The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-08-04

Why is green. ssucc1lent matter pre-
served from heating and .,rotting when
stored in q sifo7 This question IL often
asked, but seldom is al inteilie emit an
swer given. It 10 claimed that this ia
effected by excluding the air on the
same principle that, we save. fruit by
canning it; but no person with. even an
elementary knowledge Of the science
of pneumatics' will pretend to form a
vscuum with wood, or brick and NOR
tar, however well it. may beatpacked
with clay. Allwriters on ensilage. from
Auguste GoHart, who invented the silo,
down to the last newspaper correspon-
dent, speak of the peculiar ",vinous
odor'' Of the provender when taken
from the pit, and writer in the New
England Farmer, while commanding
the silo, cautions people about going
into a newly opened pit, from the dan
gerous accumulation Of carboiiic acid
that is always present. Add to these
the fact that the analysis of Prof. Goes
mann shows a loss of starch and sugar
in the fodder thus preserved, and we
have in all these facts the mode of pres
ervation clearly Indicated. Shortly aft
er being packed an incipient fermenta-
ton sets in, and the sugar in the green
fodder is decomposed, and equal equiv
alents of carbonic acid are formed. The
former, being gas, slowly escapes
through the covering of the silo, while
the alcohol combines with, or is dis
solved in, the water present. This
gives the characteristic ''vinous odor''
spoken of. With this fermentation be-
gins at once the conversion of starch
into sugar; but q special property Of
alcohol is to retard or entirely arrest
chemical changes inorganic substances.
The partial exclusion Of the air, the low
temperature, and 1.-the accommodating
quantity of alcohol finally arrest chem
ical action till the forage is exposed to
the air and higher temperature, when
the acetic fermentation begins and the
alcohol is rapidly converted into vine
gar and the whole is soon mass of de-
cay. sr - t.atss-
Alcohol and low temperature, are
the agents that preserve green vegeta-
BILE matter in q silo. The sugar and
starch, which were converted into car
bonic acid and alcohol, were important
food elements, and it is not probable
that any one at all acquainted with ami
NAL physiology will contend that these
resultant compounds can supply their
place as food. 80 ais
1t is claimed that dairy cows fed on
ensilage give an increased quantity of
milk. and stalled animals fatten on it
rapidly. Both of these claims are prob
ably founded in fact. That dilute alco-
hol, Is in beer, has The property of in
creasing the secretion of milk has been
long known, but while the quantity is
increased the quality is correspondingly
impaired. It is but few years since it
was claimed that the Stops from a dis
tillery possessed as much ,fattening
power as did the corn before it was
distilled; and the claim was sustained
by practical tests. But the pork pack
ers soon dissip,ted this illusion by dis
carding still-fed pork as an unhealthy
product. Fat, butter and. cheese pro-
duced under the influence of alcohol,
whether fed in still slops or ensilage,
are not normal products. They are re-
suits of an effort to dispose of waste
material that in normal or healthy con-
dition should have been consumed by
respiration. 1t is also claimed that this
alcoholic fermentation renders the food
more digestible. But digestion is chem
ical change, and does that which res
tards change in the silo promote it in
the stomach ?-IndianG Farmer. ,-.-.,