2 BULLETIN 953, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
depths in a small earth pit silo. Calculating on the basis of the 
author's tables, one notes losses as high as 74 per cent of the water 
content and 28 per cent of the crude protein of the original maize 
in the pit at a depth of 42 centimeters, but at a depth of 170 centi- 
meters only a 3 per cent loss of water and a 7 per cent loss of the 
crude protein. His tables indicate a larger loss of nitrogen- free 
extract in the upper than in the lower layers and a gain in crude 
fat in the lower layers. The loss in crude fiber is small except in 
one sample. The change in ash content varies over a wide range. 
Weiske and Schulze (2) report experiments in which they ensiled 
maize containing only 12 per cent dry matter. They used two water- 
tight vats holding 125 kilos and 110 kilos, respectively. The first 
one, containing maize well packed in, lost 26.1 per cent of its dry 
matter and 37.8 per cent of its crude protein in 112 days. The 
second one, containing maize loosely thrown in, lost 35.8 per cent 
of its dry matter and 54.2 per cent of its crude protein in 115 days. 
Both tub silos lost heavily in crude fiber and nitrogen- free extract, 
but gained very markedly in ether extract. 
Jordan (3) states that in the course of three years' work, using a 
stone-basement root cellar as a silo, he found only a 5.18 per cent to 
11.82 per cent loss of organic matter, which appeared to be almost 
wholly in the carbohydrates other than crude fiber. He notes ap- 
parent gains in crude fiber in two out of three cases and losses of 
from per cent to 0.77 per cent in the crude protein present at 
ensiling. He bases his calculations on the assumption that there is 
no loss of ash during ensiling. 
Several years later, at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station, 
Armsby and Caldwell (4), in connection with a comparative feeding 
experiment, using silage and dry corn fodder, found a loss of 10.76 
per cent of the total dry matter ensiled. Their tables show a large 
loss in the ash and in the albuminoids, a small loss in crude fiber, 
and a large loss in the nitrogen-free extract, with a large gain in 
nonalbuminoids and in the crude fat. 
Henry and Woll (5) , at the Wisconsin Experiment Station, studied 
the losses in ensiling green corn by using three different varieties of 
corn in three square, wooden bay silos, holding from 8J to 12 tons 
each. They report 22 and 24 per cent losses of the total dry matter 
ensiled in two of the silos and 31.8 per cent loss in the remaining 
one, which broke and let in air. They find the largest losses to be in 
nitrogen-free extract, crude protein, and crude fiber. There was a 
large gain in ether extract in two of the silos. They also find a 
small gain of ash in one silo with a large loss in the others, which is 
explained as a translocation of the mineral matter caused by pressure 
of the upper layers on the lower ones, by movement of the juices of 
green fodder or by diffusion. 
