>> >> ay may) PP; = » Sa 2D. 225 Poss S 22> > D> <2»? D> >> > > >> yi AA} vy ye BFyedik, s j Ai) Penis) te) ANAL Witt U. S. Department of Agriculture. =< een Be at NM NE Ng i ij / eA) z je) v Vv LAA A hE SIG i o- Del fa ~~ y ss - = ~t . 7 : 7 : : ra os E i‘ a 3 o ' _ ’ a . : - . 7 - 7 = Peay . - - : 7 ba z F ' a = co + Lars ra + no - 2 t ‘ 4 7 7 a a ‘ uy : . t . = a) “ ™ ESSAYS fHE SOPLING OF CAPILE, ILLUSTRATED FROM EXPERIENCE; AN ADDRESS, CONTAINING SUGGESTIONS WHICH MAY BE USEFUL TO FARMERS, By JOSIAH QUINCY. THIRD EDITION, BOsse Ow: Ww ke, EOLR. EIN Ge L816 2: BOSTON: PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 22, ScHooL STREET. PRE EAT OR SNFOri be Tue first of these Essays and the “ Address” were prepared, in 1819, at the request of the Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricul- tural Society. The second Essay was prepared, in 1852, at the request of the Trustees of the Norfolk Agricultural Society. They are now republished at the solicitation of friends of agriculture, and of the system therein recommended. In former days in Massachusetts, when there was much land and few inhabitants, the possession of fifty or a hundred acres was thought requisite for the success of a farmer; and the possession of ten, fifteen, or twenty acres was scarcely deemed a title to that appellation. Time is rapidly changing these views; for land begins to be dear, and cultivators many. If Massachusetts means to retain her population at home, and preserve somewhat of the proportion of weight she yet possesses in our Union, she must study, act upon, and encourage the productive power of land, and inculcate on her agricultural class that the true interest, both of the State and indi- viduals, is best promoted by cultivating small tracts of land to the utmost productive power of the soil. By a mistaken notion, that a considerable extent of land is requisite to enable a farmer to keep many head of cattle, a most wasteful proportion of it is retained for the sole purpose of pasturage; and thus, compared with its inherent productive power, made useless. If only the interest of the market value of such comparatively useless tracts was applied to the cost of Jabor for highly cultivating small portions of land, and that which is now kept for pasture permitted only to grow up for wood, the profit to the State and individual would be in an important degree increased. The aim of the ensuing treatises is to illustrate from experience the means and the mode, under the climate of Massachusetts, of accomplishing this result. JOSIAH QUINCY. Boston, March 1, 1859. _ a anaemia ESS Avie THE practice of “ soiling cattle,” as it is called, or keeping them, all the year round, in their stables, with only a daily and short liberty of a yard, having been a frequent subject of the attention, and an object of a proffered premium, by the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for pro- moting Agriculture, I shall, in conformity with their request, communicate my own practice and experience on that mode of managing stock. Previously, however, to stating any observations upon the results of my own experience, I think it may be useful to abstract and digest into a regular form some of the prin- cipal facts and reasonings of Transatlantic farmers. These may tend to attract the attention of our practical husband- men more forcibly to the subject; and enable those, whose farms and capital are in a condition that authorizes the adopting of this mode, to do it with more facility and success. There are six distinct advantages which those who advo- cate soiling propose to themselves by the practice, and on * Published in the Massachusetts Agricultural Journal, July, 1820, pp. 113- 125 ; continued, pp. 334 - 348. 6 which they establish the preference of this mode to the common one of pasturing cattle’ during the summer. ist. The saving of land. 2d. The saving of fencing. 3d. The economizing of food. 4th. The better condition and greater comfort of the cattle. 5th. The greater product of milk. 6th. The attainment of manure. The only offset to all these advantages is the labor of raising and cutting the food, and feeding and taking care of the stock. Ist. The saving of land. In relation to this fact, there can be no question. All European writers assert it. They differ only as to the degree of saving which results. Some assert that it is as one to three; others, one to seven. Others assert the saving to be yet greater; that is, one acre kept for soiling will go as far as three or seven kept for pasture, in the support of stocks. It is not important to analyze this point farther. For every practical purpose, the evidence is sufficient to satisfy every mind that a very ereat saving of land results from this practice ; and that on farms, where the whole soil is capable of being ploughed, the economy of soiling is great ; and on all such farms may profitably be adopted, provided that the expenses incident to the mode do not counterbalance these advantages. It may be, however, useful to observe, that the reason of the diversity of statement, in relation to the degree of sav- ing, among European writers, results from the different ways in which the land used for soiling is cultivated for ~T the purpose of raising food. Some satisfy themselves with enriching the former pasture, and cutting the grass it pro- duces, for the soiling use. Others plough up the pasture ; raise cabbages, or other succulent food, on which they sup- port their stock. Now, it is plain, the result of a comparison of saving of land made between an acre of enriched pasture, and an acre appropriated to the latter of these modes of husbandry, must be very different. In either case, the economy is sufficiently great; and, if nothing else be an offset for the advantage, this must be decisive. | 2d. Saving of fencing. Here, also, is a great and de- cided economy. It includes not only the saving of the material used for fencing; the labor of making the fence, and of keeping it in repair; but also of the land occupied by the fences, and of all the headlands which are necessarily left on each side the fence, and which are usually an apology for slovenliness and a refuge for vermin. I have seen no precise estimate of this economy. Nor does it seem to be practicable to be made, upon any principle applica- ble to farms in general. It will be obviously greater or less according to the previous condition of the fences, and the ordinary necessity of erecting such as are usually deemed requisite on each particular farm. Here, also, the greatness of the economy is everywhere so obvious as to render any particular calculations unimportant. The general effect of soiling cattle is to render all interior fences absolutely use- less, excepting those which surround the buildings, and lead from these to the highway. A farm thus relieved from interior fences not only enjoys all the exemptions from great actual and great annual expenditures; but also there are 8 other facilities in its management, resulting from this ab- sence of interior fences, which are obvious and considerable. There is no waste land. The whole may be divided into cultivation, with precise reference to the state of soil. When the plough runs, the length of the furrow is deter- mined only by the judgment of the proprietor. It presents to the eye a scene of cultivation, neat, orderly, and beau- tiful. 3d. The economy of food. There are six ways by which beasts destroy the article destined for their food,—1. By eating; 2. By walking; 8. By dunging; 4. By staling ; 5. By lying down; 6. By breathing on it. Of these six, the first only is useful. All the others are wasteful. By pasturing, the five last modes are exercised without any check or compensation. By keeping in the house, they may be all prevented totally by great care, and almost totally by very general and common attention. It is on the saving resulting from this prevention of waste that much of the economy of this mode of keeping beasts depends. In pastures, whatever is trod upon, or is affected by their dung or their urine, is lain upon, or even long breathed upon, is lost. And this waste is always in pro- portion to the richness and the productive power of the pasture ; for just in that proportion is the quantity of food injured by all the five modes of destruction above stated ; whereas the same, being cut and delivered to them spar- ingly in point of time, but sufficiently in point of quantity, will every particle of it be consumed. Besides, it is found by experience, that, in this mode of feeding, beasts will eat many products of the earth, in the stall, which they will absolutely reject in the pasture. 4th. The better condition and greater comfort of the cattle. The condition of cattle will always depend chiefly wpon the quantity and the quality of the food, and regularity of their supply. In all these respects, feeding in the stall has the advantage of pasturing ; because, in stall-feeding, all are under the guidance of intelligence and discretion, and nothing is left to accident ; whereas, in pasturing, the beasts are left to their own care. When the pastures are good, and there is a great surplus of food upon them, the differ- ence is not, in this respect, great; but as soon as the pas- tures become ‘“ pinched,” as it is called, by drought, the difference is always perceptible. Farmers who pasture their cattle, seldom, if ever, provide a supply of succulent food, to be in readiness in case of any accidental deficiency of pasture. The consequence is, that, on the pasturing sys- tem, the summer condition of cattle always depends wholly on the state of the pastures. Now, as every farmer, where he is able, does and ought to stock his pastures up to their full pasture-power, it follows, that even a small drought will affect the condition of the animal something, and a severe one very sensibly; a fact of which every man may convince himself by observing cattle at pasture in dry seasons. Now, one great benefit resulting from stall-feed- ing is, that it makes the condition of cattle, in as great a degree as possible, independent of variations of the season ; and although an absolute independence is impossible, yet it is always much greater in stall-feeding than it can be in any mode of pasturing. The want of sufficient exercise, which is inseparable from this mode of feeding in stalls, is a popular, and, when not r to 10 tested by fact, is deemed an unanswerable objection. Yet all those who have made the experiment, and whose opinions I have seen expressed upon the subject, are unanimous in declaring that no ill effect results from this circumstance. One writer asserts that he has kept a large herd for several years in this way; and, during the whole time, “he never had an animal essentially sick, had never one die, and had never one miscarry.” It is to be observed, that stall-feeding of cattle does not imply keeping cattle in stalls or in the house the whole time. It only intends always feeding them there, and keeping them there the chief of the time. On the contrary, it is an essential part of the system to let them loose in yards well shaded, either artificially or by trees, at least two hours in the forenoon, and as many in the afternoon. Here they lay themselves at their ease, in the best ruminating attitudes ; or move round, taking some exercise in that act, or in rub- bing themselves against posts provided for the purpose. If any person will observe the slowness with which cattle usually walk in their pastures; that while, in feeding, they do little more than stand ; and, when full, that they almost invariably lie down, —he will hardly believe that the differ- ence between the exercise thus attained, and that which they get by having four hours in the day exclusively devoted to that object, can scarcely materially affect their health. When to this is added the*consideration, that, when fed in the stall, they are wholly protected from eating any noxious vegetables ; from drinking bad water ; from all injury; from being worried by dogs, or one another; that they are kept, through the heat of the day, in the cool shades; under cover; protected frem flies, —it cannot be a question tl that this mode is far more conducive to the health of the animal than pasturing possibly can be. Experience is also decisive upon the subject. If the condition of the animal be, as is here shown, better, it follows that this state must be more comfortable ; for the one is dependent on the other. oth. Greater product of milk. Although it is generally stated that this is the case, yet I do not recollect having met with any precise comparison upon the subject. The general apprehension among farmers seems to be, that although the condition of the animal may be better, yet that the tendency of the food to milk is not so great as when they are permitted to range in pastures. The truth, however, upon this point, can easily be explained, and in a manner perfectly conformable to my own experience. Dur- ing the flush of feed (that is, for perhaps the first month after cattle are turned to pasture), there is little difference, as far as respects the milk product, between pasturing and stall-feeding. At that time, there is generally a great supply of food. The cattle are eager after it. They have great opportunity to select. They feed quietly, and take only the most nutritious and palatable. After this month, this equality will gradually cease, and in favor of the stall- feeder. The pasture-food almost always grows more or less scarce, according to the particular character of the season ; whereas, by taking care to provide a regular suc- cession of succulent crops, he who feeds his cattle in stalls may keep the milk product, unaffected by the state of the season, to the end of the autumn. 6th. The attainment of manure. This is a great and characteristic benefit resulting from soiling, or stall-feed- ing, of cattle through the year. In pasturing, the summer manure is almost wholly lost. It falls upon rocks, among bushes, in watercourses, on the sides of hills. It is evapo- rated by the sun. It is washed away by the rain. Insects destroy a part. The residuum (a dry, hard cake) lies some- times a year upon the ground ; often impeding vegetation, and never enriching the earth in anything like the pro- ‘portion it would do if it had been deposited under cover, and kept free from the action of the sun in appropriate and covered receptacles, to be carted out annually in the proper season, and ploughed at once under the surface. The gain by this saving of the summer manure of beasts is stated by European writers, but generally loosely, and often in measures of quantity or capacity not easily re- ducible to those which prevail in our country. It is, however, unequivocally very great and important, and well worthy the solicitude of every farmer. Thus, for instance, in this “he will always feel his way.’ case of soiling. A farmer, ignorant of the subject, yet will- ing to try the experiment, should commence with one or two head of cattle. Let him set aside, at first, two acres of land for each head. Nothing will be lost if there be an excess of the oats or corn, sown for soiling, beyond the con- sumption: the surplus, cut in season, will remain for winter’s food. Let him go through, for one year, a course of soiling such as is suggested, for one or two head of cattle. Let him oversee the feeding himself, or by a confidential hand. A. boy, if trustworthy, is sufficient for such an experiment, acting under the daily directions of his father or master. Let him provide a pit, or cellar, covered, or under the barn, or so placed in relation to the cattle soiled as that the manure and urine can be easily preserved; the cellar or receptacle being water-tight. If this be so situated as that his hogs can have fair play among the deposits, it is impos- sible but that he will find his account in it. One year’s success will enable him, and, I cannot ques- tion, will induce him, to double, if not treble, his next year’s experiment. Soon he will, if the nature of his farm permit, shut up his whole stock; and ultimately will arrive at a state of conviction and feeling such as will never permit him again, on any consideration, to allow cattle to run at large on any of his land which is capable of being ploughed and mown. IT know it will be asked, What shall be done with rocky land, and land suitable only for pastures? My answer is, that where a farmer has nothing e/se but rock or pasture land 5 d4 or sand, which cannot be made subject to cultivation, he must manage according to his condition, Good farming is making the most of land according to its nature. If a man have a sand-bank on the margin of the ocean, he can make salt; if nothing but some perpendicular mountain-rocks, it will be best, probably, to keep goats. So of the rest. Farm- ing, to be good, must always have reference to the species and capacity of the soil. The system I advocate has reference to arable land ; to that portion of it on every man’s farm which ts capable of being ploughed and mowed over. Every man who wishes to make the most of this part of his farm will effect this the most certainly, the most economically, and the most satisfactorily, by the mode I recommend. If a man have part pasture and part arable, he may soil for part, and pas- ture for part. There is nothing inconsistent in this: on the contrary, the soiling is a great support to the pasture ; be- cause, when the pasture fails (as in dry seasons it often will), aman who soils part will always provide a surplus of his soiling food to meet such a contingency. In answer to the question, What species of farmers will find their account in attempting to soil? JI answer, Every FARMER WHO WANTS MANURE AT A CHEAP AND EASY RATE. The ereatest profit of soiling arises from the quantity of manure it enables the farmer to make; more than doubling it upon the same stock. It may be adopted, I apprehend, as an axiom, almost universal, —certainly so, except in cases of very great proximity to a town or village, — that soiling is the cheapest of all modes of obtaining manures. In this point of view, the saving of fence, the economy of land, of food, the increase of milk, and the better condition of the cattle, — 5 Oo all of which have been shown to be the consequences of this method, —may be considered as incidental to the system, as an offset for the labor requisite; giving the manure made as a clear gain; and, what is more, without the loss and trouble and expense of carting from a distance. It is not only made, but it is placed, just where it should be, — in the farmer’s own stercorary, or covered manure-heap. The rich farmer and the extensive landholder ought to avail himself of it, if he wants manure. If he have capital, he may stock his pasture-land up to its full pasture-power, and keep a number of head additional on the soiling system, according to the quantity of manure of which he stands in need. But the conduct of a farm, upon a great scale of this nature, depends upon so many circumstances, that the par- ticular mode or extent of applying this system, as subsidiary to pasturing, cannot be prescribed by any general rule. Calculations must have reference to a knowledge of all the particular circumstances and relations of such a farm and such a capitalist farmer. To farmers who possess only ten, fifteen, or twenty acres of land, this system is peculiarly applicable. Upon this they may build up a most prosperous agriculture, with little capital, littke more than ordinary trouble, and little or no risk ; relieved from debt, which is so frequently the farmer’s ruin, under the idea of the necessity of purchasing more land; and relieved, also, from the pain and vexation of owning and superintending a vast surface, — everywhere less productive than it ought to be; and, in a very great proportion, often not productive at all. I have thus endeavored to give, according to the request of the Trustees, an account of the mode of my conducting 36 the soiling process, and the result of my own experience. It is now six years since I commenced it; and no considera- tion would induce me to abandon it. Every year brings new conviction of its facility and its productiveness. If farmers would be persuaded to commence the system upon a small scale, with one or two head of cattle, they would gradually become acquainted with it; success would inspire confidence; until, enlarging the number of cattle soiled, they might, in time, easily keep one head per year for every acre of land they possess. Far greater than this would be the fair ultimate result of the system, if wisely conducted. Besides which, they would find other economies and advantages resulting from it, amply compensating for all the increased labor consequent upon the process. Sey ol To the Trustees of the Norfolk Agricultural Society :— GENTLEMEN, —In conformity with your request, I proceed to state ‘‘my experience, practice, and views”? on the sub- ject of “soiling ;”’ by which I understand the keeping cattle in the barn, and feeding them with green food, during the summer months; allowing them, daily, only a few hours’ liberty of a yard, instead of feeding them in pastures. I do not, however, expect to communicate anything which may not easily be gathered from European writers. Knowing, also, the great proportion of land in the State thought to be exclu- sively applicable to pasturage, I do not anticipate that any statement on the topic can be generally useful. Yet to those farmers who have no land which may not easily be subjected to the plough, and to that increasing class who possess only ten, fifteen, or twenty acres of land, the system is very important, and a knowledge of my “experience and practice’? may be useful. Between the years 1813 and 1821, I managed my farm, according to my own judgment, with satisfactory success. My attention was easily drawn to the subject of “soiling” * Published in the Transactions of the Norfolk Agricultural Society, for 1852, p- 107. 38 milch-cows in the summer season, instead of keeping them in pasture, from the following circumstances. My farm con- sisted of about one hundred and seventy acres of good loam, level, without stone ; almost every square foot of which might be easily made subject to the plough, with the exception of about twenty acres, which were salt marsh. Nearly half of it had been always applied to pasture; and had upon it, by estimate, four or five miles of interior fence, which could not have cost, originally, less than sixteen hundred dollars; and, being post and rail, annually cost about sixty dollars in repair. My farm being compact, the annoyance of having fifteen or twenty head of cattle driven night and morning to and from pasture; the loss of time in turning the plough owing to the number of interior fences; and the loss of sur- face capable of being submitted to the plough, owing to the drew my attention to the subject of many headl ” and its effects. “* soiling I found that European writers maintained that six distinct advantages were to be obtained by the practice of ‘ soiling” over that of pasturing cattle in the summer season. 1. It saved land. . It saved fencing. It economized food. sa eo i) It kept the cattle in better condition and greater com- (oe) —_ a an . It produced more milk. 6. It increased, immensely, the quantity and quality of the manure. Satisfied, in my own mind, of the beneficial effects of the practice, I adopted it in the year 1814, and adhered to it until the year 1822; keeping from fifteen to twenty head of 39 milch-cows with such satisfactory success, that in the year 1820, at the request of the Trustees of the ‘¢ Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture,” I published, in their journal, an essay “on soiling cattle.’* In the year 1822, | gave up the direct management of my farm, and leased it, from considerations wholly independent of any dissatisfac- tion with this practice or its results. From that time being occupied in various public offices in Boston and its vicinity, I exercised no superintendence of my farm for about twenty-five years. Resuming its manage- ment in 1847, I immediately returned to the practice of 99 ‘soiling ;”’ resorted to the Essays I had formerly published, to revive my knowledge on the subject; and, from that time to the present, have persevered in the practice, with such entire satisfaction, that no consideration would induce me to adopt any other. Since 1847, [have kept from thirty to thirty-five head of milch-cows in this way; so that, in my mind, my experience is conclusive on the subject. Every one of the advantages above stated, as being main- tained by European writers, I have realized. 1. As to saving of land. One acre “soiled from” will produce as much as three acres pastured. This is enough ; although some European writers assert the benefit is equal to one to seven; this great difference arising from the mode in which the one acre is cultivated and enriched for succu- lent products. 2. As to saving of fencing. It renders all interior fences useless. It enables the plough to pass through any length of land without turning ; and saves all waste from headlands, * The preceding Essay. + I can now say to 1857, when I finally yielded my farm to my son. 40 which, on each side of fences, are usually the receptacles of unsightly and noxious weeds. 3. As to economy of food. Cattle will eat in the stall what they will reject in the field. They tread down and injure in the pasture, by dung or by stale, grass as good as, and almost in equal quantities with, that which they con- sume; and by their feet, injure its present product and future productive power. 4. As to the better condition and greater comfort of the cattle. In the stall, they are supplied every day, five or six times, with food given regularly in sufficient quantity ; and, previous preparation having been made, they can never fail, let the season be what it will, of always having the best food, and enough. When kept in the pasture, they are left to their own care, subject to various accidents; to the ill effects produced by worrying one another; to the constantly varying state of the pasture, which is always £ffected by drought and by the proportion of the number pastured ; and to the productive power of the field, which is often overstocked. In stall-feeding, care having been taken to have sufficient succulent food prepared, they are, in as great a degree as is possible, kept independent of the variations of season and from other annoyances. Their greater comfort, in this mode of keeping, is one of the essential causes of their better condition. During the heat of the day, they are kept under cover in the shade, secured from flies, from being worried by dogs or one another, from eating any noxious vegetables, and from bad water. A popular objection to this mode of keeping milch-cows is, that want of exercise must affect injuriously the health of the animal. To this, European writers, some of whom have 41 kept in this way large herds, reply, that they “never had one sick, or one die, or one miscarry,” in consequence of this mode of keeping. After more than ten years’ pursuance of the same practice, my experience justifies me in uniting my testimony to theirs on this point. Another commonplace objection to this practice, in respect of milch-cows, is, that their “ milk cannot be so good, nor in so great quantities, for want of exercise.” Nothing can have less foundation in fact. Cows in the pasture, unless under some temporary excitement, use very little, comparatively no, exercise. They usually walk a short time, slowly ; collect their food, and lie down to ruminate. The difference between this habit of theirs, and the exercise obtained by walking about an hour or two hours in the day in a yard, and being employed in rubbing themselves against walls or posts, is little, if any, less than they get in the pasture. This exer- cise (a daily, thorough currying being added in their stalls) is quite as efficient to produce a healthful action of the system as any exercise, as it is called, in the pasture. 5. As to the quantity of milk produced by this mode of keeping, my own experience is, in my opinion, decisive in its favor. In early summer, and when pastures are fresh in grass, milk will be, for a short period, produced in somewhat greater quantities by keeping in pasture than by “ soiling.” dut this advantage is of very short duration. As soon as pastures grow short, and the annoyance of heat and flies commences, all the advantage is transferred to stall-feeding. By comparison of the result of my milk produced with that of my neighbors’, taking both parts of the summer season together, | am entirely satisfied that the product, by well- conducted “ soiling,” is greatly in favor of this process. 6 42 6. As to the great increase in the quantity and quality of the manure, there can be possibly no question on the subject. Proper receptacles for this article being provided, free from rain and the sun, into which the stale from the cattle may be also received, the quantity and increased value of the manure thus kept is, according to my experience, a full equivalent for all the labor and expense of raising, cutting and bringing in the food, feeding, currying, and other care of the cattle. No farmer need be told of the importance and absolute necessity of manure for successful farming ; and, to those who have not the means of purchasing that article, the mode of “soiling” is, of all others, the most certainly pro- ductive of it, both in quantity and quality. As to “my practice” in soiling, it relates, Ist. To the quantity of land to be cultivated for the purpose of prepar- ing succulent food; 2d. To the particular articles to be thus cultivated ; and, 3d. To the times they are to be sown, so as to effect a regular succession of such food. 1. As to the quantity of land to be cultivated. According to my experience, one square rod of land, of rich loam in high tilth in grass, oats, barley, or Indian corn, is enough for the support of a cow a day, if cut and delivered to her in the barn. As, however, there is a great difference in the state of land and in its productive power, and as it is important there should be no failure in succulent food, my practice has been to cultivate one and a half square rods of land per day for each head of cattle I intend to ‘soil ;”’ and, on this basis, I make my calculations in the spring of the year. For the quantity to be sown at every succeeding period, when to secure a regular succession of such food a new sowing is required. To make this calculation sufficiently exact, the 45 length of time it will take the article sown to come to maturity so as to be fit to cut, and the length of time it will afterwards continue succulent, are to be considered. The time it comes to such a state of maturity is, of course, the time at which ’ A like reliance may it may be relied upon for “ soiling.’ be placed on the time it will continue succulent. The gen- eral knowledge of practical farmers and experience will easily give information on both points. If any article sown in the spring will come to maturity on the Ist of July, and will continue succulent ten days, fifteen square rods of succulent food will be wanted for each cow “soiled.” One cow will, therefore, consume fifteen square rods during that period ; and ten cows will require one hun- dred and sixty rods, or about an acre of such food, for their support. On this basis of calculation, I have always found the number of square rods to be sowed, for such a period of succulency of the plant, is sufficient for about such a period of feeding; viz. ten days. On this calculation, I have safely “soiled” from thirty to thirty-five head of cattle; adding one acre of preparation for every ten head. Should any one, however, adopt this practice for the first time, I should advise the preparing two square rods for each cow, to guard against every contingency to which a first attempt may be liable; for nothing will be lost, if the food should be proved more than was required. The sur- plus becomes a resource for the winter-keeping, after it is too rank for “ soiling.” 2. As to the particular articles to be thus cultivated. I have tried many besides those above mentioned ; such as mil- let, lucern, cabbages, pease ; the tops of carrots, beets, or tur- nips. Each may be usefully applied in its proper season, particularly the three last. And whoever keeps milch-cows will find roots an important auxiliary for milk in the winter season; and, of course, will find their tops a like important aid to “soiling”? in the latter months of autumn. But I think it best to enumerate only the fewest, the simplest, and the best known to all farmers, of the articles, which, from ex- perience, I have found the surest and the best to be relied upon for a successful conduct of the system. These are those already enumerated,— oats, barley, and Indian corn, — sown broadcast or in drills, for fodder. 3. The time in which the above articles are to be sown. The usual period in this country for turning out cows to pasture is from the 20th of May to the Ist of June. Ante- cedent to this period, no succulent food can be obtained for ‘soiling.’ Preparation, however, may be made, the autumn previous, by sowing winter rye, according to the proportion required for ‘ soiling,” from the 10th or 15th of the month of May to the Ist of June. This could be done with advan- tage : but I have never practised it more than once ; because, although I have always had rye fit for cutting at this time, yet it is too valuable, as grain and straw, for me so to use it, — regarding as I do winter rye, at the usual prices of grain and straw in this vicinity, to be the most profitable of any erain product. The reliance, in the “ soiling” system, for succulent food, between the 20th of May and the Ist of July, is grass, cut and delivered in the stable; and, according to my experi- ence, one and a half square rods per day for each cow “soiled” is ample for this purpose. The grass thus cut was usually that which is the least likely to be preferable for 45 winter keep; such as that growing by the side of my farm- roads or under trees, or that having the rankest fibre. The food sown and cultivated for soiling, in this climate, must have exclusive reference to the summer and autumn months, commencing with the Ist of July. And the follow- ing is the order of sowing, according to my practice, justi- fied by experience ; the proportion of land sowed at each suc- cessive period being, as above stated, one and a half or two square rods per day for each cow soiled. To produce a sufficient quantity of succession of succulent food, sow — 1. As early in April as the state of the land will permit, — which is usually between the 5th and the 10th,—on prop- erly prepared land, oats, at the rate of four bushels to the acre. 2. About the 20th of the same month, sow either oats or barley, at the same rate per acre, in like quantity and pro- portions. 3. Early in May, sow, in like manner, either of the above erains. 4. Between the 10th and 15th of May, sow Indian corn (the flat, Southern, being the best) in drills, three bushels to the acre, in like quantity and proportions. 5. About the 25th of May, sow corn in like quantity and proportions. 6. About the 5th of June, repeat the sowing of corn. 7. After the last-mentioned sowing, barley should be sown in the above-mentioned quantity and proportions, in succes- sion, on the 15th and 25th of June, and on the 1st of or early in July; barley being the best qualified to resist the early frosts. The results of the above sowing, in succulent food, may be 46 expected to be as follows, seasons of extraordinary drought excepted : — The oats sowed early in April will be ready to cut for “soiling”? between the Ist and 5th of July, and will usually remain succulent until the 12th or 15th of this month. Those sowed about the 20th of April will be ready to cut between the 15th and 20th of July, and will last nearly or quite till the Ist of August. Those sowed early in May will be ready to succeed the preceding, and last till about the 10th of this month. The corn sown on the 10th and 25th of May and early in June will supply, in suecession, succulent food, of the best quality, until early in September. The barley sown in July will continue a sufficient supply until early in November; at which time, and often before, the tops of roots, carrots, beets, or turnips are a never-failing resource. In the above enumeration of articles to effect a succession of succulent food for * soiling,” I have carefully confined my- self to those which were the fewest and the most commonly known. Ihave also stated their succession in point of sow- ing and use, that there may be no disappointment if no other articles can be brought in aid for the purpose: whereas, in the latter end of July and in August, second-crop grass may be generally relied upon ; and, in September and October, the tops of roots, as above mentioned, and of Indian corn, are also a reliable resource. I have also stated a succession of sowings, which my expe- rience has shown to be full and sufficient, and which, if the quantity sowed should be equal to two square rods for each cow “soiled,” per day, will certainly be more than sufficient 47 for summer “ soiling.”’ But, as before stated, if there should be excess, nothing is lost, as it becomes a resource for winter food for cattle. I cannot close this communication without remarking upon the importance of this system, and of its being known and understood. Nothing seems less realized than the pro- ductive power of the soil, when it is good, arable, and well cultivated. A man hardly dares to call himself in our country, a farmer, unless he have thirty, forty, or fifty acres. If he have only ten, fifteen, or twenty, he aspires only to the character of a gardener; but as to keeping any number of cattle, beyond what is wanted for his own family use, he generally regards it wholly out of the question. Now, there isin our country no class of men whom it is more desirable to encourage and instruct in the actual productive power of the quantity of land they possess, than these fen, fifteen, or twenty acre men. As this class multiplies (as it must), it will become a most important element in preserving and perpetuating conservative principles in our institutions. The consciousness of an identity of interest between the small and the great landholder, is, in a republic, one of the strongest bonds ef its continuance and happiness. A practical knowledge of the productive power of the soil, and of the mode of making its yield the most, will not only create in them content, but will prevent them from running into debt for more land, —a practice, of all others, the most embarrassing and ruinous to that class of farmers. That this class may obtain distinct and practical knowledge of the mode of operating on a small scale, on this system, I state that I have known two head of milch-cows kept in full milk and high condition, through the whole summer season, 48 on one acre of land, and some food from it left for winter use. To obtain the requisite succession of green food, one quarter of an acre was sown, of articles herein already stated, early in April; another guarter about fifteen days after the first; and so the remaining ¢wo quarters in similar succession.” The first sown will be in a state to be used in “ soiling” about the Ist of July; until which time, grass cut and brought to the stable is the reliance. From the Ist to the 15th of July, the food obtained from the first quarter of an acre will be usually a full supply. As soon as this quarter of an acre is fed off, it is to be well manured,—of which the cattle will have afforded an abundance, — ploughed, or spaded, and the articles above stated sowed, and rolled in. The same process is to be pursued in respect of every suc- ceeding quarter of an acre, as soon as it is fed off, as long as the season will permit an expectation of a crop from such sowing. Of course, a farmer upon such a small scale will have roots of some kinds carrots, beets, turnips, or cabbages * In corroboration of these views, as an evidence of the usefulness of this prac- tice on a small scale, I am authorized to state, that, ten years ago, the owner of ten acres of land in this vicinity, applicable to the eultivation of vegetables, corn, summer grass, and winter hay, for stock, complained that he could keep only one cow, and have hay enough remain for her winter food and for a horse. He was recommended to follow the plan suggested in this Essay, on a single acre ; ploughing in succession, at the times there stated, so much of that acre as would support the cows he intended to keep, and following the other suggestions in ploughing and soiling ; and each portion, as it was fed off, manuring and again ploughing, sowing and again feeding off. He adopted the recommendation ; and has recently assured me, that between the times of the first cutting of grass about his house and road-side, and the time of coming-in of vegetables for the food of stock, he has kept two cows, often THREE, on this single acre ; and has no doubt that he could have kept rour on that single acre, if he had wished, and had applied the system recommended, — pushed to the utmost of the productive power of that acre, — without affecting the requisite winter food of his stock; the cattle being all the time in health, and giving the usual proportion of summer’s milk. 49 for winter supply, which will come in aid of the food of the one acre, if wanted at the last of the season. I have stated that two cows may thus be kept on one acre during the summer season. From my own experience, I do not hesitate to state that ¢hree cows may thus be kept in full milk and in high condition on a single acre. Whoever commences the system should begin on a small scale: expe- rience will show the way to success. The great profit of the system is the abundance of manure which it insures, of the best quality, at the cheapest rate. The importance of manure to successful husbandry it is not for me to explain. Whoever has no funds to purchase it, will find no mode so sure, so cheap, and so easy to obtain it, as the system of * soiling.” be | AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,* Ocrs 12, 1819: Tue Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture have requested that I should address you, this day, on topics connected with the objects of their Institution and with the occasion. In acceding to their ap- pointment, I have yielded to considerations of official duty. For the manner in which the task shall be executed, I need not apologize to practical and intelligent men, such as I have now the honor to address. They know well how diffi- cult it is to cast over a trite subject the air of novelty, or to make one that is familiar interesting. My purpose, this day, is to seek what is true and what is useful in relation to the interests of our agriculture. In executing this purpose, I shall address myself chiefly to that great body of our countrymen who are emphati- cally called farmers: by which I mean the great body of Massachusetts yeomanry; men who stand upon the soil, * Many suggestions contained in this Address, as originally published, are here omitted, forty years having greatly enlarged the knowledge, and improved the condition, of the farmers of Massachusetts. oll and are identified with it (for there rest their own hopes, and the hopes of their children); men who have, for the most part, great farms and small pecuniary resources ; men who are esteemed more for their land than for their money, more for their good sense than for their land, and more for their virtue than for either; men who are the chief strength, support, and column of our political society, and who stand to the other orders of the State as the shaft or the pillar ; in respect of whom, all other arts, trades, and professions are but ornamental work, — the cornice, the frieze, and the Corinthian capital. Iam thus distinct in declaring my sentiment concerning the importance and value of this class of men, from no pur- pose of temporary excitement or of personal conciliation, but because I think it just and their due; and because, being about to hint concerning errors and defects in our agriculture, [ am anxious that such a course of remark should not be attributed to any want of honor or respect for the farming interest. On the contrary, it is only from a deep sense of the importance of an art that a strong desire for its improvement can proceed. Whatever tends to stimulate and direct the industry of our farmers; what- ever spreads prosperity over our fields; whatever carries happiness to the home, and content to the bosoms, of our yeomanry,— tends, more than everything else, to lay the foundations of our republic deep and _ strong, and to give the assurance of immortality to our liberties. ‘ The errors and deficiencies of our practical agriculture may be referred, in a general survey, with sufficient accu- racy, to two sources, — the want of scope of view among our farmers, and the want of system in their plans. =X) ad en Concerning another want, of which farmers are most sensible, and most generally complain,—the want of cash in their pockets, —I shall say nothing, because it is not a want peculiar to the farmer. It is a general want, and belongs to all other classes and professions. Besides, there is no encouragement to speak of this want, because it is one that increases by its very supply. All of us must have observed, that it almost ever happens (with, however, a few splendid exceptions), that the more any man has of this article, the more he always wants. The errors and deficiencies to which I shall allude will not be such as require any extent of capital to rectify. All that will be requisite is a little more of that industry of which our farmers have already so much, or that industry a little differently directed. It is not by great and splendid particular improvements that the interests of agriculture are best subserved, but by a general and gradual amelio- ration. Most is done for agriculture when every farmer is excited to small attentions and incidental improvements 5 such as proceed, for instance, from the constant application of a few plain and common principles. Such are, that, in farming, lected; that everything should be done in its proper time, nothing should be lost, and nothing should be neg- everything put in its proper place, everything executed by its proper instrument. These attentions, when viewed in their individual effect, seem small; but they are immense in the aggregate. When they become general, taken in con- nection with the dispositions which precede, and the conse- quences which inevitably follow, such a state of improvement, they include, in fact, everything. Scope of view, in a general sense, has relation to the 53 wise adaptation of means to their final ends. When ap- plied to a farmer, it implies the adaptation of all the build- ings and parts of a farm to their appropriate purposes ; so that, whatever is fixed and permanent in its character, may be so arranged as best to facilitate the labor of the farm, and best to subserve the comfort, convenicnee, and success of the proprietor. Our ideas upon this subject may be best collected from inspection. If our fellow-farmers please, we will therefore, in imagination, adjourn for a few moments, and take our stand, first, at the door of the farm-house. I say, “ at the door.” Far be it from me to enter within it. Far be it from me to criticise the department of the other sex, or to suggest that anything peculiarly subject to their manage- ment can be either ameliorated or amended. Nor is it ne- cessary ; for I believe it is a fact almost universally true, that, where the good man of the family is extremely precise and regular and orderly in his arrangements without doors, he never fails to be seconded, and even surpassed, by the order, the regularity, and neatness of the good woman within. Let us cast our eyes, then, about us, from the door of the farm-house. What do we see? Are the fences on the road in good condition? Is the gate whole, and on its hinges? Are the domestic animals excluded from immediate connection with the dwelling-house, or at least from the front-yard? Is there a green plot adjoining, well protected from pigs and poultry, so that the excellent housewife may advantageously spread and bleach the linen and yarn of the family? Is the woodpile well located, so as not to inter- fere with the passenger? or is it located with especial eye 54. to the benefit of the neighboring surgeon? Is it covered, so that its work may be done in stormy weather? Is the well convenient? and is it sheltered, so that the females of the family may obtain water, without exposure, at all times and at all seasons? Do the subsidiary arrangements indicate such contrivance and management as that nothing useful should be lost, and nothing useless offend? To this end, are there drains, determining what is liquid in filth and offal to the barnyard or the pens? Are there receptacles for what is solid, so that bones and broken utensils may occasionally be carried away and buried? If all this be done, it is well; and if, in addition to this, a general air of order and care be observable, little more is to be desired: the first proper object of a farmer’s attention (his own and his family’s comfort and accommodation) is attained. Every- thing about him indicates that self-respect which lies at the foundation of good husbandry &s well as of good morals. As we proceed to the farm, we will stop one moment at the barnyard, We shall say nothing concerning the ar- rangements of the barn. They must include comfort, con- venience, protection for his stock, his hay, and his fodder, or they are little or nothing. We go thither for the purpose only of looking at what the learned call the stercorary, but which farmers know by the name of the manure-heap. Will our friends from the city pardon us if we detain them a moment at this point? Here we stop, the rather because here, more than anywhere else, the farmers of Massachu- setts are careless and deficient; because on this, more than on anything else, depends the wealth of the farmer; and because this is the best criterion of his present, and the surest pledge of his future, success. What, then, is its state ? D9 How is it located? Sometimes we see the barnyard on the top of a hill, with two or three fine rocks in the centre ; so that whatever is carried or left there is sure of being chiefly exhaled by the sun, or washed away by the rain. Some- times it is to be seen in the hollow of some valley, into which all the hills and neighboring buildings precipitate their waters. Of consequence, all its contents are drowned or water-soaked ; or, what is worse, there having been no care about the bottom of the receptable, its wealth goes off in the under strata, to enrich, possibly, the antipodes. The Chinese, for aught we know, may be the better for it; but it is lost forever to these upper regions. Now, all this is to the last degree wasteful, absurd, and impoverishing. Too much cannot be said to expose the loss and injury which the farmer thus sustains. Let the farmer want whatever else he pleases: but let no man call himself a farmer who suffers himself to want a receptacle for his manure, water-tight at the bottom, and covered at the top ; so that, below, nothing shall be lost by drainage; and, above, nothing shall be carried away by evaporation. Let every farmer, wanting such a protection for his manure, be assured that he loses, by the sun and rain, tenfold as much as will pay all his taxes — State, town, and national — every year. Let not the size of his manure-heap be any objection. If it be great, he loses the more, and can afford the expense the better. If it be small, this is the best way to make it become greater. Besides, what is the expense ? What is wanted? An excavation, two or three feet deep, well clayed, paved, and “ dishing,” as it is called, of an area according to the desired quantity of manure; overhead, a roof made of rough boards and refuse lumber, if he pleases ; 56 the object being to shut out the action of the sun and cast off the rain, so that no more should come upon his manure-heap than the farmer chooses. This he regulates, by spouts, at his discretion. Time will not permit us to stay long upon the farm: we will go out upon it only for the purpose of making a single observation, and that in relation to the fences. It is thought to be a great virtue in a farmer to build good fences. And so itis. None can be greater, so far as relates to external fences, —those which bound on the road or a neighbor. They ought to be perfect, and sufficient against every intrusion. But, when the remark is applied to interior fences, it is often far otherwise. The making, and keeping in repair, unnecessary fences, is one of the great- est drawbacks from the profitable employment of the labor of our farmers. Every year, new fencing-stuff must be bought, or stone walls must be built, and stone walls re- paired. Much of that time and capital are expended about these objects which ought to be employed in colleeting manures, in ploughing their land, or in some labor directly conducing to the prosperity of the immediate or ensuing crop. The adopting of a single principle, in relation to the management of their farms, would save at once one half of all their interior fences. I allude to the making the dis- tinction between arable and pasture lands permanent; and adopting it asa principle, that no beasts should be permit- ted to range upon the soil destined to the plough and the scythe. IT know that this proposition will be received by many with surprise, and by some with a sneer. But consider of >5y 7 it, farmers. Be assured that the practice of grazing your mowing-lands is the falsest of all that bears the name of economy. It is impossible, in a discourse so general as this necessarily is, to give all the grounds of this position. I look at the subject now only in relation to saving the expense of making fences and repairing them. Let any farmer, of middle age, take his pencil, and calculate what it has cost him and his ancestors, in the course of his and their lives, to make and maintain rail-fences or stone-walls upon their farms. I am mistaken if one half of the farmers do not find the expense far exceed their present conception ; and if the other half do not find, that, at a fair estimate of materials, labor, and interest, the cost of these fences or walls has been more than the whole farm would now sell for under the hammer. Now, more than half of all the stone-walls and rail-fences in Massachusetts are interior fences, dividing lands belong- ing to the same proprietor. These interior fences are abso- lutely useless, except for the purpose of enabling the pro- prietor to pasture his mowing-land. They are worse than useless on exclusively arable land. These walls are, in fact, harbors for all sort of vermin; for field-mice and wood- chucks and skunks and squirrels. Then, on both sides, what a rare assemblage always of elderberries and barberry- bushes and nettles, and all sorts of injurious weeds! Thus not only much land is lost, but worse than lost. There is done a positive injury. Besides, when the plough begins to run, what then? Why, upon many farms, you cannot run a plough forty rods in a straight line, without coming, as farmers say, “ plump” upon a stone-wall. Then what a “hawing and jeeing”! And the good-natured fellow at 8 58 the front-yoke must always take time to crack his joke, or have “a cup of comfort” with the good-natured fellow at the plough-tail ; and all this at the direct and positive loss of the owner of the land or the employer. But our lands are full of stone. What shall we do with them? Certainly there is no absolute necessity of building them up in the shape of a stone-wall. If there be, then thicken or heighten your external walls. But this is done already. Well, then, have you never a pond-hole to fill up? Is there no useless hollow into which they may be thrown? If nothing of this kind can be done with them, better pile them up pyramidically, and cover them with grape-vines, than go to the expense of building walls worse than useless. Let me not be understood to intend that good farming requires that farmers should level or remove the walls or fences which they or their ancestors’ labor have already provided. The condition of every man’s farm is, in this respect, a particular fact, by which the calculations of his business should be made, and his conduct in relation to it governed. The only object of these remarks is to invite farmers, who are contemplating building new walls, or pur- chasing new materials for interior fences, to consider wheth- er their own and oxen’s labor may not be better employed ; and whether grazing the land, intended to be fenced, be, in fact, a compensation for the great expenditure they are about to incur, — of the only capital they have, generally, at their command. Farmers should never one moment forget that their and their oxen’s labor constitute their capital, and that they should be wasted in no object which does not add something to the present or future year’s actual product. It is not too 59 much to say, that the capital expended in rail-fences and stone-walls which are useless, in Massachusetts, would, if it had been applied in collecting manures and in deepening the soil, have added, at this day, a third part to the income of every farmer in the country. ; Let every farmer divide his pasture-ground as he pleases ; let the fence between his arable and pasture land be as strong as an external fence: but, if possible, let all his arable ground, though a hundred acres, be in one lot. Then his plough runs clear in a long furrow. His tillage is divided only by the different species of grain and vegetables he cultivates. There are no fences; of consequence, no inconvenient and worthless headlands ; no apology for thistles and nettles. The scene is beautiful to the eye. The whole has the appearance of a garden, and begets in the farmer a sort of horticultural neatness. Before passing to treat, very briefly, the remaining topic of discourse, may I be permitted to say a word on the style of our buildings? It will be worth the time, if it make only one man, about to build, consider. The fault is not peculiar to farmers, —it is true of men in almost every rank and condition of life, — that, when about to build, they often exceed their means, and almost always go beyond the real wants of their families, and the actual requi- sition of their other relations in life. But let not the sound, practical good sense of the country be misled by the false taste and false pride of the city, where wealth, fermenting by reason of the greatness of its heaps, is ever fuming away in palaces, the objects of present transitory pride, and too often of future, long-continued repentance. When will man learn that his true dignity, as well as 60 happiness, consists in proportion, — in the proportion of means to ends, of purposes to means, of conduct to the condition in life in which a kind Providence has placed him, and to the relations of things concerning which it has des- tined he should act ? The pride of the farmer should be out in his fields. In their beauty, in their order, in their product, he should place the gratification of his useful and honorable ambition. The farmer’s great want is capital. Never should his dwelling be splendid at the expense of his farm. In this, all that is sur- plus in his capital should concentrate. Whatever is use- lessly expended elsewhere is so much lost to his family and his fortune. T shall now recur briefly to another class of deficiencies, — the want of system in the plans of our farmers. System relates to time, to courses, and to modes of hus- bandry. > y : Let b> Se > > >> PDs Dd ee >. > = > ma ee = ZR ili l Saw — Z—— Pfu 0S vA 0 oO [ el 0 OS=== re = rn | & | (om) ol wn