The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-08-15
Fermentation Of New-Made Hay.

Fermentation Of New-Made Hay.
To say nothing of the cheating" Of
damp hay, where, under favorable con-
ditions, the evolution of heat may even
~ome to the point OF inflammation, it
is well known that new hay will
'.sweat' somewhat in the NOW or stack
after it has been stored, no matter how
dry it seemed to be at the moment of
storing; and it is q 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,
and not few of them hold that it is
not well to dry hay too thoroughly be-
fore storing it, lest the necessary ripen-
ing in the NOW should be hindered. A
couple of English chemists, Percy
FARMLAND 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 to have been ex-
pected. that even at the ordinary tenn
perature of the air good deal of car
bomc acid is given of, and that this gas
is accompanied by mere traces of hy-
drogen and hydrocarbons. In the be-
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 to carbonic acid. But 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, it was difficult to conclude from the
experiments made in the air as 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 carbonic 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 compose
ton of the gases produced. The evo-
luton of carbonic acid took place about
as rapidly in the artificial atmosphere
as it did in air, but it was noticed that
in the atmoshere of oxygen there was a
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 so rapidly absorbed by the
grass that, even in the experiments
with pure oxygen, it was completely
used up in the course of a 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 al
first; the amount given off 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, considers
BILE quantities Of carbonic acid were
produced at the expense of combined
oxygen originally contained in the gras:
was conspicuOusly enforced by these
experiments in artificial atmospheres
Naturally enough the evolution of car
bonic acid was more rapid at tempera
ture of 81 degrees than at 60 degrees.
When grass was allowed to decom
pose under water much larger quaint
ties of gas were evolved than were OBJ
tanned in the foregoing experiments
and the gas, though mainly carDoni'
acid, as before, was characterized b,
the presence of notable percentage o
hydrogen. But in other expert
ments, where the water was made
poisonous by adding to it small quaint
ties of carbolic acid or corrosive sub
Innate, no gases at all were evolved
and a similar negative result was oh
tanned when a tube containing gras
and water was exposed to steam hea
for several hours and then left to itself
whence the conclusion that the fermenta
ton and the evolution of gas must b.
dependent upon the presence in tn,
hay or grass of low forms of organi,
life. In confirmation of this view, tn
microscope always revealed numerou
bacteria in the water taken from tube
in which the grass had fermented
This water was found to contain acetic
Tactic. and, probably, propionic acids
The fact enforced by these experiment:
that the fermentation of hay in now
will 90 forward in the absence of air
and that the practical result (not to sa,
the cause) of the fermentation is tn,
destruction of certain chemical con
stituents of the hay. is calculated Il
throw considerable light, not only OF
the significance of the sweating of hay
in mows, as aforesaid, but upon tn,
question of baling hay also. 1t is com
monly held to be quite improper to ball
new-made hay, no mater how DIR,
the hay may be, and that, indeed, tn,
operation of baling can not be per
formed with safety to the hay unit
after it has been allowed to lie some
time in the barn. Undoubtedly, besid,
the gases that are evolved, various new
chemical compounds are formed durin.
the fermentation by the breaking up o
matters originally contained in the hay
and some of these new products ms,
be more useful, or less hurtful, thai
those in the unfermented fodder. Ii
view of the fact that a certain degree
of fermentation of green hay can hardl,
be avoided anyway, even if it were de
sirable to avoid it, it may well be tru
that the doctrine taught by some skill
full farmers that it is always best in cur
ing hay to let it sweat somewhat il
punches, windrows or cocks before car
rving it to the barn is correct doctrine
IL consists curiously with objection
which have been made, at one time ant
another, in England, to processes o
drying grass artificially in currents O
air. as introduced there by several in
ventors. The waste of nitrogen from