January, 1909,] 



51 



Edible Products. 



or stack shortly after being cut, aud 

 while the cells are still living, this 

 oxidation is the cause of the rise of 

 temperature. By means of it also the 

 starchy substances of the cells are 

 changed into sugar, and the sweet 

 flavour of sweet ensilage is the result. 

 When the cells continue living and 

 oxidation continues alcohol is formed 

 and the feeding value is accordingly 

 diminished. But when the heat evolved 

 by this process of oxidation has raised 

 the temperature to 122°Fahr. the vitality 

 of the cells is destroyed, and further 

 oxidation accordingly ceases. There are 



TWO WAYS OF STORING SILAGE, 



in the stack and pit. The former has 

 the advantage of its cheapness, but 

 experience has shown that it is far 

 more difficult to handle and that the 

 results are not so good, while the waste 

 is great and that it requires pressure. 

 In the pit or silo it is much easeir bo 

 regulate the temperature, and there is 

 far less waste while no pressure at all 

 is necessary. There are also two kinds 

 of ensilage made, the sweet and the 

 sour, the former for fattening aud the 

 latter for milk production. For the 

 making of silage the crop must be cut 

 when there is the most sap at maturity. 

 This is best ascertained by experience 

 which agrees with the average of 75 per 

 cent, of moisture. A practice adopted 

 by many practical men is to take a 

 quantity of the grass in the hands and 

 twist it like a rope so that if moisture 

 drops from it freely it is time for cut- 

 ting. If the crop is not caught at the 

 right period there is a loss of nutritive 

 value in the silage in proportion to the 

 delay, for at this stage the assimilative 

 process of the plant has practically 

 ceased, and its energies are devoted to 

 the transference of the nutritive mate- 

 rial from the leaves and stems to the 

 seed. If cut too early and crop has too 

 much moisture it will be difficult to get 

 the temperature to rise sufficiently high. 

 The result would be as explained above, 

 that the fermenting germs will not be 

 killed and in conjunction with oxidation 

 the nutritive value is greatly lessened. 

 If 



MAKING SILAGE IN THE STACK, 



the spot chosen must be one most con- 

 venient for stock to feed. The stack 

 should be as large and square as possible 

 otherwise there is much waste. Rapid 

 work for sour ensilage and slow for 

 sweet, temperature from 80 to 90 degrees 

 for the former and 125 to 140 degrees 

 Fahr. for the latter. If sour ensilage is 

 being made and the temperature is 

 found to rise above 90 degrees the stack 

 must be stamped down until the tem- 



perature is lowered. To test the tem- 

 perature from time to time a simple con- 

 trivance can be made. Ten feet length 

 of gas-piping with a steel point welded 

 on to it is driven into the stuff to any 

 depth and a small thermometer let 

 down by means of a string. If the tem- 

 perature is allowed to go too high the 

 silage becomes dark coloured, dry and 

 almost charred, but this contingency 

 can always be prevented by adding 

 further green stuff, or, if the stack is 

 finished, putting on weights. While 

 building the stack or filling the silo 

 great care should be exercised to have 

 the distribution even, not lumpy, and 

 to have the stuff wel trampled round 

 the sides. If this is not done the air 

 gets in round the walls, and here and 

 there well into the mass, and destruc- 

 tion follows accordingly. The bacteria 

 present originally and the cells of the 

 plants ensilaged will have been killed by 

 the high temperature, so that if the air 

 be allowed ready access thereafter a 

 fresh infection of microbes and fungi 

 is admitted, and decomposition more 

 or less results. Stacked silage has many 

 apparent attractions for a beginner 

 because of its supposed cheapness. Ex- 

 perience has proved that 



THE PIT IS BETTER AND MORE ECO- 

 NOMICAL. 



The waste in a stack is very great. As 

 a rule the surface of a stack to the depth 

 of about a foot or more is rotted and 

 completely spoiled. This waste with the 

 annual cost of weighting down the stack 

 and then removing the weights, and 

 the considerable loss that comes subse- 

 quently from the exposed condition of 

 the stack are all which more than 

 compensate for the supposed cheapness 

 in the first instance of the stack itself. 

 For weighting stacks all sorts of mate- 

 rial can be used — stones, bags of earth, 

 kerosine tins filled with earth or con- 

 crete, logs of timber, etc., aiming at 

 about 200 lbs, per square yard. There 

 are also many mechanical devices con- 

 trived and used. If ensilage is to be 

 made in silos or pits the construction of 

 them should be on the highest land 

 available as there is less chance of soak- 

 age, a pit 15 by 15 feet will hold 50 tons 

 of silage. The pit must be bricked and 

 roofed over. The same principles apply 

 to making as in the case of stack, but 

 of course in an airtight silo it is 

 much easier to regulate temperature 

 and thus either to make sour or sweet 

 as desired. It is much the best process 

 to chaff the stuff into the silo especially 

 heavy stuff like maize. Short grass 

 needs no chaffing. I made pit silage for 

 some years with maize and other crops 



