280 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1897. 
_Ensilage of Potatoes. 
THz experiment of placing potatoes in the silo has not, we believe, yet been 
tried in Queensland. Tt will, therefore, interest farmers to know that the trials 
made by the I'rench scientists, M.M. Vauchez, Marchal, and de Monicault, 
not only with the potato, but also with the beetroot, have given surprisingly 
satisfactory results. Irom the Journal of the Board of Agriculture (London) 
we learn that, in these experiments, potatoes buried in a silo of crimson 
clover (Trifolium incarnata) acquired the characteristic colour of that plant;as 
well as the smell developed by fermentation. The tubers were much flattened 
by the heavy pressure to which they had been subjected ; their cohesion also 
was greatly modified, and it was quite easy to pull them to pieces. The potatoes 
were examined microscopically and chemically by M. Girard, who ascertained 
that they had been cooked during the process. Thus MM. Vauchez and 
Marchal appear to have demonstrated the practicability of this method of 
cooking potatoes for fodder. The temperature in a silo of green fodder plants 
rises to nearly 160 deesrees Fahr. ; the potato is automatically cooked, and 
acquires the property of being easily digestible, which is requisite for its 
consumption by cattle. ° 
That a.high temperature (about 160 degrees Fahr.) is necessary, is shown 
by an experiment carried out by M. Mir, who, in order to determine whether 
maize, in spite of its size, could be preserved without being cut up, placed 
large quantities of the entire plant (stalks, leaves, and cobs) into a silo, and 
enclosed also about a ton of potatoes in the centre. On opening the silo, the 
maize and potatoes were both perfectly good. The tubers were flattened 
similarly to those in the experiment already mentioned, but they were more 
cohesive; moreoyer, 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 temperature 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 the 
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 sub- 
stance 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 fora while, which causes them to swell and 
absorb the moisture until they contain from 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-Houlés. The latter took a mixture of several kinds of 
raw potatoes, chopped, with the addition of 2 lb. agricultural salt per 1,000 lb. 
potatoes, and put them into a silo weighted with about 25 cwt. per square 
