ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 8 1 



exclusion of the air. If this is perfectly accomplished at the 

 time of filling the silo, there will be neither heat, fermentation, 

 decomposition or foul odor. 



Mr. S. M. Calcord, of Dover, Mass., a chemist interested in 

 the preservation of substances fresh after long experiment in- 

 vented a system of ensilaging claimed to be without heat or 

 fermentation to any destructive degree. It is a patented system 

 and controlled by means of pipes within the silo, and other 

 special means. By means of this silo governor it is claimed by 

 such men as Edmund M. Wood, Boston, Mass.; T. E. Rug- 

 gles, Milton, Mass.; Charles L. Copeland, Milton, Mass.; C. 

 A. Davis, Natick, Mass.; Bernard Monaghan, Dedham, Mass., 

 that the matter is under control. These gentlemen claim 

 to make ensilage in air-tight silos, cutting the corn in 

 one-half to three-quarter inch lengths, weighing ioo pounds 

 to the square foot, and with this pressure getting one foot 

 or more of juice in the bottom of the silo. The air is 

 removed from the silo by using the silo governor, which 

 causes a heavy vertical, with very little lateral, pressure. Thus, 

 gentlemen, we obtain as uniform results, cold, moist, soft and 

 pulpy ensilage, of the natural color of the corn, without offen- 

 sive odor, imparting no odor to the silo, barn, hands or clothing, 

 but often of a bright, sweet smell, and sometimes the odor of 

 nice, dry corn-fodder. We feed an average of sixty pounds 

 daily to each cow, and our cattle eat it all without any waste. 



When we speak of fermentation and heat the idea is not in- 

 tended to be conveyed that a silo can be filled with green vege- 

 table matter without eliminating heat. Any succulent vegetable 

 matter piled together in the presence of air commences to heat. 

 If allowed to go on, destructive fermentation sets in, and at 

 length the whole mass becomes putrid and rotten. 



Sweet ensilage, as commonly understood, does not represent 

 preserved green forage; the term sweet, as originally used, was 

 not used in a sense as opposite to sour, but as opposed to putrid 

 (as sweet meat.) The effect of fermentation is first alcoholic, 

 next acid, and finally putridity. All the old European systems' 



