I I 18 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 1G, 1922 
normally the case in good silage material, fermen¬ 
tation begins at once. The first signs of a change 
to lie noticed include a rise in temperature and the 
creation of carbonic acid gas. The temperature in 
the silo rarely exceeds 85 to 00 deg. F., except near 
the surface, where the fermentation process is more 
vehement, owing to the presence of air. In the other- 
parts of the silo the oxygen is largely consumed 
during the earlier stages of fermentation, or is 
driven out by the carbonic acid gas. From this 
point on oxygen is fatal to the proper preservation 
of the silage material, because this gas permits the 
development of, or rather is necessary for. the 
growth of molds, the chief spoilers of silage. These 
changes, which are rather normal during the for¬ 
mation of good silage, take place almost entirely in 
the absence of air. Such changes include the pro¬ 
duction of certain acids, chiefly lactic acid and 
acetic acid. Lactic acid is the principal organic 
acid which occurs in “sour milk.” 
CREAM RIPENING.—The ripening of cream in¬ 
tended for tin 1 production of acid buttter is caused 
by lactic acid bacteria, and wherever first-class acid 
butter is made, great care is taken to provide and 
inoculate the cream with a good strain or family 
of bacteria, producing a mild and agreeable flavor. 
The inoculation of cream with the proper kind of 
bacteria insures the predominance of this kind in 
the ripening process. Not only are the members of 
such a family predominant in numbers from the 
very moment of inoculation, but their products of 
growth, that is, the acid which they form, inhibits 
the multiplication of other organisms which might 
be less desirable, as far as the quality of the cream 
is concerned. If it be important to obtain a satis¬ 
factory flavor in human food, it stands to reason 
that it would he at least desirable to have a good 
flavor in animal feed. And just as we are able to 
control the souring or the ripening of cream through 
the introduction of certain kinds of bacteria, it is 
also logical to assume that the application of bac¬ 
teria to silage would facilitate the ripening or 
formentation of this silage along certain desirable 
lines. 
INOCULATING SILAGE.—On this continent the 
Americans were the first to attempt inoculation of 
silage, and good results from such inoculation were 
reported in several agricultural papers during the 
Slimmer of 1919. These reports induced us to try 
out silage inoculation with lactic acid bacteria at 
the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. B. C. 
Two other farms in the province were provided with 
the same kind of bacteria in the Fall of 1919. In 
every instance most satisfactory results were ob¬ 
tained with inoculation. In our own particular case 
it so happened that the silage cutter broke down 
after we had tilled one silo. The rest of the corn 
ci uld not he left standing until spare parts were 
obtained, as it had already been touched by frost. 
We were therefore compelled to cut and stock it. 
Owing to extremely slow delivery of spare parts, the 
Corn had to remain in stooks for six weeks during 
a very rainy period, and. be it admitted for the 
sake of truth, and in spite of common local allega¬ 
tions, to the contrary, that the British Columbia rain 
is just as wet as the prairie Winter is cold. Any¬ 
how, at the end of that period the corn was badly 
affected through the development of molds and 
fungi, and was generally in very poor condition at 
tin time when we were ready to till the second silo. 
If this corn had been permitted to ferment of its 
own accord, it is very probable that undesirable 
micro-organisms might have accomplished unpleas¬ 
ant results. To prevent this from happening, we 
added l J /o gals, per load of a good lactic acid cul¬ 
ture, besides treating the material in the best pos¬ 
sible way as regards cutting, wetting and packing. 
We were most agreeably surprised to find, when the 
silo was opened the following Spring, that this 
silage came out even better, ns far as quality and 
flavor were concerned, than the one which bad been 
made without the addition of lactic acid culture, 
although it consisted of sound, good corn in excel¬ 
lent condition. In another instance a seed corn 
grower in the interior of British Columbia wanted 
to make bis dry stover into silage after harvesting 
the ears. lie had attempted to do this before, but 
had achieved only moderately good results in spite 
of careful wetting and packing. The use of'a lactic 
acid culture in 1919 brought about a wonderful im¬ 
provement of the fermentation, and he has secured 
good silage every year after inoculating the dry 
stover. 
A TEST OF INOCULATION.—Inoculation of 
silage was subjected to a very severe test in the Fall 
of 1920, when a large acreage of oats and other 
grains were standing in the stooks during an excep¬ 
tionally long and extremely intense period of rain. 
In many cases it was impossible to save any of this 
grain, and quite a number of farmers decided, on 
our advice, to put the material into the silo. We 
generally recommended the use of 150 to 200 lbs. of 
gx-een corn, or mangels (including the tops) to he 
There surely is considerable competition among country 
people to grow big sunflowers. Just why competition 
should run in this line we do not quite understand. Tile 
picture here shown is sent by .Miss Hattie Guthrie of 
Tompkins Co,. N. Y. She says the stalk is i2 ft. high 
and strong enough to support the ladder, with the man 
on it. The flower measures 15 in. across. There has 
been some criticism ahum using sunflower stalks as bean 
poles on the plea that such stalks are not strong enough 
to hold up the vines. That would not hold against 
such ;i vigorous tree as is here shown. 
mixed in and cut together with each load of dam¬ 
aged grain. Besides this, we supplied from the 
university lactic acid culture for the purpose of 
inoculation, and the result was most satisfactory. 
Every one of our friends reported success from pre¬ 
paring silage ill this manner and. while we do not 
contend that inoculation alone secures good silage, 
1J lie Doesn't Make a Duirgman There Will He 
Something Wrong About II in It ringing Up. Fig. J/SJ/ 
wt fed reasonably certain that one may consider the 
adding of bacteria as a very cheap insurance pre¬ 
mium well worth paying in order to obtain good 
silage. 
HOW IT IS DONE.—The process of inoculation is 
quite simple: All that one needs is a small quan¬ 
tity of first-class lactic acid bacteria. vSucli cultures 
may be produced by and obtained from any reputable 
dak’-y or bacteriological laboratory at a very small 
cost. The contents of the bottle are mixed up with 
sweet, skim-milk, which should be kept at a tempera¬ 
ture of 05° to 70° F. during 24 to 48 hours. The 
easiest and safest way to secure uniform inoculation 
is to allow the fluid, which may bo diluted with 
water, to trickle into the blower by means of a hose 
at the rate of 1-1.5 gals, per load. Where other 
means are used of transporting the silage than the 
blower, one may distribute tlit* lactic acid culture 
in the silo with an ordinary sprinkling can. 
FARM EXPERIMENTS.—It must he frankly ad¬ 
mitted that owing to limited facilities we have no 
definite comparative data regarding the effect of 
such inoculation, and we are well aware of the need 
for corresponding investigations. However, as far 
as our experience goes, and until negative results 
may have been secured, we intend to practise inocu¬ 
lation when filling our silos. The farmers here in 
British Columbia who have once tried this method 
have all continued to use it, and their numbers are 
growing steadily. As stated above, inoculation was 
attempted only on three farms in the Fall of 1919; 
in 1920 it was tried oil 24 farms and, in 1921. not 
less than 10 farmers used bacterial inoculation. So 
far, in 1922, 40 farmers have applied for lactic acid 
culture for the inoculation of Summer silage made 
from peas, oats and vetch mixture. 
DIFFERENCES IN LACTIC ACID BACTERIA. 
—"Does if matter very much,” one might say, 
‘•whether or not these lactic acid bacteria be particu¬ 
larly well bred? Lactic acid bacteria are always 
contained in sour milk, and could one not simply let 
the milk sour and use such sour milk for the pur¬ 
pose?” It is very dillicult indeed to answer objec¬ 
tions like this without the hacking of extensive inves¬ 
tigations. If would seem, however, tin t if in butter- 
making certain strains of lactic acid bacteria create 
n better and a more lasting flavor than others, the 
same would hold true in regard to silage fermenta¬ 
tion. We all know that there may he just as much 
difference between two kinds of sour milk as there 
is between a good well-bred animal aiul a scrub. In 
the former the pedigree is given: in the latter good, 
indifferent and poor blood may be represented. The 
chances are that the poor blood predominates. Or¬ 
dinary sour milk or buttermilk, resulting from the 
accumulation of several days, contains large num¬ 
bers of undesirable organisms and is unfit for silage 
purposes. Consequently we intend to continue ob¬ 
taining well-bred cultures from the very best source, 
and we feel greatly obliged to Prof. Sadler and bis 
associates in the Department of Dairying who have 
co-operated with the Agronomy Department on this 
and other occasions. 
IMPROVING RESULTS.—It is true, of course, 
that good silage has been produced in the past with¬ 
out inoculation. But. it is also true that in a number 
of cases the fermentation—which to no small extent 
determines the quality of the silage—has been rather 
unsatisfactory. We do not claim that the predom¬ 
inance of undesirable micro-organisms has directly 
caused such unsatisfactory fermentation in every 
instance, but it seems at least very plausible to sup¬ 
pose that it has happened on more occasions than 
generally assumed. Anyway, good silage has been 
produced wherever inoculation has been attempted 
here in British Columbia, and we consider if an 
insurance well worth taking. The premium is low. 
r. A. ROVING. 
University of British Columbia. 
A Season‘s Experience With a Hand 
Duster 
HE SMALL POTATO PATCH.—From the cradle 
I have bated the small patch of potatoes be¬ 
cause of the tiresome and inefficient methods of 
controlling the insect itests and the diseases. Every 
farmer that grows just enough potatoes and garden 
truck for home use can sympathize on this particu¬ 
lar point. Well can 1 remember carrying water by 
the pailful, shoveling Paris green by the spoonful, 
then pumping the solution on the half acre or so of 
vines with a quart sprayer. Then later on the cab¬ 
bage we tried out dusting, using hydrated lime and 
arsenate of lead in an attempt to keep down the 
worms and drive away the aphis. Our first method 
was to put the dust In a burlap sack and shake the 
bag above each plant, sifting a portion of the con¬ 
tents over the leaves. This method is still in use in 
the cabbage country around l’helps, N. Y. During 
the present season the writer secured several of the 
hand dusters now being advertised, and a thorough 
trial was given eacli type. I have tried dusting 
practically all the garden truck that we ordinarily 
