120 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The composition of the stalks of green maize is subject to very -wide 

 variations, as may be seen from the few analyses quoted. This, then, is 

 a primary cause of differences in the composition of the ensilage, and 

 while it is due largely to the period in its growth at which the stalks 

 are cut, yet in those of the same stage of development there are often 

 marked differences in composition even in the same field. 



In a series of analyses of the stalks of Egyptian sugar and Lindsay's 

 Horse-tooth maize, completed by me and published in the Report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture for 1881 and 1882, p. 564, these variations 

 are shown. The specimens, the analyses of which are here given, were 

 all from a small plot of carefully cultivated stalks only a few rods square, 

 and yet they show the largest deviations from a regular series in many 

 instances. 



The variations which are found in the composition of the stalks, virile 

 they are in a condition to be packed in silos — that is to say, from the ap- 

 pearance of the tops till the grain is w T ell formed — are included within 

 the following limits : 



Constituents. 



Water in green substance 



Dry substance 



Ash 



Oil 



Carbonvtfrates 



Crude fiber 



Albuminoids 



Per cent, of nitrogen as non-albuminoid 



91.60 



79. 10 



20. 90 



8. 40 



9. 72 



3.54 



3. 48 



1.68 



69.40 



50. 60 



31. 29 



21. 56 



11.53 



1. 67 



70. 04 



18. 00 



These limits, together with a study of the individual analyses, serve 

 to show the primary cause of the difference in ensilages. 



As to variations produced by other causes, illustrations are found in 

 ensilages numbered 1652, 1653, 1677, and 1693 — 1652 and 1653 are analy- 

 ses of ensilage from old and young stalks. The younger would natu- 

 rally contain more ash and albuminoids as it went into the silo, but the 

 nitrogenous substances would be in a condition making them more liable 

 to conversion into ammonia salts from the greater amount of soluble 

 nitrogen. This is the case with No. 1652. In it the ash is higher than 

 in the older ensilage, but the nitrogen is lower from a greater loss. The 

 relative amount of non-albuminoid nitrogen is also lower in the younger 

 than in the older sample. In other respects they do not differ largely, 

 although one was from stalks on which the ears were well formed and 

 the other from stalks on which the ears had made no appearance. 



In comparison with the ensilages the dried fodder No. 1654, from 

 stalks of the same field as the old ensilage 1652, shows several advan- 

 tages. As has been already remarked, its nitrogenous constituents have 

 not suffered so much change, only 15.6 being in a non- albuminoid form 

 as compared with 53.3 and 47. 1 per cent, in the ensilages. A smaller 

 loss of carbohydrates has left the relative percentages of fiber, fat, and 

 ash low, and the evidence points to the fact that the stalks must have 

 dried rapidly and with few changes, furnishing a fodder of much better 

 composition than that analyzed in New Jersey. 



In Nos. 1677 and 1693 we have analyses of two specimens of ensilage 

 taken from the same silo within a few T days of each other. One has lost 

 more ash and nitrogen than the other, and this is due probably to greater 

 pressure on the first sample, which has expressed juice carrying with 

 it nitrogenous substance and ash. In other respects they are much 



