33 



Ensilage of Potatoes. 



ment already mentioned, but they were more cohesive ; more- 

 over, the cooking appeared to be less advanced, and upon 

 examination this proved to be the case. The reason of the 

 difference was that the large entire stalks and cobs of the 

 maize necessarily diminished the tight pressure, the tempera- 

 ture was not so high as in the compact mass of clover, and 

 consequently the potatoes were not so well cooked. 



Chemical analysis showed that the potatoes put into the 

 clover silo had been less desiccated than in the maize; but the 

 most striking differences were, on the one hand, the quantity 

 of matter rendered soluble by the fermentation of the clover, 

 and, on the other, the high percentage of starch cooked in this 

 silo, consequently rendering the potatoes easily assimilable. 

 It may be noticed also that only mere traces of dextrine and 

 soluble starch were found in the potatoes from the maize silo, 

 while the normal insoluble starch amounted to nearly a third 

 of the whole constituents. M. Girard concludes that the 

 same results would have been obtained in the maize as in the 

 clover under similar conditions of temperature, pressure, and 

 moisture. 



These experiments have also led to another important 

 result. It appears that, when taken out of the silo, these 

 crushed potatoes give off their moisture very rapidly after 

 exposure to the air, and are transformed into a hard 

 substance, containing only some 15 to 20 per cent, of 

 water, in which condition they may be kept for a 

 long period. When required for feeding purposes, it is 

 sufficient to soak them in water for a while, which causes 

 them to swell and absorb the moisture until they contain some 

 60 to 65 per cent, of water, and thus regain their softness and 

 digestibility. 



M. Tisserand communicated the results obtained by the 

 ensilage of raw potatoes by M. Courmouls-Houles. The latter 

 took a mixture of several kinds of raw potatoes, chopped, 

 with the addition of 2 lbs. of agricultural salt per 1000 lbs. 

 of potatoes, and put them into a silo weighted with 

 about 25 cwts. per square yard. The total cost of washing, 

 chopping, putting into silo, and weighing fifty tons of 

 potatoes was £3, or about fd. per cwt. The silo, made on 



