

 than air, this last is driven out of the fermenting heap. If the tem- 

 perature of the air is already high enough, the filling should be done 

 quickly, but not so quickly as to prevent the contents from settling 

 down and a certain amount of fermentation setting in. The pit 

 should be filled with the fodder -within about a foot of the top. 

 The covering should consist of bamboo or other cheap matting, 

 overlaid -with sufficient closely-rammed earth to create a pressure 

 of from 100 to 150 lbs. to the square foot. The contents of the pit 

 ■will continue to subside, and -with them also the covering, -which 

 should be constantly -watched for cracks, until there is no further 

 settling. Unless the contents are -well compressed, they become 

 overheated and the silage is rendered poor and uneatable. At the 

 end of from three to six months the silage is ready for use, but it 

 can of course be kept unopened for several months longer. The 

 portions at the top and sides are nearly al-ways over-fermented and 

 not fit to be eaten, but all the rest is highly nutritious and -whole- 

 some, although it possesses a peculiar flavour and odour, to -which 

 cattle must generally become accustomed before they take to it. 



A more elaborate method, -which is, however, perhaps unneces- 

 sarily expensive, is to line the pit -with masonry and cement, and 

 effect the compression with planks and mechanical appliances. 



What occurs in the pit while the silage is forming may be briefly 

 described. Provided the temperature is not too high, minute organ- 

 isms (ferments), the germs of which are enclosed with the fodder, 

 grow and multiply rapidly. Under the action of these ferments 

 certain acids, the most important of which are lactic and butyric, 

 are formed at the expense of the carbo-hydrates present in the 

 fodder. If air is not perfectly excluded, oxidation becomes too 

 rapid, and the temperature rises high enough to kill a large propor- 

 tion of the ferments, thereby arresting the formation of the two 

 acids just named, so that sweet instead of sour silage is produced. 

 Whichever kind of silage results, there is a loss of carbo-hydrates 

 and of nitrogenous matters (especially of true albuminoids) and a 

 consequent increase in the proportion of indigestible fibre. The 

 ibotal loss of solid matters varies from 24 to 28 per cent. 



The difference between sweet and sour silage may be summed 

 up thus. Sweet silage contains somewhat less water, a smaller 

 quantity of acids (sweet silage from 0-02 to 0-1 per cent., sour up 

 to 2 per cent.), and about \ per cent, more albuminoids, but 2 per 

 cent, less carbo-hydrates, and about 3 per cent, more undigestible 

 fibre. Moreover, it docs not keep so well as sour silage, and, when 



