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ENSILAGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 654 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ENSILAGE , the See also:

process of preserving See also:green See also:food for See also:cattle in an undried See also:condition in a silo (from Gr. aipos, See also:Lat. sirus, a See also:pit for holding See also:grain), i.e. a pit, an erection above ground, or stack, from which See also:air has been as far as possible excluded. The See also:fodder which is the result of the process is called silage. In various parts of See also:Germany a method of preserving green fodder precisely similar to that used in the See also:case of Sauerkraut has prevailed for upwards of a See also:century. See also:Special See also:attention was first directed to the practice of ensilage by a See also:French agriculturist, Auguste Goffart of the See also:district of See also:Sologne, near See also:Orleans, who in 1877 published a See also:work (See also:Manuel de la culture et de l'ensilage See also:des See also:mars et autres fourrages verts) detailing the experiences of many years in preserving green crops in silos. An See also:English See also:translation of Goffart's See also:book by J. B. See also:Brown was published in New See also:York in 1879, and, as various experiments had been previously made in the See also:United States in the way of preserving green crops in pits, Goffart's experience attracted considerable attention. The conditions of See also:American See also:dairy farming proved eminently suitable for the ensiling of green See also:maize fodder; and the success of the method was soon indisputably demonstrated among the New See also:England farmers. The favourable results obtained in See also:America led to much discussion and to the introduction of the See also:system in the United See also:Kingdom, where, with different conditions, success has been more qualified. It has been abundantly proved that ensilage forms a wholesome and nutritious food for Cattle. It can be substituted for See also:root crops with See also:advantage, because it is succulent and digestible; See also:milk resulting from it is See also:good in quality and See also:taste; it can be secured largely irrespective of See also:weather; it carries over grass from the See also:period of See also:great abundance and See also:waste to times when none would otherwise be available; and a larger number of cattle can be supported on a given See also:area by the use of ensilage than is possible by the use of green crops. See also:Early silos were made of See also:stone or See also:concrete either above or below ground, but it is recognized that air may be sufficiently excluded in a tightly pressed stack, though in this case a few inches of the fodder See also:round the sides is generally useless owing to See also:mildew.

In America round erections made of See also:

wood and 35 or 40 ft. in See also:depth are most commonly used. The crops suitable for ensilage are the See also:ordinary See also:grasses, clovers, See also:lucerne, vetches, 'oats, See also:rye and maize, the latter being the most important silage See also:crop in America; various weeds may also be stored in silos with good results, notably spurrey (Spergula arvensis). a most troublesome plant in poor See also:light soils. As a See also:rule the crop should be mown 654 when in full See also:flower, and deposited in the silo on the See also:day of its cutting. Maize is cut a few days before it is ripe and is shredded before being elevated into the silo. See also:Fair, dry weather is not essential; but it is found that when moisture, natural and extraneous, exceeds 75% of the whole, good results are not obtained. The material is spread in See also:uniform layers over the See also:floor of the silo, and closely packed and trodden down. If possible, not more than a See also:foot or two should be added daily, so as to allow the See also:mass to See also:settle down closely, and to See also:heat uniformly throughout. When the silo is filled or the stack built, a layer of See also:straw or some other dry porous substance may be spread over the See also:surface. In the silo the pressure of the material, when chaffed, excludes air from all but the See also:top layer; in the case of the stack extra pressure is applied by means of planks or other weighty See also:objects in See also:order to prevent excessive See also:heating. The closeness with which the fodder is packed determines the nature of the resulting silage by regulating the chemical changes which occur in the stack. When closely packed, the See also:supply of See also:oxygen is limited; and the attendant See also:acid See also:fermentation brings about the decomposition of the carbohydrates See also:present into acetic, butyric and lactic acids. This product is named "sour silage." If, on the other See also:hand, the fodder be unchaffed and loosely packed, or the silo be built gradually, oxidation proceeds more rapidly and the temperature rises; if the mass be compressed when the temperature is 14o°°—16o° F., the See also:action ceases and " sweet silage results.

The nitrogenous ingredients of the fodder also suffer See also:

change: in making sour silage as much as one-third of the albuminoids may be converted into amino and ammonium compounds; while in making " sweet silage " a less proportion is changed, but they become less digestible. In extreme cases, sour silage acquires a most disagreeable odour. On the other hand it keeps better than sweet silage when removed from the silo.

End of Article: ENSILAGE

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