THE SYSTHM

OF

PRESERVING GREEN FOOD IN SILOS.

BY

PROFESSOR C. A. GOESSMANN.

[FROM THE TWENT)-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF
THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.)

BOSTON:
Rand, Aberv, & Co., Printers to the Commonwealth,

117 FRANKLIN STREET.

1881.

\ TAGLTO

4

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CST,

T Rear SL KM

PRESERVING GREEN FOOD IN SILOS.

BY

PROFESSOR CS At GOESSMANN.

[FROM THE TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF
THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.)

BOSTON:
Rand, Aberv, & Co., [rinters to the Commontuealth,
117 FRANKLIN STREET.

1881.

0!

THE SYSTEM OF PRESERVING GREEN FOOD IN SILOS.
BY PROFESSOR CILARLES A. GOESSMANN.

Mr. CuatrMAn, AND MEMBERS OF THE STATE BOARD OF
AGRICULTURE, — Complying with an invitation of the Com-
mittee for the Arrangements of this country meeting of tlie
Board, I take the liberty of asking your kind attention and
indulgence for the presentation of a few remarks on the
system of preserving green food in silos for the support of
farm liye-stock. The uncommon interest so generally mani-
fested, of late, in the discussion concerning the merits of
the silo system for storing up green food, is but a deserved
appreciation of the important agricultural problem which
that mode of keeping fodder, in the opinion of some of its
advocates, is destined to solve. As the question how to
feed our farm liye-stock in a rational and an economical
manner can only be considered as second in importance,
in a general farm management, to the question how to
raise our farm-crops in the most economical way, it seems

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 157

but judicious to investigate carefully any system of opera-
tion, new to our farm practice, which proposes to improve
our present chances of securing economically an increased
supply of green food, and thereby enable us to support
more live-stock. The reduced area of lands serving as
natural pastures, their quite frequently exhausted condition,
the large demands for fodder in the dairy business, the in-
creasing prospects of remunerative production of meat for
the general market, the gradual change of an extensive sys-
tem of general farming to an intensive one,— each, in its
own way, tends to direct our attention to the consideration
of the fodder question. Increased production of the fodder-
crops is the most characteristic feature in our modern
intensive system of general farm management. In the pre-
vailing intensive system of farming in the most successful
districts of Europe, from one-third to one-half of the entire
area of cultivated lands is devoted to the raising of fodder-
crops. The statement that plenty of fodder produces plenty
of manure, and that plenty of home-made manure produces
a plenty of remunerative crops, is there quite generally
accepted as a safe rule. As the more prominent discussion
of the silo system in our agricultural periodicals is, com-
paratively speaking, of a quite recent date, and the actual
tests in our farm practice are still of an exceptional occur-
rence, it is not strange that quite opposite views regarding
its real merits in our situation find their advocates. This
stage of opinion is apparently, in a large measure, due to
two circumstances: first, to a frequent misapprehension re-
garding the composition and the feeding value of the silo
product — the ensilage — as compared with the original green
crop; and, second, to the adoption of a different basis for
the estimation of economical points involved. Without in-
tending to detract any thing from the well-deserved recogni-
tion of the merits of the valuable experiments of John M.
Bailey, Esq., of Billerica, Mass., and others elsewhere within
the country, or to anticipate the final results of their practi-
cal investigations, I propose to discuss in a few subsequent
pages the silo system with reference to its history in Europe,
and from the stand-point of a careful scientific inquiry.

The preservation of green food in silos is at present
mainly recommended for juicy plants, or parts of plants,

158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and for certain vegetable-refuse matter from several branches
of industry. Prominent among these various substances are
the stalks and leaves of the Indian-corn in blossom, the
leaves of the sugar-beet roots, and the stems and leaves of
potatoes. Grass and clover in wet summer seasons, the
refuse pulp of the beet-root from the beet-sugar manufac-
ture, and the potato refuse from the starch manufacture,
also diseased and frost-bitten potatoes, and roots of various
descriptions, have been kept in silos, and thereby improved
for feeding purposes; and, finally, coarse grass-like plants,
as rushes (/Juneacee) and carices, or sedges (Cyperacee),
which in their green state are, as a rule, but little eaten by
cattle, have been prepared, in some instances, in silos, into a
quite palatable and digestible cattle-food. The treatment
of these and similar articles for their conversion into ensi-
lage, or sour fodder, is usually carried out in either dry
ditches or cemented cisterns especially constructed for that
purpose. The green food, or the factory-refuse mass, after
being reduced to a proper size for advantageous close pack-
ing, is put in layers, in the space prepared for it, and thor-
oughly trampled down, so as to leave no air-spaces in the
mass. Ilorses are frequently turned to account to secure
the desired compactness. In piling the material into the
pits prepared for it, pains are taken to raise it, in the centre,
to a conical-shaped elevated top somewhat above the level
of the surrounding ground, whilst on the sides it is kept
somewhat lower. ‘This course is pursued to prevent subse-
quent depression in the centre of the silo. As soon as the
packing-down is accomplished, at least two feet in thickness
of earth is filled upon the mass, usually without using anv
layer of straw or boards to keep the vegetable matter and
the soil separated from each other. The success of the entire
operation depends on the dryness of the pit, the careful
packing-down of the mass in the silo, especially along its
sides, and the keeping-out of the air, in particular during
the earlier period of fermentation. The contents of a care-
fully prepared silo soon undergo a peculiar fermentation ; in
some instances, of an acid character; in some of an indif-
ferent or slightly alkaline character, which continues from
one to two wecks, when they are ready for use: they keep
in that condition for from six to eight and more months.

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 159

The original green food loses, during the period of fermenta-
tion, more or less of its weight, amounting, in some instances,
to from forty to fifty per cent. This loss consists of more or
less organic matter, and largely of water of vegetation.
Very juicy articles shrink, for this reason, most: they are
also apt to lose soluble constituents by leakage, in case the
silos are constructed in a loose sandy or gravelly soil, instead
of a compact soil or in cemented masonry. Some of the
starchy or saccharine constituents are invariably transformed
into lactic acid,—the acid contained in sour milk, —and
other products characteristic of a slimy fermentation under
the exclusion of air: in some instances considerable quanti-
ties of alcoholic products and fatty acids are noticed. The
nitrogen percentage of the ensilage is, for obvious reasons,
usually higher than that of the green food which served for
its production; although a small percentage of the nitroge-
nous constituents of the green crops is destroyed, and changed
into compounds of ammonia or of volatile alkaline com-
pounds of a similar character. The color and the odor of
the silo product depends on the success of the treatment,
and resembles more or less that of the material used: in
case of green food it is usually either dark green or yellow-
ish green. <A failure of the silo process is readily noticed
by a strong, unpleasant putrid odor, and the dark brown or
black color of the vegetable matter, which is also covered by
fungi growth.

As agriculturalists differ not only in the details of carry-
ing on the silo system in case of different materials, but
also with reference to the same kind, I propose to describe
subsequently some of the experiments of competent parties,
to give a more comprehensive idea concerning the silo sys-
tem as carried out abroad. Haying on a previous occasion
(Report, 1879-80, On the Feeding Value of Corn) described
the rules which guide us in our decision regarding the com-
parative feeding value of our various articles of fodder, I
omit further details.

Clover Ensilage.— The ditches were three to four feet
wide, and from four to five feet deep, with sides slanting
slightly towards the centre. Sixteen cubic feet of space were
counted for every ton of green red clover in blossom. The
closely packed green clover filled two-thirds of the depth of

;
i
}
;

160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the ditch, lined with compact earth; the remaining space
was filled with the earth obtained from its construction ;
subsequently the soil was raised to from six to eight inches
above the level of the surrounding ground. The contents of
the silo, after ten months’ keeping, were found to be of a
dark-green color, of a slightly acid re-action, and of an
agreeable odor. They were eagerly eaten by cattle.

The composition of the clover (Zrifolium pratense) before
entering the silo, and after its removal, was as follows : —

FRESH GREEN CLOVER. ENSILAGE.

Ver cent. Per cent.
Water . ° . . ° : 77.30 79.14
Nitrogenous matter. z 5 4.55 4.62
Ether abstract (fat, ete.) . 5 1.19 2 03
Non-nitrogenous extract matter . 9.20 5.98
Crude fibre . : 5 a 5.83 5.80
Ash . : : . : : 1.93 2.43

A sample of both substances, calculated for a perfectly
dry material, was found to consist as follows : —

FRESH GREEN CLOVER. | ENSILAGE.

Per cent. Per cent.
Water . : 2 ‘ 5 é - -
Nitrogenous matter. 5 é 20.04 Qos:
Ether abstract (fat, ete.) . S 5.26 9.76
Non-nitrogenous extract matter . 40.53 28.66
Crude fibre . : é ° : 25.68 21.82
JNA 5 : : oS 8.49 11.63

An examination of these analytical results shows that the
amount of nitrogenous matter and the fatty acids have in-
creased somewhat in the ensilage, as compared with the
green clover; whilst the digestible non-nitrogenous matter
of the clover has been reduced to from six to eight per cent
in quantity. The total amount of organic matter destroyea
has not been stated: it is no doubt larger, and quite worthy
of notice, judging from the results obtained in the succeeding
experiment, with a plant of similar character, — esparsette
(Onobrychis sativa), cultivated saintfoin, —by H. Weiske.

Esparsette Ensilage.— The material which served in the
experiment was cut on the 16th of June. One portion of
the green esparsette was carefully dried, and saved for an
analysis; another portion was packed tightly into a box, and

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 161

buried in the contents of a silo of the previously described
construction. The silo was opened about two months after-
wards for feeding purposes. The box also was opened on
that date, and its contents carefully dried and analyzed.

DRIED ESPARSETTE. DRIED ESPARSETTE ENSILAGE,

Per cent. Per cent.
Water. : : : - -
Nitrogenous matter . 3 : 18.56 20.44
Ether abstract (fat, ete.) . ° 2.89 6.02
Non-nitrogenous extract matter, 38.60 30.88
Crude fibre : ° . 6 33.93 35.18
Ash . 6 . 5 6 : 6.02 7.48

A careful weighing of the green food in the box, before
and after the treatment in the silo, showed that twenty-four
per cent of the organic dry matter of the fresh green plant
had been destroyed by fermentation.

Grass, green lucern, and green lupine have been treated
in silos with similar results. Quite interesting, in this con-
nection, are the experiments with a mixture of green food
and straw, to study the changes of the latter, as far as its
subsequent feeding quality is concerned. Green rye and
green vetch, with straw of wheat and of oats, were chosen
for the investigation. As these two kinds of straw may be
cut somewhat before the full ripening of the grains, without
any injury to the latter, —a course which cannot be safely
followed in the case of barley, etc., — they disintegrate, com-
paratively speaking, quite readily, and thus become in a
higher degree digestible when treated in silos with green
food. Rye and vetch were taken just before blooming. One
part of either one of the two green plants, and twenty parts
of wheat-straw, were cut in a suitable machine into pieces of
about one to two inches in length: for every hundred pounds
of straw there was added from a pound to a pound and a
half of salt. The green food and the straw were placed
in alternate layers in the silo, and, after being trampled down,
were covered in the usual manner with several feet in thick-
ness of earth. ‘The silos, in this case, were filled in summer,
and opened as late as October, and their contents fed during
the winter. The somewhat extended period of keeping
them fermenting before feeding insured a proper softening
and disintegrating of the straw, and therefore a higher

162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

degree of digestibility. The fodder produced in this way
had an odor and a taste similar to hay. Professor Voelcker,
who speaks fayorably of this mode of operation, obtained
the following analytical results from the wheat-straw before
its treatment, and after its removal from the silo.

RAW WHEAT-STRAW. FERMENTED WHEAT-STRAW.

Per cent. Per cent.
Water 0 0 6 . 3 13.33 7.76
Fat . 5 5 : ‘5 6 1.74 1.60
Nitrogenous matter . 6 é 2.93 4.19
Matter soluble in water . ry 4.26 10.16
Matter soluble in diluted acid
and alkalies . 5 ‘ a oa 19540 35.74
Raw fibre . ; 3 5 0 54.13 34.54
Insoluble mineral matter . : 3.08 3.20
Soluble mineral matter . S 1.13 2.82

These results show a remarkable increase in the soluble
and digestible matter of the straw, being raised from twenty-
three to twenty-four per cent, to that of from forty-five to
forty-six per cent, not speaking of other favorable alterations
in the original composition of the straw.

Leaves and Tops of Beet-Roots and Sugar-Beet-Rioot Pulp
Ensilage.— The preservation of these refuse materials be-
comes a very important question wherever the agricultural
advantages arising from the introduction of the beet-sugar
industry enter into consideration. They form the basis of an
extensive system of stock-feeding for the meat-market and
the dairy, which is invariably connected with the beet-sugar
industry in Europe. Assuming for the refuse-beet mass —
leaves, tops, and pulp —the same amount of moisture which
is contained in the fresh beet-root (eighty-two to eighty-three
per cent), its quantity amounts in weight to nearly one-third
of the entire root-crop, or from five to six tons per acre
(leaves, two tons; pressed pulp, three tons; and tops, one
ton). As an illustration of the changes which the leaves
and tops undergo in silos, the following carefully conducted
experiments may serve: A ditch from seven to eight feet
deep, five feet long, and five feet wide, was filled with alter-
nate layers of leaves and tops from the same lot of roots,
until the solid trampled mass reached the level of the sur-
rounding grounds. <A layer of leaves, and subsequently a
mass of earth several feet in thickness, served as a final

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 163

cover. The silo was filled in October, and opened for use in
the following March. To ascertain at the same time the
exact loss in organic matter which the above-stated beet-root
refuse would suffer in consequence of the fermentation in
the silo, a definite quantity of the contents of the latter was
cut out, and at once carefully packed tightly into a box, and
buried in the centre of the silo. The latter was closed in
October, and opened for use in March. Leaves and tops
had changed but little in color. The ensilage in the silo had
lost forty-nine per cent in weight, as compared with that of
the fresh green material. The contents of the box had lost
by slow fermentation nearly one-fifth (eighteen per cent) of
the dry matter contained in the green food. The fresh mate-
rial contained 10.54 per cent of dry matter, and the ensilage
only 8.44 per cent, These results demonstrate that juicy
plants in ordinary ditches may lose as high as fifty per cent
of their soluble constituents, and that, even in exceptionally
careful managed cases, a serious loss of their organic matter
is unavoidable. The process, on the other hand, had in-
‘ereased the rate of the digestibility of the cellular matter,
and rendered the beet-refuse more palatable to cattle. (O
Kellner.)

Analysis of Dry Matter, of Fresh Green Leaves, and of the Ensilage of
Beet-Leaves.

FRESH GREEN LEAVES. ENSILAGE,

Per cent. Per cent.
Nitrogenous matter . : 4 26.71 21.23
Fat (ether abstract) . é 5 2.75 8.79
Crude fibre 0 6 2 ° 14.99 18.56
Non-nitrogenous extract matter. 37.13 39.42
Ash . . . 5 : 18.42 12.00

The pulp of beet-roots, obtained from beet-sugar factories,
is treated in silos in a similar way. Frozen roots and pota-
toes are either crushed or sliced before they enter the silo,
and frequently receive previously an addition of one per
cent of salt.

A few analytical statements in this connection may not
be without interest, as they convey at least some approxi-
mate idea concerning the alteration which the sugar-beet
root usually suffers before its factory-refuse mass serves as
cattle-food. (Ritthausen; Voelcker.)

164 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

23
23
= | £2] 24 |/s22] & i
Sugar-beet root (fresh) - | 81.77 | 0.85 | 15.07 - 1.36 | 0.944
Diffusion refuse beet-root
(fresh) é 8 - | 93.50} 0.51} 0.035} 3.66] 1.33 | 0.962
Diffusion refuse beet-root
(pressed) . ; . | 88.54] 0.86) 0.11] 7.387] 1.91 | 1.23
Diffusion refuse beet-root
(pressed, and changed into
ensilage) . : é - | 89.83] 1.02} 0.08] 5.94] 2.53 | 0.60

Corn Ensilage. — The treatment of corn-fodder in silos has
of late acquired considerable prominence in Austria and
France. Both countries contain quite large areas of land,
well fitted by climatic conditions for an advantageous culti-
vation of corn. The successful and extensive application of
the silo system in the sugar-beet industry of those countries
has apparently greatly stimulated inquiries into its useful-
ness for general farm practice. In many instances in France,
where the sugar-beet root is sold from a small farm to dis-
tant sugar-factories, and high freight rates prevent the re-
turn of the refuse beet-root pulp to the root-grower, corn
ensilage is used to make up the deficiency in fodder, caused
by the sale of the root-crop. Our late home experiments
are apparently largely inspired by the teachings of distin-
guished I*rench agriculturalists. As I have reason to sup-
pose that interesting descriptions of our home experiments
will be presented here to-day by gentlemen intimately ac-
quainted with that subject, I shall confine myself to the
description of an investigation carried on at the agricultural
experiment station at Vienna, for the purpose of ascertaining
the precise effect of the silo fermentation upon the composi-
tion of green-corn fodder, and the degree of loss which the
organic dry matter suffers under that treatment.

The green-corn fodder was cut at an early stage of bloom-
ing, and, without any other preparation, carefully packed
into silos of the usual size and form. Several feet in thick-
ness of earth served as a cover. An analysis of the green
corn before filling the silo, and after its opening from two
experiments, gave the following results : —

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 165

3
SOS eg =| 3 aeealers
B |g*|@=|5| 8 | 3 | 2/8
A.
Fresh green-corn fodder, | 79.35} 0.90 | 0.76 | 10.82) 6.67} 0.63 | 0.87 | 19.72
Ensilage from 15 inches
depth in the silo . | 57.69] 1.86 | 1.88 | 7.48! 18.32} 1.90 | 1.80 | 33.24
Ensilage from 30 inches
depth in the silo - |77.84| 1.06 | 1.08 | 7.48] 10.38) 1.01 | 1.21 | 22.22
B.
Fresh green-corn fodder, | 76.72) 0.98 | 0.92 | 12.24) 7.70) 0.64 | 0.80 | 23.28
Ensilage from a depth of :
37 inches . : . |80.63] 0.80} 1.11] 6.78) 8.40) 0.82 | 1.46 | 19.37

The following calculation of these results, calculated for
the dry matter, gives a better chance to notice the changes
of the latter in the green crop, as compared with the silo
product : —

The Loss of the Dry Matter of the Green Crop in the Silos, stated in

Percentages. i
ag
85
n a o pes
3 o> => a bo A
fiers |lbatetst S £3
oS As fe 23
ad -= 2 Bee
ea z g ts . 3
=< 22 3 & a s
pales = Se | 2 |
“w oe iS) “ =< n

Ensilage from 15 inches depth in
the silo. : ; : . | 27.8 | 13.0 | 3.40 | 44.5 |5.9] —-
Ensilage from 30 inches depth in
the silo . c é ; . | 32.4 | 14.5 | 5.3 | 57.9 |2.10) —

Ensilage from 37 inches depth in
the silo. 3 5 a .| 34.4) 3.1 )12.4 | 55.5 | 2.80) =

Both nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous extract substances
suffered the largest loss. The slight alteration in ash con-
stituents proves that but little, if any, organic matter was
lost in any other way than by fermentation. The corn
ensilage contained in both cases various alcoholic products,
and considerable quantities of fatty volatile acids. A care-
ful comparative examination (A) showed, that, at about

166 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

fifteen inches depth in the silo, 27.9 per cent of the organic
matter of the green-corn fodder had been lost, and, at a
depth of thirty inches, 34.70 per cent; whilst in a second
trial (B), at from thirty-seven to thirty-eight inches in depth,
34.8 per cent were lost. These results, in connection with
those noticed in the previously described experiments with
beet-root refuse and esparsette, demonstrate plainly that the
preservation of green fodder in silos causes a considerable
loss of valuable organic constituents, even when managed in
an exceptionally careful manner. Those who are somewhat
familiar with the transformation of starchy and saccharine
substances into alcoholic products, and subsequently into
acids, know that in either case nearly one-half their weight
passes off in a gaseous state, and are therefore expecting in
the silo treatment the largest losses in those articles of green
fodder which contain in considerable proportion one or the
other, or both, of these widely diffused proximate organic
constituents of plants.

The composition of ensilage varies in a not less degree,
taking the entire contents of a silo into consideration, than
that of the green crop which serves for its production. The
same is true as far as the ensilage in different parts of the
silo is concerned, as has been shown in the preceding pages.

Composition of Corn Ensilage from Different Silos.

Moser. v. Johren. Goessmann.*
Water . 4 C . | 80.63 | 77.84 | 83.827 | 0.70
Nitrogenous matter di 6 - | 0.80} 1.06] 0.706} 1.56
Fat (ether abstract) «| 2-11) 1:08)| 0-769) 0:62
Non-nitrogenous extract matter - | 6.78] 7.48] 9.176] 8.92
Crude fibre 5 8.40} 10.38) 4.263] 6.43
Ash . . . . 0.82} 1.01) 1.261] 1.77 (crude)

Some Extremes of Variations in the Composition of Green-Corn Fodder.
Percent. Per cent.

Water . R : 0 “ 5 J 06:8) Cou

Nitrogenous matter. ° . ° Pa) 2.0
Fat (ether abstract) . ° . ° - 0.4 0.7
Non-nitrogenous extract matter . . Ore: 15.3
Crude fibre . I : c 6 . - 3.0 5.9
Ash : . 1.0 1.2

* From the silo of John M. eas, a -, of aa Mass., December, 1879.

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 167

From the previous analytical demonstrations it will be
quite obvious that the recommendation of the corn ensilage
cannot well be based on its higher feeding value, pound for
pound, as compared with green-corn fodder. The increased
digestibility of the cellular matter in the corn ensilage, and
the small, if any, increase of nitrogenous matter, is from a
physiological as well as a commercial stand-point, to say the
least, a doubtful compensation for the sugar and starch
destroyed by the fermentation of the corn-fodder in the silo.
An economical and rational feeding of the corn ensilage, as
well as the green-corn fodder, requires as a rule, except
when fed for a mere sustenance, an addition of a stronger
article of food to meet the requirements of either growth,
or work, or the production of milk and flesh. The silo sys-
tem furnishes no exception to the rule that our practical
modes of preserving fodder are accompanied with a loss in
quantity and quality of valuable plant constituents, and
thut any attainable higher feeding value of our fodder-crops
is almost invariably secured at the sacrifice of quantity.
The question of waste is simply a matter of degree, when
comparing existing modes of keeping fodder with that of
the silo system. The correctness of the previous exposition
once conceded, it remains for me to discuss briefly some of
the circumstances which tend to make the introduction of
the silo system a valuable addition to our modes of keeping
fodder, and thus of increasing our resources for farm
improvement.

The management of the silo system for preserving fodder
is independent of the weather, —an advantage of particular
importance in the case of juicy plants, so largely represented
among our fodder-plants. The long period required for their
change into dry fodder, or hay, endangers in a higher degree
quantity, and in particular quality, than in the case of com-
mon grass. Exposure of green crops to rain, even for a
short period, during the hay-making, alters the quality of
the hay far more than usually suspected. A few analytical
results may convey some more definite idea about the extent
of the change.

.

168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Good Clover-Hay.| Clover-Hay exposed for

(E. SCITULZE.)

(No rain.) two weeks to rains,
Water . b : . 0 ; 14.11 14.76
Nitrogenous matter 4 0D 3 0 11.22 8.15
Fat (ether abstract) . . ° 2.40 1.61
Non-nitrogenous extract matter : 5 35.33 29.61
Crude fibre . : : C : A 33.68 43.02
INGFay OR : : c 4.26 2 86
Sum of nutritive matter ‘ ' 3 48.95 39 36 (— 20)
Matter soluble in water : ° . 27.07 15.34 (— 48)

Clover-Hay exposed for

(E. HEIDEN.) Good Clover-Ilay.| two weeks of rainy

days.
Water . , : 0 6 Ql 14.51 14.51
Nitrogenous matter b c c 6 17.05 14.02
Fat (ether abstract) . c : 5.06 3.29
Non-nitrogenous extract matter : c 31.04 9.77
Crude fibre . : : . . 6 25.72 52.69
Ash 6 ‘ 2 5 5 : 0 6.62 5.72

Good lucern-hay lost, in consequence of an exposure to
some rain-showers, within two days, 7.15 per cent of its dry
matter (O. Kellner); in another case, where the lucern-hay
had within six days repeatedly suffered from rains, a loss of
16.7 per cent of dry matter was noticed. The nitrogenous
and non-nitrogenous soluble constituents of the plants are
mainly affected by rain. The stage of growth, the more or
less advanced state of dryness of hay, and the surrounding
temperature, control here, to a large degree, the extent of
the loss in soluble organic matter.

Fodder-plants like clover, with coarse juicy stems and
tender leaves, usually suffer seriously in their feeding value,
by frequent handling, from loss of leaves, which are the
most nutritive parts of the plant.. The loss due to this
source shows itself everywhere in the inferior digestibility
of a common clover-hay, used in actual trials, as compared
with carefully prepared clover-hay, where a large proportion
of its leaves had been saved. ‘The differences in the rate of
digestibility of the various constituents of green clover and
cloyer-hay, obtained from the same crop, arising from the

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 169

loss of leaves in the case of the clover-hay, has been noticed
to amount, even in a careful farm management of hay-
making in fair weather, to from two to six per cent less of
the several proximate constituents of the dry matter in the
clover-hay. Observations on lucern confirm the previous
statement. The following analytical results give some more
definite idea regarding the amount less digested of each con-
stituent in the case of clover-hay as compared with the green
clover. Cattle served for the experiment. (tthn.)

EXTREMES. AVERAGE.
Per cent. Per cent.

Total dry matter of fodder . . - 1.3 to 5.6 3.7
Organic matter. . . : 6 RE HH) 5.1
Nitrogenous matter . ° ° Ob ae ee gee YL 3.0
Non-nitrogenous extract matter . = 3.9) Gah 4.9 |
Crude fibre. : 5 : peor eeeGaiss 5 abe!

Careful investigation of a quite recent date (Kuhn, Wolff,
etc.) has proved that a mere drying of our common fodder-
crops, as grass, clover, and other leguminous plants, does not
affect their rate of digestibility. The green fodder, and the
dry fodder or hay (entire plant) from the same plant, in the
same stage of growth, have shown a corresponding rate of
assimilation of their dry substance. Whenever, therefore,
the production of dry fodder can be carried on in a short
period of time and in a satisfactory manner, the largest
amount of dry matter of the highest attainable feeding value
may be secured from the plant in that way: no other cur-
rent mode of preserving its feeding value can equal it in
regard to the quantity of the result. As, however, the
quality of a dry fodder, as hay, clover, stover, etc., depends
on the influence of the weather, and the mode of handling
and of keeping, — circumstances which are to a large extent,
in ordinary farm practice, beyond personal control, — our vari-
ous articles of dry fodder are frequently far from what they
might be, or ought to be. The above few analytical state-
ments regarding the loss, in case of the dry fodder, by waste,
of the tender parts of the plant, as well as regarding the
influence of rain on half-dried fodder, give us at least a
chance to approximate the loss, in nutritive constituents,
from these two sources, which are liable to acquire unusual
importance in case of those plants for which the silo system

170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

has been judiciously recommended. The ensilage contains,
without any particular exertion, the entire fodder-crop,
leaves and stems unimpaired. The quality and quantity
of the ensilage, in case of a carefully constructed cistern
and ordinary care in management, suffers mainly from but
one source, —fermentation. The waste of nutritious plant
constituents in the silo appears, probably, to most of us
large, even ruinous, because we have taken but little pains
to find numerical values for the depreciation in the feed-
ing value of our fodder-crops, which our current modes of
preserving fodder are liable to permit or to favor.

Preferring actual results to mere approximations, and
ascribing, therefore, to the silo system a higher rate of un-
avoidable waste of feeding value than to any other current
mode of preserving fodder, it ought to be remembered that
there are some redeeming features connected with the prod-
uct of the silo,—the ensilage,—for which it will be diffi-
cult to find one definite numerical value when comparing it
with the dry fodder of the same plant; namely, the silo fer-
mentation increases the rate of digestibility of otherwise
indigestible constituents (cellular matter) of the green fod-
der, and thereby compensates somewhat for the waste of
valuable soluble organic matter; and the ensilage of those
crops for which the silo system is judiciously recommended
is almost invariably more acceptable to all kinds of farm
live-stock than the dry fodder.

When we add to the previous enumeration of exceptional
advantages arising from the introduction of the silo system
the one that it will tend to increase the production of one
of our most important fodder-plants, the corn, and that it
will enable us eventually to take care of important refuse
materials from various branches of agricultural chemical
industry, as sugar or starch manufacture, we can but desire
that its financial relation to our farm economy should
receive the most careful practical investigation. ‘The silo
system is not a substitute for existing modes of preserving
fodder, but will prove a most valuable assistance to increase
our chances of securing larger quantities of good fodder.

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172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

do is to reduce it to a certain lower proportion; and that is
all that Mr. Goffart would claim. Probably his translators
have not given us his full views. The process of fermenta-
tion is so well understood, that it is no longer a matter of
controversy. Scientists agree on that entirely. The prac-
tical results, at least, are fully agreed upon. We know what
becomes of sugar in the presence of nitrogenous matter.
We know, that, whenever the cellular structure of a plant is
injured (as is the case with the contents of silos in the
majority of instances), transformation begins. The soluble
nitrogenous matter comes in contact with the saccharine and
starchy substances; and what is the effect? ‘The sugar is
changed, according to circumstances, either into lactic acid,
or into alcohol and carbonic acid, and subsequently into
acetic acid; and we find, therefore, in our best-constructed
silos, with corn-fodder, acid to a large extent; namely, acetic
acid and lactic acid. The former is the result of the oxida-
tion of the alcohol. That is the natural consequence. Fer-
mentation and oxidation are two distinct processes. The
one causes the breaking-up of certain substances into com-
pounds of a simpler constitution; as, for instance, sugar
breaks up into alcohol and carbonic acid. Nothing is lost
from the make-up of the sugar. Acetic acid means the
access of oxygen to the alcohol, and the formation of water.
Alcohol and carbonic acid are only intermediate processes.
Therefore, if we are not careful, we may destroy the con-
tents of the cells as starch and sugar to a ruinous extent.
In other words, a silo treatment may destroy fifty per cent
of the feeding value of your food. The above-described
experiments tend to prove that we cannot prevent the de-
struction of from twenty to twenty-five per cent at least.
Scientists do not agree as to the physiological value of the
various compounds produced. In regard to starch and
sugar, we know by experience what they are worth in the
animal economy: what lactic acid is worth, we are yet in
doubt, and what alcohol is worth is still a matter of dispute
to-day. We have thus, in one case, compounds of recog-
nized physiological value, whilst on the other side we have
a series of products of decomposition without any proof of
what they are relatively worth in the animal economy as
compared with the substances from which they originated.

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 173

There is, therefore, what I call unavoidable destruction in
the operation of the silo system, as a partial fermentation
is, in practice, still unavoidable.

Mr. WARE. Iam very glad of the explanation; but I am
sorry to have some of the starch taken out of the ensilage
system. It strikes me that the box that has been spoken of,
placed in the bottom of a silo, would not be compressed so
solidly as a silo well loaded would be. If that is the case,
I think it would account for a large portion of the destruc-
tion that took place in that box.

Now, in illustration, I would like to state one fact that has
come under my own observation, that it seems to me is
exactly in the line of this silo preservation. I live on the
seashore, and we on the seashore depend very largely upon
the ocean for material for fertilizing purposes in the form
of kelp. Kelp taken from the seashore, and exposed to the
air, will, within thirty-six or forty-eight hours, even in win-
ter, reach a state of high fermentation, and become so warm,
that maggots will be produced even in the middle of winter
Now, when we have a large amount of kelp come up on the
shore, we go to work and team it up, load after load, tread-
ing it down continually, until we have a pile perhaps eight
or ten feet high, which becomes very solid ; and two or three
months after (although it is a substance that will ferment
very rapidly, —as quickly as green corn fodder), while the
surface of that pile for the depth, perhaps, of ten inches,
where it has not been trodden quite solid, will be badly de-
cayed, the remainder of the kelp-leaves are perfect, the color
is retained, and it seems to retain all the characteristics of
the fresh plant.

Now it seems. to me that here is an illustration of the
operation of a silo. This kelp has been preserved, if you
please, by this system of ensilage, in a perfect condition, with
no appearance of fermentation having taken place. It seems
to me that the great object in our silos is to follow out this
simple illustration; that is, we must fill the silo so rapidly,
and tread the green fodder so solidly, and load it finally so
heavily,—as I understand, not less than twelve hundred-
weight to the square yard,— that the air will be expelled;
and it will be kept hermetically sealed from the air, so that
fermentation cannot take place.

174 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Now I may be mistaken. I have not gone into it, although
I have studied the matter carefully; but, if fermentation
cannot be prevented in that way, I fear that our system of
ensilage is not going to meet the expectations that I, at least,
had conceived of it.

Professor GOESSMANN. We apply the name “fermenta-
tion” to several changes which are taking place in vegetable
matter. We have the vinous fermentation; and alcohol and
carbonic acid are its products. We have the slimy fermen-
tation; and lactic acid, a non-volatile acid, is mainly pro-
duced. These latter changes are everywhere taking place
where nitrogenous matter is mixed with non-nitrogenous
matter under limited access of air. They are very serious,
and cannot easily be prevented. It is a mere matter of
degree. Take, for-instance, a simple grape-berry. You can
keep that berry by drying it carefully, as is done on a large
scale. But take that berry, and give it the slightest lacera-
tion with the finest needle you can conceive of, and that
berry is gone. From that spot disintegration will take
place, and it is only a question of time what shall become of
it. It is an illustration of the process of destruction that is
continually going on in the world. After life comes death.
The moment that cellular system is broken, there is a retro-
grade movement, and the grape-berry goes back to its ele-
ments. So it is simply a matter of degree. I might say, of
course, that the changes take place in different directions.
In one case, it is lactic acid; in the other case, it is acetic
acid. But what does it matter? A change from a valuable
constituent of fodder into a constituent of very doubtful
value is the result. We shall always find the largest losses
in the ensilage in the corn; and, if we should take sugar-
corn, it would be still more ruinous, as sugar is a most
essential constituent of that kind of corn; and for this
reason, ordinarily, the decomposition of the sugar-corn would
be far greater than of the common corn.

Mr. CHEEVER. Before the professor leaves the platform,
I would like to ask him if our canned fruits do really keep
perfectly in glass jars, sealed tight, put up boiling hot, or
whether there is fermentation going on in those bottles.

Professor GOESSMANN. When you can your fruit, it
being heated up to a certain high temperature, you bring

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 175

it up to the point of the destruction of life. Fermentation
is due to living organism floating in the air. These living
germs, coming in contact with vegetable matter, begin to
develop, and will continue to develop just as long as their
life lasts. If you heat up any article to be preserved to a
point where you destroy the living organisms, and seal it
up air-tight while hot, you will fail to find any alcoholic
products in that can.

Mr. CHEEVER. Then the two cases of putting ensilage
into an air-tight box and canned fruit into bottles are not

arallel ?

Professor GOESSMANN. No.

Mr. CHEEVER. I suspect that box was filled as tightly as
possible. If we know what influences the result, we shall
be very careful to exclude that influence; and I suppose the
parties considered that very carefully. They knew air was a
destructive element, and, if they wanted to obtain a result
worth any thing, they adopted a system which they thought
would best bring about the result, and excluded air as much
as possible. Taking that for granted, is nota tight box in
the middle of a silo far better protected than any part of the
silo?

Professor GOESSMANN. The only practical way to do it
better is to turn in water at a certain stage, and let the
water exclude the air. These experiments have, however,
not been sufficiently tried to determine what the exact result
would be. The water would probably dilute the material
so much as to make it worthless.

Mr. WuittakerR. I should like to ask the professor, in
connection with this matter of the exclusion of atmospheric
air, a question which I think bears very seriously upon the
point. In order to preserve any thing practically, as I
understand it, we have either to get rid of the water, or
get rid of the atmospheric air. If we retain the water, we
must expel the atmospheric air: if we retain the atmos-
pheric air, we must get rid of the water. Now, here is the
point with regard to this ensilage business. We fill the silo,
and, in filling it, we put in a certain quantity of decayed
matter. Can that be avoided? I have always been taught
that matter in a state of decay, however small it may be, will
carry decay through the mass. It would not make any dif-

ee ee

176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ference if the silo was as big as this building, and filled full,
if there was a piece of decaying matter as large as my fist
in it, it would produce decay in the whole mass eventually.
The entire exclusion of atmospheric air will prevent that.
But do we exclude atmospheric air from our silos? I do
not believe it has ever been done. We fill the silo, and the
matter we put in is loaded with atmospheric air. As it goes
in, atmospheric air goes in with it. We put our plank on top
of it, we weight it down, and we put earth on top in order
to exclude the atmospheric air. But we have all the atmos-
pheric air in the silo that was in the material we put in,
and, when we compress that, we simply condense the at-
mospheric air that is in there, and, by condensing it, we
render it more efficient to prevent fermentation. Is not that
so?

Professor GOESSMANN. Oh, yes, sir! It is only a matter
of degree. It is practically impossible to exclude air abso-
lutely. The simple question is, practically, Can we, with a
moderate expenditure of time and labor, preserve our fodder
in that exceptional way? If a simple mode of operation will
not do it, the whole thing is not worth having; but, if a sim-
ple mode will accomplish it, it is. There is a partial loss
which is inevitable.

Dr. StURTEVANT. In the changes which are taking place,
there is a production of carbonic acid gas, which excludes
the air to a certain degree. In some cases, certainly, where
an opening is cut down into the silo, and a lighted candle
dropped in, the candle will be extinguished. This carbonic
acid gas in some silos certainly expels the atmospheric air
to a certain extent, occupies its place, and stops putrefactive
change.

Professor GOESSMANN. There are two processes in oper-
ation in fermentation which we have to keep in mind: one
is the action of air, and the other is the action of living
germs. The exhaustion of the air amounts to very little, as
you will understand when you know that one pound of sugar
will dispose of all the oxygen in that silo, and leave nitro-
gen behind. Nitrogen takes its place. The presence of
nitrogen excludes air. As Dr. Sturtevant mentioned, if you
put a light into the silo, it will go out as quickly as in
carbonic acid. Therefore there are two causes which will

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 177

dispose of the air. The destruction of the germ-life is a far
more important question. That is disintegrating without
air: that transforms all the constituents, it changes the
sugar, etc., into lactic acid without the aid of air. In our
canning system we get the germs out of the air: the heat
destroys them. A little air we do not care about. A few
grains of sugar will dispose of the oxygen of the air very
effectually ; but it cannot dispose of the germs that are
there. ‘They are living beings, multiplying by millions, and
we know that those forces are most powerful. It is that
continued multiplication which destroys the plant.

Mr. Wuitraker. As I understand Dr. Sturtevant’s
point, it is, that, as the carbonic gas increased, the oxygen
would be expelled; but, if the oxygen cannot get out, I do
not know where it is to go. As I understand that the car-
bonic acid, when formed, is no greater in bulk than the oxy-
gen that is contained in it was before it was converted into
carbonic acid, this carbonic acid formed from oxygen will
occupy just the same space, and no more, as the oxygen
before it combined with the carbon to make carbonic acid.
Consequently the atmospheric air would be just as prevalent,
notwithstanding it was mixed pretty well up with the car-
bonice acid. It would not be displaced, but would occupy
just the same space that it occupied before it was combined.

Dr. Faxon (of Quincy). Among my labors at the
National Sailors’ Home, of which I am superintendent, has
been the reclaiming a large quantity of salt meadow, part of
it covered with black grass, which I cut yearly, and used for
bedding altogether. Last May I went to Billerica, and saw
the silo of Dr. Bailey, and I concluded that all there was to
a silo was the exclusion of air: so I thought I would try
the experiment with some of my black grass. I took a lot
of old boards, and enclosed one of the end bays in the barn,
ten feet by twelve, in the loosest manner, and I put into that
all the black grass I cut on two acres and a half of the marsh,
and trod it down very thoroughly. I think I commenced on
the fifteenth day of June, which was Tuesday, and I finished
on Saturday. The grass was cut every day after the dew
was off, and put into the bay. On the barn-floor side I put
up simply one upright three by three post, and put in the
boards. The heat was sufficient to be disagreeable to the

178 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

hand, and people said the barn would burn up. When all
was in, I put boards on crosswise, and loaded that grass,
which was then about eleven feet high, with stones, at the
rate of at least a hundred pounds to the square foot, and
reduced the pile as much as I could. It sunk at least a third
in bulk. Some four or five weeks afterwards — possibly it
was not more than three weeks —I commenced on the front
side, and took down the boards, aud cut off a strip about two
feet wide, which had moulded for about three inches in.
That fodder was a rich tobacco-color, and, instead of being
acid to the taste or smell, it was positively sweet. It hada
taste like honey. The flies came to it in swarms. I fed it
to my cattle, and, although there was not a creature that
would eat this black grass in its original state, they. all ate it
readily. My cows did not decrease in milk: they kept in
Just as good condition all through. I fed them almost exclu-
sively on this fodder. I don’t believe I gave two pounds of
hay a day to the cows. Of course, there was some transform-
ation in the product which rendered that fodder, which before
was of little value, of considerable value. I am not going to-
discuss the question as to whether silo product is worth more
than the same product would be if fairly saved in a dried
condition. I simply state the results of my experience, that
any other man, if he chooses, may try the operation.

Question. How long did the grass remain in the field
after it was cut?

Dr. Faxon. It was carried directly to the barn. Proba-
bly there was none of it remained an hour on the ground
after it was cut. I fed it until midsummer.

I tried another experiment about the same time. I hada
box that I had used to steam food in. I begin to cut my
grass as soon as it is high enough, and feed it to my cows.
I took that box, and put in probably a ton of grass, and
weighted it the same way; and at the end of three weeks it
had developed quite an acid smell and taste. You could not
get any such sweet taste out of it as out of the black grass.

I will mention an experiment with corn-fodder. I hada
lot of fodder that I eut in October. It was sowed the last
week in July between my potatoes. I marketed the pota-
toes; and when the frost came, to save that fodder, I made a
pit eighty-four feet long, ten feet wide, and fifteen inches

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. ie

deep, and put the corn in this pit. On the edge of the pit,
so as to make them flush with the inside edge, I put up a
lot of old posts six feet apart; and I boarded up the sides
five feet high, loosely, with hemlock boards. It took nearly
a thousand feet. As the fodder was cut when the dew was
off, I brought it to the pit and laid it in, butts all one way,
lapping the butts as one laps shingles, so as to make the
small tops lie with the butts; and I carried that process out
the whole eighty-four feet. Not having quite as much as I
wanted, I carried down there five large tip-cart loads of fod-
der that was cut when the corn was, and from which the
corn had been husked, and put that on top of the green fod-
der, which raised it above the boarding: I put on top a little
thatch of eel-grass, and threw on fifteen or eighteen inches of
dirt. When the mass settled, the acid smell was scarcely
perceptible. You could put your hand in five days after the
first lot was put in, and the heat was not at all uncomforta-
ble. You could feel it was warm.

Professor GOESSMANN. I can but confirm your observa-
tion. The result depends entirely upon the composition of
the plant. Grass and clover will produce an ensilage quite
different from corn. A plant which has little sugar will act
quite differently from a plant that has a great deal of sugar.
There is no need of having an acid: it may be even alkaline.
The main question is to prevent the change from going be-
youd a certain point, and injuring the feeding value of the
material. Those plants which contain the largest amount of
sugar will produce the largest amount of acid: therefore corn
ensilage is usually sourer than that from clover or any other
plant.

Dr. Faxon. The mass settled down so that it would
weigh fifty pounds to the cubic foot. It was a little mouldy
at one end for two or three inches; and I shovelled off the
dirt, and cut that part out, and I found there was a -great
deal more acid than there was in the bay of black grass. But
the cattle ate that fodder just as well as they did the other,
and the increase in milk was quite remarkable. I had been
feeding shorts, four quarts, cotton-seed meal and Indian-meal
a quart each, daily. I diminished the grain within two days
just one-half, and the milk increased one-eighth; and I fed
with that about five pounds of hay to each cow per day.

———————

180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The silo product is not mouldy anywhere. The fodder that
was perfectly dry and put on top is eaten up just as clean as
can be. By this simple method farmers can preserve their
fodder in a moist condition, so that the cattle will eat it all;
and they can save labor, because it is much easier to put it
in a silo in the field than to cut it up. If you cut it up, it
will heat tremendously in twenty-four hours.

I have no doubt but that IT shall raise a great deal of corn-
fodder, and put it wp in that way, simply because it is handy ;
and we can get more of it in that way than in any other.

I don’t know but I should hesitate in regard to putting
sugar-corn down in this way, after what has been said about
it.

Professor GOESSMANN. It would depend upon at what
time it was put in.

Dr. Faxon. I planted some green corn for market, and
it gave me a little over twelve pounds of fodder to each ker-
nel. That was the Burr corn. There were eleven thousand
kernels to the acre, and that is nearly sixty tons of green
fodder. The land had been in grass seven years. I ploughed
it up last year to kill the witch-grass out of it. It had been
top-dressed nearly every year, and this last year it was ma-
nured simply with a very little compost of hen-manure. I
planted my corn the first day of May (rows four feet apart,
one grain ina place a foot apart); and along in July I cut
some of it up for fodder, and got at the rate of sixty tons to
the acre. I feed about sixty pounds a day of the corn-fodder.
Dr. Bailey says that is sufficient to feed a cow, without any
hay: I do not think it is. I feed a little hay, and I think I
get a better result.

Professor GOESSMANN. ‘There is a point which needs ex-
planation. Feeding corn-fodder, which differs in its compo-
sition from the requirements of the animal to support its life,
can only be accomplished by the waste of one or the other
_ constituents of the material. If we feed an article of fodder
in which the nitrogenous matter stands to the non-nitroge-
nous as one to nine, we give, in many cases, more non-nitro-
genous matter than the animal requires. For instance, a
milch cow requires, according to long-continued experiments,
the proportion of one to five and a half,—almost one-half
nitrogenous matter more to give you the benefit of the other

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 181

half of non-nitrogenous matter: in other words, you waste
half. The same is true if you feed green grass alone, or hay
alone, or clover-hay alone. The proportion of nitrogenous
to non-nitrogenous matter in good clover-hay is about one
to three, or one to tliuee and seven-tenths. Now, if a cow
needs only the proportion of one to five, you waste a fair
proportion of good fodder in that clover-hay. The experi-
ment has been successfully tried to see if we can supplement
our hay and clover by straw, or by materials that contain
one to nine, or one to ten. Here comes in the question of
cheapness of feeding, which the farmer has to study. There
is an actual waste of feeding value in feeding the best hay
without any addition, under almost any conditions. That
fact has been established: by practice. The sume is true
with regard to clover-hay and other Jeguminous plants.
We are just beginning to discuss this important question of
rational feeding; and we can never come to a decision,
unless we take into consideration, besides the character of
the fodder, the particular requirements of the animal. If
we feed for sustenance merely and for the production of
milk on the same scale, we waste, in one way or the other,
our food; and it is necessary for us to learn in what propor-
tion we can economically supplement by lighter and inferior
articles of fodder our strong articles of fodder, as, for in-
stance, good clover or meadow hay. It is important to
consider the requirements of the animal with reference to
what it is to do. A horse to do good work requires a larger
relative amount of nitrogenous matter than a horse that
stands idle. An ox which is kept through the winter simply
for work in the spring can be kept at a far cheaper rate than
an ox that is put to daily labor. With us the question
remains, how to make a practical application of this fact.

I listened with a good deal of interest to the discussion on
feeding yesterday ; but, for one, I must say that there is no
basis for comparison. Without having any information re-
garding the quality of the fodder which has been fed, how
can we draw any reasonable deduction as to its feeding
value? The question of quality is of the first importance.
The discussion of ensilage, I think, has come up at the
proper time. It may serve as the means of stirring up the
fodder question, which needs further ventilation (there can
be no doubt about it) as much as the fertilizer question.

'
;

SS

182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Bowprren. I would like to ask what the effect
would be upon the fodder if a rain should come up, and it
should be wet as it was being put into the silo.

Professor GOESSMANN. It would have no effect whatever.
That is one of the great advantages. It renders us inde-
pendent of the season in regard to those crops which suffer
inost from exposure.

Dr. WAKEFIELD. We have listened to a very able
address from Professor Goessmann on the ensilage system.
Ile has given us the facts in regard to the preservation of
fodder in silos which cost considerable money. We have
had an experiment given by another doctor, which any of us
can try. It is within the means of anybody here who raises
corn to try the experiment, because all he has to do is to
plough up lis land, and make his silo in the field. I am
very much interested in this last process, because it comes
down to my means, and, I think, to the means of all of
us. I do not see why, from his description, the fodder is
not preserved substantially as well as in the expensive silos.
He says his cattle eat it readily, and he says his milk keeps
up. Those are the two things that we want. The professor
has stated here what is lost and what is gained by the silo,
and he says that it is necessary to exclude the air; and the
question is, How much shall be excluded? We cannot go
into the process of extracting the air by an air-pump; but,
if we ean exclude it sufficiently by piling up some rough
hemlock-boards at an expense of something like fifteen or
twenty dollars, we can afford to do it if we can obtain a
feed, which, in the main, answers the purpose just the same
as if we had an air-pump in operation, and pumped all the
air out, which would be too expensive a business for us to
engage in.

It seems to me that this experiment is of vast importance
tous. We have heard what the professor said here about
experiments in Germany and I*rance, and the experiments
which are made in silos which cost a great deal of money.
If we can have the same advantages, in the main, without
so much expense, then there is a great amount gained. Now.
this ensilage that Dr. Faxon has brought here looks like
tobacco; but if his cows don’t call it tobacco, and will eat if,
and give milk in proportion, it does not make any difference

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 183

whether it has turned green, or gray, or dark-colored. We
want the facts in the matter, so that we may know whether
we can get the benefits of this system without too much ex-
pense. Here is a chance, I conceive, to try the experiment.
He has tried it on a cheap scale, and we can all try it in a
similar manner.

Dr. Faxon. I wish to say that there is one thing which
might make this cheap process of preserving fodder of value.
It is very easy for us to buy oil-cake, or any nitrogenous
commercial article; but if we can raise forty, fifty, or sixty
tons of corn-fodder on an acre, and by that means keep four
or five cows in the barn, and put the manure on the ground,
it will enable us to use a good many acres that are of no
value now. That is the point we are after. I will not take
issue with the professor on the loss; but the question is, How
much shall we gain? If we have land that does not bring
in net five dollars an acre, if we can make it yield fifty
dollars an acre, there is so much gained. That is the only
practical point there is about it. It enables us to save fodder
that we could not save in any other way.

Mr. JoHnson (of Framingham). I suppose the matter
of dollars and cents is to come into this silo question, and
therefore I venture to speak of the cost of preserving field-
corn. To take sixty tons of green corn and cut it up into
pieces an inch long, and put it into silos, is very expensive.
I think Dr. Faxon has demonstrated thoroughly that com
ean be kept in the inexpensive way he has described. Now
I wish to state, that in 1866 or 1867 I packed a bay of hay
that was not in the field over an hour from the time the
seythe dropped it. The timothy was not in full blossom
when it was cut. I packed it so that it was all laid even and
straight through the mow, and kept it as uearly air-tight as
possible. The barn had no cellar. The hay was packed close
to the ground, with plank underneath. That hay was thor-
oughly preserved. It had a fine brown shade, and was the
sw -etest and best hay for milch cows that I ever fed. I
could not put in my hay where there is a cellar underneath
in that way. That hay was, as I have said, thoroughly pre-
served, except about a foot in depth, which could not be
kept as tight as the rest of the hay in the mow. I am confi-
dent that the gentleman’s theory is correct, and his experi-

ee

184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ment is correct every way; and lay may just as well be kept
dried in that form, as dried three or four days, and lose half
of its value.

The CHAIRMAN. Why didn’t you go on getting your hay
in that way?

Mr. Jonnson. I did, until I got a cellar under my barn.

Mr. Suvons. The last gentleman who spoke left the in-
ference on my mind that he thought the drying of hay was
injurious. I understood the professor that drying did not
injure it. '

Professor GOESSMANN. No crop loses in its feeding value
by careful drying. It is the only process by which the or-
dinary feeding value of grass may be preserved entirely.
The making of brown hay, as Mr. Johnson has described, is
a practice which is carried on, to some extent, here and there,
and when we cannot dry our grass it comes in as a great
help; that is, the loss is not as great as ina silo. But it is
more difficult, and I suppose will be found more difficult to
manage successfully than the management of a simple silo.

Mr. WituiAMs. What effect does falling dew have?

Professor GOESSMANN. The falling of dew is not of any
particular consequence.

Mr. Wii1ams. Then there is no disadvantage if we do
not cock our hay up at night?

Professor GOESSMANN. I have never seen any evidence
of it.

Question. Is there not always a loss when hay is stored
damp enough, so that sufficient heat is generated to change
its color?

Professor GOESSMANN. Yes, sir: there is no doubt about
that. Heat indicates a chemical transformation, a change of
valuable material, no doubt. The difference between brown
hay and ensilage is a mere matter of degree, nothing else.
If brown hay is well managed, the production of it undoubt-
edly saves more than the production of ensilage will. But
as I understand, and general observation tells me, it is more
difficult to prepare brown hay of good feeding qualities than
to prepare good ensilage.

QuEsTION. Is it possible, in getting in hay that is not
thoroughly cured, to tread it solid enough in the mow to
preserve it any better than if it is not trodden down? Can
you exclude the air by that operation?

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 185

Professor GOESSMANN. Yes, sir: quite sufficient to re-
duce it to the smallest quantity. You will find the outside
portion of the hay injured rather more than the interior
part, because that affords a freer passage for the air.

Dr. Faxon. A gentleman just asked about putting in
hay green to make brown hay. It should be known that it
is not necessary to dry hay a great deal. I will relate an
operation of mine, simply to show you how a large mass of
partially dried green fodder can be put in. Some seven
year ago I mowed about ten acres of Hungarian grass,
mixed with wormwood: it was almost as thick as it could
stand. I finished cutting it at night, and left it until the
next morning. The next day that stuff was as green as it
could be. There was certainly as much as twenty tons of it,
two-thirds or more wormwood. I made a stack of it, thatched
the top, and it steamed there until February. I did not cut
that down until August, the second year after; and there was
not a brown straw in it: it was just as dry and fresh as it
could be, showing that there was not enough water left in
the stack to produce any organic change, or else that it all
worked off in steam. That was the best lot of hay I ever
saw of that kind. There was not a foot of it at the top
damaged.

Major Emery (of Lowell). I certainly, for one, have felt
more pleasure, and been more benefited, by this lecture,
than by any paper or any lecture I have ever heard or read
since I have been in the farming business. It seems to me
that either chemistry must go under, or this silo business.
I think chemistry has done more for farming than any thing
else of late years. I think it has taught us more in the
right direction, and in the end will produce more. It will
revolutionize most of our modes of farming.

I have discussed this same subject with Dr. Bailey at
Billerica; and, to show you how people look over the surface,
I will name one thing that came up. He took the ground
that fermentation created and brought out the sugar, which
is entirely different from the fact. I took the ground that
fermentation brought out the alcohol. Now, we have had
the yellow-fever in the West, and we have had a commission
of the Board of Health to look after it, and see if there can-
not be a stop put to it. We have had the small-pox in many

186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

places, and we have had the Board of Health after that.
Now the American people have the disease of silo on the
brain; and we have a man here who has, I think, shown you
the merits of it. I hope that the State Board of Agriculture
will print this address in some form, so that every man who
has silo on the brain can read for himself, and make up his
mind whether he will have a silo or not; whether he will go
according to the facts as given us by chemistry, or whether
he will take the thing that first strikes his mind, because his
cows appear to do a little better, and perhaps, the first week,
will yield a little more milk. I think the lecture to which
we have listened is worth more than any paper that was ever
put out by any agricultural society; and I hope that it will
be published in such shape, that every farmer who can read
and understand will know the exact benefits or disadvan-
tages from excluding the air from this green food. I am
not a chemist, and I do not know whether the ground taken
by Mr. Bailey is right or not; but, when I have a piece of
timber that I want to use, I turn it over to see if there is
not a knot on the under side. I hope the people will look
this matter over very carefully before they spend any money.
Capt. Moore. I would like to ask Professor Goessmann
whether, in his judgment, there has been any improvement
over the old plan of “making hay when the sun shines.”
Professor GOESSMANN. No: I stated that most distinetly.
There is no improvement over that method if the weather is
favorable; but, as I said, the system of ensilage will be an
assistance in saving, in many instances, a large quantity of .
valuable food. In unfavorable seasons it will undoubtedly
prove very valuable to the farming community, under proper
management. I think simple ditches will do. It is not
necessary to have expensive masonry in a silo. A pit, if
lined with boards to prevent leakage, will do as well on a
moderate scale. The only difficulty about a silo made in the
ground, and unlined, is, that a large amount of the soluble
portion of the material will be apt to leak into the loose soil.
I stated that in one case fifty per cent of the value had been
lost by simple leakage in the ground. What we want to
preserve is the nutritive portion of the fodder: and, if any
part of it passes into the ground in form of a solution, much
is lost; for the solution contains the most valuable portion of

GREEN FOOD IN SILOS. 187

the fodder. It is for this reason not the proper thing to con-
struct a silo in loose soil. It would be far better to line it
with some suitable material, and use it year after year for
the same purpose.

Mr. WarrtaKer. I want, before this meeting dissolves,
to submit a resolution; and I would like to state the reason
why I submit it. When it was first announced that the
Board of Agriculture was to hold its annual session in South-
borough, there was a good deal of criticism elicited in con-
nection with it. It was thought highly preposterous to make
the attempt to hold this meeting of the Board in a small
place like Southborough, where there was not a hotel, within
four or five miles of the town; and how we were going to
manage it, and how we were going to get an audience to
listen to the addresses that might be delivered, was a ques-
tion that nobody could solve. When I came here the other
morning, I supposed the meeting commenced at the usual
time, ten o’clock; and I got here about eight, in order to be
present at the opening of the meeting. It seemed to me a
remarkably quiet place. It was so quiet, I could not get
away from the idea that I had made a mistake, and come up
on Sunday. But that is not the point. At a great many
meetings of the State Board previously, it has been supposed
that it was necessary to go to some populous centre in order
to get an audience. This delusion has been dispelled in
Southborough. As I understand, the population of this
town is not much over twenty-five hundred. We have had
very stormy weather. Yesterday was an exceedingly stormy
day, and yet this hall was full. I do not know what we
should have done, if it had been a pleasant day, so that
people could get here. This hall certainly would not have
been large enough to hold the audience. There are ladies
enough in Southborough interested in this matter to fill this
hall if it had been a pleasant day. They have been inter-
ested enough, small as the place is, to feed us, and feed us
well. I do not know that we were ever better fed, better
entertained, or better cared for in every respect at any place,
however large.

Now, Mr. President, I submit this resolution : —

Resolved, That the guests of the State Board of Agriculture desire

to express their thanks to the board for holding this meeting in a
strictly agricultural district.

188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The resolution was adopted. A

Question. I would like to ask the professor one ques-
tion: What, in his judgment, would be the effect upon do-
mestic animals of eating the product of a silo day after day,
and week after week, through the winter? Whether it would
induce any disease in the stock? ‘That is a serious question
to my mind.

Professor GOESSMANN. Feeding exclusively ensilage in
large quantities is not to be recommended. It ought to be
supplemented, without doubt, in many instances, with some
other stronger article of food. Ensilage contains frequently
a large quantity of acid, and I should recommend that it be
supplemented by something else to counteract the effect of
the acid. For instance, give forty pounds of ensilage, and
supplement with some hay, and similar, even stronger articles
of fodder from time to time. No one article of fodder can
be used economically for all kinds of animals in different
conditions, with equal advantages.

The CHAIRMAN. Before dissolving this meeting, in be-
half of the Board of Agriculture I desire to express again
our great gratification at this large and most intelligent
audience. The meetings have been larger and better and
more successful, I think, than any of the country meetings I
have ever attended; and, while we feel thankful for our kind
reception here, we certainly ought to thank you, in behalf
of ourselves and our speakers, for the close attention which
you have paid to the papers; and I believe you will be
rewarded for this in the present, and still more when you
receive the Secretary’s Report.

And now, in behalf of the Board, I bid you farewell, and
hope for a happy return to your homes.

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