of the fodder when put in the silo, the time of filling may be safely extended until the temperature rises to a point that is fatal to the bacteria; and this is the probable explanation of the reported cases in which the ensilage is said to be "sweet," or free from acidity.

The efficient cause of this preliminary heating process, or the changes in the fodder involved in its development, have not been determined by experiment, and we do not know the precise conditions under which the best results may be obtained.

In the present state of our knowledge of the subject, the most desirable method may be to fill the silo without any packing beyond that produced by the weight of the superincumbent mass, and then allow it to remain until the desired temperature is reached before putting on the cover and weights. The best method can only be determined by carefully conducted experiments, that are made with a full knowledge of the different conditions that may have an influence in modifying the results. It cannot, however, be doubted that sour ensilage can only be produced by conducting the process so that the temperature does not rise above the point that is fatal to the bacteria (probably 115° to 120°). Observations on temperature have been generally neglected when silos were filled; and we therefore lack the necessary data for determining the precise temperature required to prevent fermentation, or the most favorable conditions for producing it, from the results of practical experience.

Several cases have been reported to me in which the fodder at the time of filling the silo was supposed to be "spoiled" from the high temperature developed before it was covered and weighted; but on opening these silos, after several months, the result uniformly obtained was ensilage of the best quality, free from acidity. But a single case has, however, come to my knowledge, in which the exact temperature was recorded at the time of filling the silo, when the resulting product was sweet ensilage. Mr. George Fry, of England, reports the results of his experience the past season, which is of particular interest in connection with my experiments with ensilage. He filled a silo with Trifolium incarnatum (crimson clover), "rough grass," and "clover and rye grass," between the 7th and 30th of June, the temperature recorded at the time of covering being 132° six

feet from the surface. The cover was weighted with twelve inches of sand. On July 11th, and again on the 17th, the cover was taken off, and the silo was filled with "meadow-grass" to make up for the loss in settling. The temperature observed at these dates was 140° at a depth of six feet. In another silo, filled with clover and "rye-grass" and "meadow-grass," between June 30th and July 11th, when the cover was put on and weighted, the recorded temperatures were (July 7th) 149° and (July 14th) 158°. The first mentioned silo was opened October 25th, and the ensilage is described as "of a brown color, and of a sweet, luscious odor, free from acidity, very much resembling that of ordinary hay," and it was at once eaten by cattle, sheep, and horses with apparent relish.

Mr. James Chaffee, of Wassaic, New York, informed me that from unavoidable delays in filling his silo with fodder-corn, in 1882, the ensilage became so "hot," before it was covered and weighted, that he feared it would be entirely spoiled; but, when it was opened in the fall, the fodder was perfectly preserved, of a brown color, and sweet, delicious odor, without the slightest indication of acidity. His cows ate it with such a decided relish that he had no hesitation in saying it was the best ensilage he had ever made. Last year he followed the usual method of rapid filling and thorough packing, and his ensilage, when opened, was very sour, and in quality decidedly inferior to that made in 1882. Other cases of a similar import might be given, to show that a temperature sufficiently high to kill the bacteria. and prevent fermentation can readily be obtained in the process of filling the silo, and that the ensilage under such conditions is of much better quality than when the temperature is kept within the range that is favorable for the development of the acid ferments.

Experiments are now needed to determine the exact temperatures required for destroying the organisms that cause fermentation, under the different conditions presented at the time of filling the silo, and the special methods of practice that may be desirable in the treatment of different crops. This field of experimental investigation is of the greatest practical interest, and we may safely predict that the thermometer will soon be found as indispensable in securing the best results in the ensilage of green fodder as it is now in the various processes of the dairy.

SOMETHING ABOUT PLANTS.

BY MRS. MARTHA DE M. GAGE, OF HAVERHILL, MASS.

In coming before this organization to present the subject of plants, I do so with diffidence, knowing that, in an audience like this, there must be many more familiar than myself with the facts which I shall present, and to whom what I have prepared will be a tiresome repetition.

As you have gone about your farms or gardens, you may have struggled with this stone-heap, or blasted that boulder, either for use in building, or to get it out of your way. You may have used the beautiful marble for decorative purposes, or have admired the gems set in gold-lustrous and valuable—and yet, perhaps, have never thought that these stone-heaps, these marbles and gems, were possibly due to some form of primitive plantgrowth, some unknown vegetable formation, whose decay was the growth of these minerals. For chemical changes, but faintly understood, lie at the foundation of all growth, whether it were in that chaotic, nebulous state from which it is supposed our globe was evolved, or in the springing up of the simplest flower which we unwittingly crush beneath our feet as we walk in the fields. And this study of the flowers that bloom everywhere, alike in the cultivated meadows or by the dusty roadside, in the tangled forests of Brazil or amid the inaccessible cliffs of the Alps, is one that all may indulge in, from the little child who lies at full length upon the ground and examines the daisy, caring not for cellular formation, axis of growth, or prefloration, to the enthusiastic botanist who takes long journeys and endures great hardships to add one more specimen to an already full herbarium, or one more species to the known orders.

In the study of plants, as a work of God's hand, apart from

their generally recognized mission of beauty, the first thing that attracts our attention is the difference between the vegetable, animal, and mineral growths. And though there are points where the vegetable and animal kingdoms approach each other so nearly that their absolute boundaries are, as yet, a subject of question, yet many points of difference are so broad and well defined as to admit of no controversy. The principal are these,— their growth, their propagation or multiplication, their forms, and their time of duration or existence. Minerals grow by accretion, or the deposition of particles on the outside, having no internal organism which tends to their enlargement. Plants and animals are nourished by food, which, acted upon by internal forces, is finally converted into their own substance; and by this power of assimilation their structure is developed and maintained. Minerals are multiplied only by subdivision, while animals bring forth young; and plants produce seeds, which are only undeveloped plants waiting for favorable circumstances and situations to present all the qualities of the parent plant. Again Minerals, except crystals, have no symmetry of outline; they present angles or irregular surfaces, and, when presenting regular forms, are measured by straight lines; while plants and animals have each a proper form peculiar to its own species, usually bounded by circular surfaces, and measured by curved lines. Finally, the existence of minerals is indefinitely prolonged, while living forms have an average duration for every species.

Between plants and animals, as living organizations, there are these differences, also: Plants are nourished by mineral food, and this is transformed by chemical changes into their own substance. Animals universally subsist upon this food so transformed. Vegetable tissues are made up of three chemical elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. Animal tissues are also composed of these, with the addition of nitrogen. Again: In the lowest forms of plants we find many species composed of a single cell; but animals, even in their lowest condition, exhibit a complexity of construction far higher than this.

If we take up any plant, as, for instance, the geranium, we are struck with the great dissimilarity of the structure of the substance of which it is composed. In the leaf we find certain soft, succulent parts which form the expansion or blade; and a