Sept, i , 19x8 Acidity of Silage Made from Various Crops 
403 
silos. One man was kept busy tramping and water was added when 
necessary in sufficient quantities to raise the average moisture content 
to 75 per cent. It was not necessary to add water to the peas, clover, 
and alfalfa when siloed alone. 
When the silo was filled, a tightly fitting lid made of 2-inch fir plank 
was placed on the silage and 800 pounds of brick were evenly distributed 
on the lid. This pressure insured the proper settling of the silage, and 
made the conditions very similar to those found in a big silo, and in 
addition reduced the spoiled silage to a minimum. 
Babcock and Russel (r) assert that silage made in small containers 
will be equal to the silage made in large silos, if conditions of siloing are 
properly controlled. Eckles and his collaborators (6) in their investiga¬ 
tion on com silage used small wooden silos 3 feet in diameter and 6 feet 
in height with the addition of a weight on the top of the silo to bring the 
silage under similar conditions as are found in the large silos. Their 
conclusions were as follows: 
A comparison of silage from a large silo and of silage from the same com put into 
a small experimental silo showed the quality to be the same, as judged by appearance 
and by chemical analysis. For all purposes, except studying temperature changes, 
the small silo is believed sufficiently accurate for experimental purposes. 
State or Maturity or the DirrERENT Crops 
Peas were cut at the time the peas were beginning to harden in the pod, 
and the foliage around the bottom just beginning to turn brown. 
Oats were cut when the kernels were in the dough stage. 
Clover was the first cutting, cut at the stage when a few of the blossoms 
were beginning to turn brown. 
Alfalfa was also from the first cutting, cut at the time when the new 
shoots began to appear. 
Wheat straw used in the clover and alfalfa series contained a small 
quantity of wheat. 
Examination or Silage 
All silos were allowed to remain closed for a period of three months, 
with the exception of the clover silo, which was closed for four months. 
In all cases sufficient time elapsed to insure a complete acid fermenta¬ 
tion. Samples were obtained by boring into the silos at a height of 3 
feet from the floor, and by means of the auger removing quantities suf¬ 
ficient for the analyses. The holes in the sides of the silos were then 
stoppered with wooden plugs. 
The silage samples were treated in the same manner as described in the 
early part of this paper for the determination of volatile and nonvolatile 
adds. 
