130 
Report on the Practice of Ensilage, 
gave instructions for other silos to be built. Unfortunately, his 
death shortly afterwards put an end to his projects. 
So far as I can judge, the first Frenchman to call attention to 
this method of preserving corn was the Count de Lasteyrie, who 
published a work on the subject in 1819. Then a trial of the 
system was made by M. Ternaux at Saint Ouen, and the 
" Societe royale et centrale d'Agriculture de France " appointed 
a commission to report on the experiment. This report, pre- 
sented in December 1826, was eminently unfavourable, and 
for a considerable time prevented any further attempts at the 
ensilage of corn. M. Doyere explains that the conditions 
under which the experiment was made were so extremely un- 
favourable, that failure was a foregone conclusion. He mentions 
specially a very porous subsoil close to the Seine, and subject 
to infiltrations of water from it, no attempt to render the walls 
of the silo water-tight, and so forth. Therefore one need not 
wonder that the corn was not well preserved. 
After the publication of M. Doyere's report on the Alucite of 
wheat, he was commissioned by the French Government to 
investigate more closely the question of the preservation of 
cereals in silos, more especially in Spain. His report was 
presented to the French Academy of Sciences at the end of 
1855, and published the following year as a pamphlet.* With- 
out stopping to analyse this Report, I think it desirable to give 
the following translation of an article from a French Encyclo- 
paedia,t which embodies most of M. Doyere's conclusions : — 
[Tbaxslation.] 
" Tlie Preservation of Cereals. — This question interests in the highest degree 
every civilized country. It is important for the well'are of nations that, 
when the harvest is superabundant and the corn at a low price, a part of the 
produce in excess should be preserved, so as to circulate the same when a bad 
harvest arrives unexpectedly, and the price of corn tends to rise above the 
ordinary value. But two natural obstacles exist to the preservation of corn. 
They are (1) the dampness which causes it to ferment, and (2) the insects 
which destroy considerable quantities of it. In Egypt, where it never rains, 
and in other countries where rains arc rare, the problem is easily solved by 
the employment of the "silo." The "silo" is simply an excavation, the 
sides of which are lined with masonry, then relined, as also is the bottom, 
with a layer of very dry straw. After the pit or silo has been filled, the 
grain is covered with straw, and the silo is closed by means of an arch in 
masonry, in which is placed an opening with a movable lid, so that one can 
take out the grain from it as needed. The grain is preserved in the silo, 
* ' Mdmoirc but TcDBilage rationnol, systfeme nouveau pour conserver lea grains 
d'nprl'8 les donnces positives de la science et de la pratique, sans de'chet, sans 
pertc do qualite', sans travail, et ii moindres frais que dans tout autre Bystiimc." 
i'ar M. L. Doyorc. 
t ' IJictionnsiire Fran<;ai8 illustrd ct Kncyclopddie Uuivcrselle, par B. Dupiney 
do Vorepierre," FariB; Michel-Levy frferes. lb(>7, t. i. p. 503. 
