Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1882-07-13

>>'
dry food. If this green food can be pre-
served very nearly in its natural state TO
take the place OF dry food through the sea-
son, whatever advantages are found in the
green pastures would be secured during the
season when there are no pastures. So the
only question involved in the silo method of
preserving food is, whether it can be so con-
structed as to exclude tree oxygen and the
consequent result of fermentation, and
whether, if so, the economy Of the method
is equivalent to the per cent. of advantages
of green over dry. One thing is very GER
tain, there have been some very sad failures
in attempts to construct silos to exclude free
oxygen. There is hardly any doubt that 1T
can be done, but the remaining question is
to be solved: whether the expense would
not exceed the additional value OF the green
food so preserved. We have already pub
lished the views OF Professor j. B. Law, OF
Cornell University, which are in general
accord with our own as here expressed. We
here give those Of Prof L. B. Arnold. as re-
ported by contemporary, which will be
lOund along the same line:
"lt is now pretty we'll established that
there is some adva tage to be gained from
the preservation OF green food in silos, and
also that the extent and certainty of that
advantage depend chiefly on the conditions
comprised in the sio in which the preserya-
tion is effected. In the first place, the silo
must be, as nearly as possible, air-tight.
The free oxygen OF the atmoswhere is the
active agent which stimulates the deStruc-
ton Of food elements in the contents of
silos, and alcohol and vinegar and carbonic
acid gas are the chief products of the de-
structive changes. These come from fer
mentation. and these cannot 90 on without
air. Hente. If silo is air-tight, fermenta-
tion and the changes consequent upon it
will be prevented. But making slo air.
tight does not prevent all change in its con-
tents. With plenty OF moisture and a me-
dium temperature, the starch in the vegeta-
ton will, by degrees, be changed into sugar
and the sugar into lalic acid. These changes
DO not require air, and will therefore take
place in any kind of silo, unless counteract-
ed by. dessication or an extremely low tenn
perature. But these are not destructive
changes. They consist in little else than
Encouragement of the atoms ot the starch
and sugar, which does not materially affect
their being utilized for TODD so that while
unavoidable they are comparatively harm
less. Unless fed in excessive quantity, the
TODD in which these changes have occurred
remains good tor producing milk, if it was
good before, tor the changes are identical
with those which take place in the same
substances in the bodies of animals prepar.
atory to their cnlering the blood, into which
they cannot 90 in the form either of starch
or sugar. When air touches the fodder, and
sets in, the changes are alto
gether different. In the first place, one-halt
Of the weight of the gum. starch and sugar
IS liable to be taken up in the formation of
carbonlc acid and carried away in the form
Of gas and entirely lost. and what is left of
them to be converted into alcohol or vine
gar, and not only to become of no use as
food, but to work injury to the stock which
feed upon it, especially when fed to mich
cows. But all these effects can be prevented
)y excluding air from the material to be
preserved, and the possibility of doing so
S what has contributed to the success OF
modern ensilage.
'The early silos were imperfect and ex-
remely wastetul. They consisted of earth
)it-hoes dug in the ground in some dry
)lace, where water would not penetrate.
The material to be preserved was laid upon
he bare earth, and then, after being cover
ID with straw. boards or other material, to
prevent the dirt from mingling with the
odder, the whole was buried beneath a
hick layer of earth The great defect in
nch silos was that they did not exclude the
ir. Though piled several feet thick. earth.
ither loose or pressed, is not impervious 10
ir. 1t slowly finds its way through any
ind or thickness of earth, and when it
caches the buried ensilage, becomes the
upport OF an active fermentation that de-