Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1884-08-14
Fermentation Of Nen-Maae Har.

uiblOQS. tue cfOlutiOn OF ne3l may even
come TO the point OF Inflammation. il
Is wei known that new hay will
'-sweat" somewhat in the NOW or stack
after il has been stored. no matter how
dry il seemed to be At the moment Of
storing; and il is n tenet Of faith
among horse-keepers that hay IS not fit
food for horses until after this sweating
fermentation has thoroughly run its
course Many farmers believe. indeed.
that this fermentation Is advantageous.
ard not n few of them hold that it is
not well 10 dry hay too thoroughly be-
fore storing il, lest the necessary ripen-
ing in the NOW should be hindered- !
couple of English chemists, Percy
Frankland and Jordan. have recently
experimental upon this matter with the
view of ascertaining what kinds Of gases
are evolved during the fermentation
They find, as was 10 have been sx-
pected. that even at the ordinary tenn
perature Of the air good deal Of car
bonic acid Is given of. ald that this gas
IS accompanied by mere traces of hy-
drogen and hydrocarbons. In the re-
ginning. when the comparatively dry
grass was in contact with air. and was,
so to say, saturated with air, the oxy
gen of the air was rapidly absorbed and
changed 10 earbOnic acid. BIT even
after the oxygen had been completely
removed in this way from the confined
volume Of air employed in the expert
ment, there was still evolution of car
bOnic acid from the hay, the
oxygen for which must have come from
some constituent of the grass. On
account OF the presence OF nitrogen in
air, il was difficult TO conclude from the
experiments made in the air rs TO what
happened with regard TO the nitrogen in
the grass during the fermentation. Hence
experiments were made upon other
portions OF the incOmpletely dried grass
confined, in some cases. in an atmos-
phere of carbcnic acid, and in other in
stances in atmOspheres of oxygen and
hydrogen. II appeared. however, that
the atmosphere with which the grass
was surrounded had but little influence
either upon the volume or the compost
tion of the gases produced. The evo-
luton of csrhOric acid took place about
IS rapidly In the artificial atmosphere
as il did in air. but il was noticed that
in the atmOshere of oxygen there was n
considerable evolution Of nitrogen. as
well as of carbonic acid; hence the in
ference that nitrogen Is really evolved
when hay ferments In the air The OK
ygen was 50 rapidly absorbed by the
grass that even in the experiments
with pure oxygen. il was completely
used up in the course cf \ week. after
which time the evolution of nitrogen
from the grass practically ceased On
adding new quantities of oxygen. how
ever. nitrogen was again liberated from
the hay, though somewhat less than az
first; the amount given OF was still
very considerable. however. even after
the lapse of several months. The funda-
mental fact that even in the absence Of
any Oxygen in the free state. c0nsidera-
ble Quantities of carbOnie acid were
produced al the expense of combined
oxygen originally contained in the grass
was cOnspicuOusly enforced by these
experiments in artificial atmOspheres.
Naturally enough the evolution Of car
bOnic acid was more rapid n; tempers-
ture of 81 degrees than at 60 degrees
When grass was allowed to decom-
pose under water much larger quanti-
ties Of gas were evolved than were OBJ
tanned in the foregoing experiments.
and the gas. though mainly caro0aic
acid. rs before. was characterized by
the presence of 4 notable percentage of
hydrogen But in other expert
ments. where the water was made
poisonous BY adding to il small quanti-
ties of carbOlic acid OF corrosive sub
Innate, no gases AZ all were evolved.
- n.
tanned when 4 tube containing grass
and water was exposed to steam heat
for several hours and then left to itself;
whence the conclusion that the fernenta-
tion and the evolution of gas must be.
dependent upon the presence in the
hay or grass of low forms of organic
life In confirmation Of this view, the
microscope always revealed numerous
bacteria in the water taken from tubes
In which the grass had fermcnted.l
This water was found TO contain acetic,
Tactic. aud. probably. proPiOnic acids.
The fact enforced by these experiments
that the fermentation OF hay IN mows
viii 90 forward in the absence of air,
and that the practical result mot to say
the cause) Of the fermentation is the.
destruction Of certain chemical con-
stituents of the hay. is calculated to
throw considerable light, not only on
the significance Of the sweating Of hay
in mows. IS Aforesaid. but upon the
question of baling hay also IL IS COM
monty held TO be quite improper 10 bale
new-made hay, no matter how dry
the hay NAV be. and that. indeed. the
operation of 5zling can not be per-
formed with safety TO the hay uptil
after il has been allowed to lie some
time in the barn. Undoubtedly, beside
the gases that are evolved. various new
chemical compounds are formed during
the fermentation by the breaking up Of /
matters originally contained in the hay, |
and some of these new products may
be mere useful, or less hurtful. than
those in the unfermented fodder. In |
view Of the fact that sertain degree /
of fermentation of green hay can hardly |
be avoided anyway, even II il were de- |
sirable to avoid il, it may well be true |
that the doctrine taught by some skill |
fui farmers that it is always best in cur ]
ing hay to let il sweat somewhat in /
punches, windrows or cocks before car /
rving IL to the barn is 4 correct doctrine |
IL consists curiOusly with objections |
which have been made, at one time and /
another. in England. to processes of |
drying grass artiiicially in currents of
air. as Introduced there by several in
ventors- The waste of nitrogen from
hay by ion--continued keeping has re-
peatedly been noticed before by agri- /
cultural chemists II follows thSt al |
though the popular belief that the new
hSy is bad for animals may be true
enough, old hay is not ne cessarily good
hsy.-REral Nei0 Yorker.
GSai Farmers May Be Poor Bee-Keep-