Second Revised Edition
[SOILING
_ [SOILING CROPS & ENSILAGE—BARN,
STABLE and SILO CONSTRUCTION
FRANK SHERMAN PEER
: my
Hrew Dork
State College of Agriculture
At Cornell Aniversity
Ithaca, $2. D.
Cornell University Library
Soiling, ensilage, and stable constructi
Cornell University
Library
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu3 1924003108457
TESTIMONIALS.
The following are a few testimonials of the first edition published
in 1881. The present edition is much larger and better
in every respect.
From W. E. Simonds, Hartford, Conn.:
Your book is really a va/wadle one. I think I know what among
the vast amount of agricultural rubbish is valuable. My mental classifi-
cation of your book is alongside Waring’s book on Drainage, and I
consider that a very honorable companion.
From W. G. Markham, Avon, N.Y.:
Your work on Soiling is not only well written but exceedingly in-
teresting and instructive, and must bea most valuable work, which ought
to be read by every farmer and dairyman in the country.
From Erich Parmly, New York City :
I am reading your valuable work on Soiling and Ensilage and find it
veryinstructive. I must put it into pgactice and get rid of some interior
fencing. I have about seven miles of fencing, enough to make a man
poor.
From Wm. Kent, Palmyra, N. Y.:
The best book on agriculture I ever read.
From Chas. Woolcott, Canton, Ohio:
There is more common sense agriculture in Mr, Peer’s work on
Soiling than in any book on farming I ever read. It should be a
textbook in every agricultural college and every farmer’s son should
Tead it.
From Country Gentleman, Albany, N. Y.:
The work contains a forcible y of the ar in favor of
Soiling, together with a ise st of the author’s personal ex-
perience, including the arrang of buildings, both as regards Soil-
ing and Ensilage.
Rural Home, Rochester, N. Y.
We have referred to Mr. Peer's system of soiling his stock of all
kinds on occasions of two visits to his farm. We would advise farmers
and dairymen to obtain this book and study it.
Philadelphia Weekly Press.
The book is a strong presentation of a system which must ultimately
come into general use. We hope the book will have a wide circulation.
Newark Courier.
Mr. Peer is a practical man who has made agriculture a study, and
by his original and progressive ideas has placed our farming people
under great obligations.
Soiling, Ensilage, avd
Stable Construction
BEING A REVISED EDITION OF SOIL-
ING, SUMMER AND WINTER} OR, THE
ECONOMY OF FEEDING FARM STOCK
BY
FRANK SHERMAN PEER
Relating the experience of the author, giving the latest
and most economical methods of summer and
winter feeding and management of farm
stock; also the construction of stables
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
PUBLISHED BY
M. F. MANSFIELD, New York anp Lonpon
MDCCCC
REVISED EDITION
Entered, according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1900
By FRANK SHERMAN PEER
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C,
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY
FRANK SHERMAN PEER
DEDICATION
To the farmers’ sons of America this book
is dedicated, with the best wishes of the
author, and with the hope that within its
pages they may find encouragement to
pursic agriculture as a business, instead
of leaving the farm for some so-called
higher pursuit. ... 1...
“INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION.
THERE is little need of a formal introduction to
the subject of soiling. Most farmers and dairymen
are more or less familiar with the subject through
inquiries and articles that from time to time appear
in the agricultural papers. To others who may
chance to peruse these pages, I may say that the
work is designed to answer the following perplexing
questions, z.¢., How can a farmer enrich his soil in
a sure and economical manner? how supply his farm
stock with the most nutritious food at the least cost?
how obtain a full flow of milk from his cows during
the entire season independently of parched pastures?
how increase the number of farm stock or the acre-
age of the farmi without buying more land? how may
the Eastern farmers successfully compete with the
immigrant farmers of the West?
An attempted solution to these and kindred ques-
tions will be found in the following pages.
In relating my own experience in conducting
this system of feeding, and the wonderful re-
sults obtained, I hope my readers will not accuse
me of boasting of what / have done, or of what
7 can do.
viii Introduction to the First Edition.
Nearly every farmer may practise the system with
the same or even better results. Each year’s ex-
perience reveals many new advantages of the sys-
tem.
I do not pretend that my conclusions will be found
infallible under all circumstances, but I hope to show
how the system was applied to my own farm, that the
reader may obtain a clear view of its workings, and
be enabled to carry on the system with such altera-
tions as the different conditions under which he is
placed shall suggest.
I am not farming for pleasure, although I find a
good deal of pleasure in farming. I follow farming
for my daily bread, and the profit there is in the
business. My farm operations are not supported
by a profitable business or profession in town.
I mention this that my readers will clearly under-
stand that although this work contains some radical
departures from “General Farming,” they are not
to be entertained by the experiences of a “fancy
farmer,” a “ book farmer,” or a “ city farmer.”’
I have no apology for presenting this subject in
book form. I humbly acknowledge that it is not
written at “the earnest solicitation of numerous
friends,” but because I am very much interested in
farming as a business or profession, and I would be
pleased to see more of our intelligent young men
engaged in this pursuit.
As a literary writer, 1 make no pretensions. If
this work is well received, it must be entirely on its
merits as a record of the personal, practical experi-
Introduction to the First Edition. ix
ence of a farmer; and if the reader finds as much
pleasure in perusing these pages as it has given me
to write them, I shall feel that my labor has not
been spent in vain, nor the reader’s attention claimed
for naught.
Marie Lane Farm,
East Patmyra, N. Y., 1881.
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION
Tue first edition of “Soiling, Summer and Win-
ter” has been exhausted since 1885. I have been
trying to find time ever since to go over the ground
again and present the work in better form, but the
convenient season has ever seemed to be to-morrow,
so that between business cares on the one hand, and
the thief of time on the other, weeks have stolen
into months, and months into years, leaving the
work unfinished.
There was another reason (but I never liked to let
myself admit it). I felt that my work on soiling was
a little premature, and I have been waiting for a
sign that would indicate that it was wanted.
I published the 1880 edition myself, because no
publisher could be found who had the courage to
undertake it. Inthe mean time, the Farmers’ Insti-
tutes were inaugurated throughout the country, and
Experimental Stations in nearly every State are delv-
ing into every possible nook and corner in a legiti-
mate strife among themselves to be the first to mas-
ter and give to the public the latest ideas in regard
to every known subject pertaining to agriculture.
So that, in a great measure, they robbed one of that
Introduction to Second Edition. xi
zest and force necessary to sit down to a task of
writing a book on any agricultural subject.
I was subjected to much ridicule for my early en-
deavors to introduce soiling, which was called “ book
farming ” and “fancy farming,” etc. And when, late
in 1878, I built a silo, and came out strongly in favor
of ensilage, it was thought by many to be the climax
of folly, while others suggested that I “might have
gone wrong in the upper story.” In these days
(1875 to 1880) I went about the State visiting farm-
ers’ clubs, and discussing soiling and ensilage. I
was quite young at the time, just out of my teens,
and my views—however reasonable they appeared
while I was before my audience—lost much of their
force, I fear, on account of my youthful appearance.
However, I kept on talking soiling, in season and
out, until the Farmers’ Institutes were established
and ensilage at least became a popular theme.
Ensilage has produced quite a revolution in farm-
ing, but that is only “winter soiling,” and has not
accomplished half of what may be done by pursuing
the method all the year round, for, as I have always
claimed, summer soiling has many advantages over
winter soiling, as will be shown further on, so that,
although ensilage has made such wonderful strides,
it by no means represents the best half of the sys-
tem.
“Why then,” it may be asked, “has ensilage pre-
ceded soiling?” Principally, I believe, because it
was a new and startling discovery, and required an
outlay of capital to begin with. Soon after ensilage
xii Introduction to Second Edition.
made its appearance, manufacturers of feed cutters
sent catalogues and circulars (advertising their ma-
chines) broadcast over the country, agents can-
vassed towns, exhibited their machines at fairs, and
told exaggerated stories of the advantages to be
gained by ensilaging corn fodder. They said that
ensilage was a good thing, and that their particular
machine was the ov/y thing. Ensilage being a new
departure, a new discovery, the agricultural papers
were full of it, and later it became a popular theme
for discussion at the Farmers’ Institutes, where it
was listened to because it was new and sensational.
Soiling, on the other hand, was a question that
every farmer was familiar with. Few could be found
but that had practised it to the extent of cutting
clover green, and feeding it to their workhorses in
the barns, or had sown a patch of corn for their cows
to be fed over the fence in the pasture field to help
out the pasture in a dry season. In doing this they
never discovered anything very wonderful, or strik-
ing, or sensational, as was the case in the introduc-
tion of ensilage.
No one talked soiling, and altogether it had little
to force itself upon the attention of the public.
Soiling has been unfortunate in not being properly
introduced. No one in all the country has a far-
thing to gain out of the farmer by advocating the
system or encouraging its adoption.
I have lived long enough to discover that people
will listen to good advice, and admit that it is good
advice, but if they can obtain it for nothing, it is
Introduction to Second Edition. xiii
seldom appreciated, and rarely made use of. I
believe that if it required an investment of a thou-
sand dollars in patent machinery, the soiling system
would long ago have been adopted on thousands of
fatms, where to-day it is not practised at all, or only
done by halves. People appreciate everything by
what it costs.
Soiling costs absolutely nothing by way of new
machinery or buildings, other than can be found on
any well-equipped farm. I repeat that ensilage—
winter soiling—has produced quite a revolution in
agriculture, but summer soiling is as much more
desirable and beneficial than winter soiling or en-
silage as ensilage is better and more economical
than hay and dried cornstalks.
Another hindrance in America to the adoption of
soiling is that our farms, as a rule, are too large,
and the rather mistaken notion that if a person can
make money on a hundred acres, he can make seven
times as much on seven hundred acres. The farm-
ers and dairymen with small farms will be more
easily convinced of the practicability of soiling than
the owners of large farms. Nevertheless, soiling is
coming. I have watched its advancement with
great interest, although it has not yet become a fash-
ionable question for discussion at Farmers’ Insti-
tutes; and although the experimental stations have
hardly touched upon it, there are unmistakable
signs that farmers of the Eastern States are ready
for it. Last year I had the pleasure of attending
quite a number of Farmers’ Institutes in different
xiv. Introduction to Second Edition.
parts of the State, and I noticed there was hardly a
question box opened but that contained one or more
questions bearing directly on the subject.
I came home from attending these meetings, and
have since taken up the pen with renewed courage,
and feel sure that now I shall have the pleasure of
telling the good news to thousands who, a few years
ago, had little or no interest in the subject.
In revising this work, I have made but little al-
teration in the text and main features of the first
edition. Iam able, however, to bring to this work
more extensive experience with certain soiling crops,
which at that time I knew little about. I refer to
sorghum and lucern for cattle and rape for sheep.
These I have enlarged upon considerably also a few
rew plants are mentioned, such as crimson clover,
etc.
In winter soiling the principal changes are in
handling the crop and the construction of the silo.
I believe I have given due credit to the agricul-
tural press and agricultural writers whom I have
freely called upon throughout the work.
I have found that re-writing a book is a more
difficult task than producing the original. I have
been obliged to do this work at odd times while
travelling by rail, stopping at uncomfortable hotels,
or while making a winter’s trip across the Atlantic.
I feel, therefore, as the manuscript leaves my hand,
that it somewhat resembles a clock that the great
temperance lecturer, John B. Gough, was fond of
telling about, to the effect that when its hands
Introduction to Second Edition. xv
pointed to twenty-five minutes past four, and it
struck seven, he knew it was just one o’clock. So
with this work, it matters little how the hands point
or how it strikes, if you only understand that it al-
ways strikes for soiling.
I hope this work will prove a handbook and guide
to soiling. I have dwelt quite at length upon sub-
jects leading up to the work, that the fundamental
principles of the system and its advantages may be
firmly established. This I hold to be more essential
than the methods of soiling themselves, because if
the reader has a foundation that is safe and to which
he can always return, although the conditions under
which he may find himself may differ materially
from my own, he will be able to cut a new line for
himself.
This work is, so far as the details are concerned,
but a row of blazed trees through the forest. My
effort has been, therefore, more to present the prin-
ciples and advantages of the soiling system so they
shall be clear, unmistakable, and undeniable, and if
I shall be so fortunate as to accomplish this in the
following pages and impart to my reader the weld,
my purpose shall have been accomplished, and his
own good judgment may be depended upon to find
the way. In that case he may make mistakes and
meet with disappointments. He may stumble and
even fall, but in getting up he will always be getting
on in the right direction. ,
Many have started soiling, but in a half-hearted
way, and have given it up on account of some little
xvi Introduction to Second Edition.
hitch in the management. They have become dis-
couraged simply because they failed to see the great
benefits to be gained. Others have tried partial
soiling; in this they have experienced nearly al] the
disadvantages and not over a quarter of the benefits.
Others are convinced that it is the thing to do, but
are afraid of what their neighbors will say if they
should branch out in any newline. I have been
through all this; the lions in the way are not half as
ferocious as they look at a distance, and although
there is always a rod in pickle for any man who
would be wiser than his generation, the reward is
more than ample compensation for all such cuts.
“He laughs best, who laughs last.”
SquawkIE Hitt Farm,
Mr. Morais, N. Y., 1899.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
DEDICATION, 3 ‘ * é * . « ¥
INTRODUCTION TO First ‘Eprrax $ . . . . vii
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION a 5 < é a
CHAPTER I.
Our Solts.
Farming on an Exhausted Soil, . . 7 : ao 2
Farming on Productive Soil, ‘ : . 4 - 3
Farming on Government Lands, . “ és ee: hae
CHAPTER It.
Our Puants.
How to Feed Them, - ‘ r ‘s és ‘ » 8
Comparative Tables, . . ‘. 5 ij ‘ . 12
Barn-yard Manure, é A <i ‘ ‘ ‘ « 43
Green Manure, ‘ é ¥ « é ‘ C s 17
Liquid Manure, . 7 . . . . 3. 22
Saving Manure (Plaster), . . . . . . 25
Commercial Fertilizer, . 7 é: PY . 25
Oil Cake and Cotton-Seed Meal, a . a - 30
CHAPTER III.
Our ANIMALS.
How to Feed Them Economically, . . .« . 33
The Cow as a Machine, s 3 ‘ Fi 2 s 33
When Insufficiently Fed, . - : . . - 35
CHAPTER IV.
SoILIne.
My First Lesson in Agriculture, . . . . - 38
How I Happened to Adopt Soiling, . . «. «+ 44
XVill Contents.
CHAPTER V.
ADVANTAGES OF SOILING.
Saving of Land, . ‘ 5 s
Saving of Fences,
Saving of Food,
Better Condition and Greacar Comfort of Ferm Stock,
Greater Production of Beef, Milk, and Butter,
The Increased Quantity and Quality of Manure,
The Increased Productiveness of the Soil,
The Increased Acreage, 3
CHAPTER VI.
ParTIAL SOILING.
Inconvenience of, . : 3 <
Objections to, ‘ ‘ : ‘
CHAPTER VII.
OBJECTIONS TO SOILING. -
Extra Labor, . i : 7 -
CHAPTER VIIL
SOILING VERSUS PasTURING.
Experimental Reports, . 2 .
CHAPTER IX.
ROTATION OF SorLinc Crops,
Laying Out the Work, . : 3
Crops for June, 3 : - .
Crops for July,
Crops for August,
Crops for September and Ostohen
CHAPTER X.
CuTTING AND GATHERING THE CRops.
Necessary Tools, Etc., . . ¥
Delivering to Barn, : * é
PAGE
80
85
+ 97
- 98
Contents. X1X
PAGE
Feeding, " - . . . i - 98
Caution in Weading, “ - : : . . + 99
: Manner of Feeding, ‘ 3 . . . . . 100
CHAPTER XI.
Barn CONSTRUCTION.
General Plan, ‘ ‘ 3 ‘ . 103
Objections to Masonry Basements : 7 : . 105
Ventilation, . . . . - 7 ‘ 3 . 109
Water, . ‘ ‘ 7 m ‘ ‘i « £16
Handling the anid . ‘ : ‘ ‘ F . 121
Manure Shed, : F : : ‘ . . . 126
Liquid Manure, . . i ‘ > . F = 127
The Mangers, ‘ ‘ 3 3 . . - + 128
Cattle Ties, . ‘i - r : * z P . 131
CHAPTER XII.
STABLE MANAGEMENT.
In Winter, : ‘ 7 : - . ‘ . 134
In Summer, . F : : : % z ‘ . 136
CHAPTER XIII.
Sorminc Crops. A ‘ . 3 3 é : ,
Rye, ‘ $ . ‘ A ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 4, 139
Wheat, . i . ‘ ‘ * ‘ a . . 138
Barley, . : 7 . . c . $ 7 . 138
Oats and Peas, 5 < E : : - - . 139
Corn, ss x . % * . ‘ . 141
Sorghum, : : j . F . 144
Sorghum Bulletin Reports, 5 : . . : . 146
Non-Saccharine Sorghums, . ‘ , ‘ P . 148
Kaffir Corn, . ¥ ‘ : 4 P ‘ " - 149
Millet, s . é F ‘ x ‘a a » 152
Clover, . 3 5 ~ ‘ - E 7 7 « 153
Lucern, . - F : 2 : - é , - 154
xXx Contents.
Lucern Bulletin Reports,
Crimson Clover, ‘
Cow Peas, E : . 3 .
Soja Bean, . 5 7 ‘ .
Prickly Comfrey, . . . .
CHAPTER XIV.
Sominc SHEEP.
The Advantages, . ‘ ‘
The Results, : .
CHAPTER XV.
Sortinc Crops For SHEEP.
Vetches, ‘ % % «
Rape, . ‘ % i
Turnips, ‘ .
CHAPTER XVI.
PorTABLE FENCING.
Woven Wire, ‘ 5 e
Wooden Panels, . , a :
Hurdles, a % % a: e
Feeding Racks, . ‘ 7 :
CHAPTER XVII.
MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP.
Laying Out the Work, . :
Permanent Pasture, 3 . .
Feeding, . . . : :
Rotation of Crops, . < . .
CHAPTER XVIII.
Sortinc Horses.
Brood Mares and Colts,
+ 172
+ 179
. I81
. 182
. 187
~ 188
« 188
« 189
« 190
« IQt
+ 294
Contents. XX1
CHAPTER XIX,
WInTER SoILinc (ENSILAGE). PAGE
History, . : ‘ ‘: ° . « 204
Ensilage vs. Coad Fodder, . s - . . é » 208
Palatability, . . . . ° . . . . 210
Ensilage vs. Hay, : . . a + 210
CHAPTER XX,
THE SILo.
How Large to Build, . * s m P “ » 215
Where to Build, . 3 ‘ . s « * . 216
How to Build, . : es ‘: . » 217
General Plan of Barn and Siatile. . * ‘ 222
Stacking Ensilage, 7 ‘ . . . - 224
CHAPTER XXI.
GRowING ENSILAGE.
Amount of Land Required, . ‘ . . . . 226
Preparing the Ground, . ‘ a a ‘ “i . 226
Variety of Corn, . - i ° é é ‘ « 227
Harvesting, . é . c 5 . 5 F - 227
Filling the Silo, . : P . F . : . 229
Power, . é ‘ . . . . S 3 . 230
Pressing, E e O95 3 i : ‘ ‘ « 230
Time to Harvest, . 2 7 E . 7 : . 232
Covering, : ‘ 3 . . . _ e + 233
CHAPTER XXII.
FEEDING ENSILAGE.
Amount of Ration, F . . . + 235
Cost of Production, 2 : . . . A . 237
CHAPTER XXIII.
SoILInc ws. ENSILAGE.
Comparative Value, . - . . . . « 239
XXli Contents.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CoNCLUSION. PAGE
System, . é ~ ; ‘ ‘ #
Education, . ij - s a . . . 244
Farmer’s Sons, é ‘ . . . ° . 2 247
SOILING, ENSILAGE, AND STABLE
CONSTRUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
OUR SOILS.
THE great problem of feeding and clothing the
millions depends upon the success of agriculture:
The day has gone by, in the Eastern States at least,
when a man can “farm it,” because he does not
know enough to do anything else. There is no
business or profession in which a man is obliged to
have such a diversity of knowledge as in farming.
Every day brings him face to face with widely dif-
ferent questions. There are his cows, their man-
agement, breeding, care, feeding, the disposal of
their product. Likewise his sheep, horses, swine,
poultry, bees. Then there are his fruit trees, dif-
ferent varieties, requiring special care and attention,
and special knowledge. There is, as I said before,
not a trade or profession requiring such a widely di-
versified knowledge as general farming.
Our predecessors who, through ignorance, robbed
the soil of its fertility, left us little—in these days of
keen competition—but a legacy of unprofitable labor.
We ought to profit by their mistakes, and find some
way, if possible, to make our land more productive.
I
2 Soiling.
Any fool can rob the soil of its fertility, but it takes
a wise man, a professional agriculturist, to win it
back to productiveness. If we do not succeed in
doing this, we shall leave to our children a legacy
which they will spurn, instead of one they could
receive with rejoicing, and that one must be capable
of supplying their increasing numbers and their in-
creasing wants.
FarMING ON AN EXHAUSTED SoIL.*
I regret to say that the history of agriculture.in
America is any but one to which we may point with
pride. What, may I ask, has become of the many
farmers throughout the New England States who
once lived comfortably, if not luxuriously? Why
are their farms deserted, their houses unoccupied?
‘We have not far to look for the answer—the fertility
of the soil has been exhausted, sold in the markets
of New York and Boston by the pound, by the bushel,
and by the ton. Their owners, failing to find their
toil longer remunerative, have gone West, many of
them, where I presume they have gone on systemat-
ically robbing the soil, leaving to their descendants
a heritage of unremitting toil. Still more lament-
able is the condition of thousands of farms in Vir-
ginia and other parts of the sunny South. Here,
but a few years ago, lived a people who boasted of
their wealth, their refinement, their culture, and
their chivalry. Why are their once beautiful fields
* Extract from an address delivered by the author at Albany,
N. Y., before the County Agricultural Society in 1890.
Our Soils 3
now fenceless and deserted? The land remains, the
climate remains, the slaves remain, but the owners
are not. The fertility of the soil went before them;
they baled it with their cotton, barreled it with their
sugar, until naught remains but the barren soil.
A few years ago the term “out West” was synon-
ymous with bounty and fertility. We were told that
one had but to “tickle the soil with a hoe, and it
laughed a harvest.” All this has changed. Their
average yield per acre during the last ten years has
declined twenty-five per cent.
FarMING ON PRODUCTIVE Solt.
Happily, however, this state of things, with a prop-
er knowledge of agriculture, is unnecessary. There
is a way, not only to maintain the fertility of the soil,
but toincrease it. England has been under the plow
for centuries, still her average yield of wheat has in-
creased to over thirty-one bushels per acre, while the
average yield in this country has steadily declined
until it is only about thirteen bushels per acre.
China, one of the oldest countries in the world has
increased the agricultural resources of the empire
to keep pace with the rapidly increasing population.
It is a fact that the heathen Chinee knows better
than we how to preserve and increase the fertility
of the soil. If America would close her eastern
gates to emigrants who come here to rob our soil,
and let a few Chinamen farmers in at the western
gate, we might learn some valuable lessons in farm-
ing. Fertility means prosperity.
4 soiling.
There is not a fertile spot on the face of the earth
but that is a prosperous one and a desirable one in
which to live.
Tue ConDITION OF FARMING AT THE PRESENT Day,
The problem that confronts the present-day farmer
is how to compete with the foreigners who come to
this country annually by the tens of thousands, and
who, on their arrival, our Government sets up in
the farming business, offering to each one hundred
and sixty acres of land. The only alternative we
have in competing with these Government farmers is
to do one of two things. We must either get down
to their level, and work as they work, our wives and
children constituting our hired help on the farm
and in the house, live as they live, half fed and half
clothed, go without books and papers, without recre-
ation for ourselves or an education for our children.
That is one way, but even then we cannot hope to
compete with them on farms that cost us a hundred
dollars an acre, and on which we are taxed to sup-
port all sorts of charitable institutions, to say noth-
ing of (as in this State) building state capitols and
digging canals to benefit the adopted children of our
Government, while at the same time they have their
farms given to them.
FARMING ON GOVERNMENT LANDS.
A foreigner comes to this country with money
enough to pay his fare to some of the Western
States. Uncle Sam gives him a farm, then he finds
Our Soils. 5
plenty of men ready to take a mortgage on it for
enough to enable him to purchase the necessary
tools, and there you see him a full-fledged American
farmer. It is, indeed, a most serious predicament in
which the public land policy of our Government has
placed the farmers of. the Eastern States. They are
not only made to sell their products at cost and less,
but their lands have depreciated in value fifty to
seventy-five per cent., until many farmers in the
Eastern States have been driven to bankruptcy, all
for the sake of keeping up that boastful, useless,
wasteful practice by the Government “that Uncle
Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm,” and of
setting up thousands of foreigners annually in the
farming business until competition is so keen that
there is nothing left the farmers in the older States
but unremitting toil. Their sons and daughters are
thereby driven from the farm, and their places are
being filled by foreigners, until we are fast becom-
ing reduced to the condition of the peasant farmer
of the old world. Farmers they are not. They are,
more properly speaking, a lot of land pirates.
They have a good farm given them, and imme-
diately they begin to live on its fertility like a lot of
highwaymen. Have I overdrawn the picture? I
wish you might say I had. If you think so, look
about and see how many one hundred, one hundred
and fifty, or two hundred acre farms there are in
your county, where the hired man gets about all
the yearly profits, while the owner, with a ten or
twenty thousand dollar investment, and his wife as
6 Soiling.
well, work for their board and clothes. Farmers
themselves are largely to blame for this state of
things. They should demand through their repre-
sentatives at Washington that the Government put
a stop to the giving away any more of the public
domain, until there is a demand for it at $10 or $15
per acre.
No other business men would put up with such an
infringement. The United Workmen said prison
labor must cease, because the State was setting up
laborers in competition with them, which it had no
right to do, and prison labor ceased. , The United
Workmen said to the United States Government,
“Put a stop to the contract laborers coming to this
country to compete with us,” and the law was
passed. If an immigrant is engaged to come to this
country to dig a sewer, the Government at Wash-
ington sends him back to the country from which he
came. The same United States Government says to
the same immigrant and to every other foreigner,
“You come over here, and Uncle Sam will give you
one hundred and sixty acres of land; that is to say,
will set you up in the farming business.”
“Come from any nation,
Come from any way.
Come along, come along,
Don’t be alarmed:
For Uncle Sam is rich enough
To give you all a farm.”
So goes the old song. When the country was
new, this could be done without injury to any one.
Our Soils. 7
But that day has long since passed. These Govern-
ment farmers have increased so rapidly that agricul-
ture in the Eastern States has been reduced nearly
to a level with immigrant farming.
This, in short, is the present condition of agricul-
ture in the Eastern States. There is left us but one
alternative, either to live as the immigrant farmers
live, work as they work, or to cheapen our produc-
tion by making one acre produce what now comes
from four or five.
I offer you this solution: I bring you in this volume
aray of hope. T77y sotling.
CHAPTER II.
OUR PLANTS.
How to Freep THEM.
Our plants, like our animals, live, feed, grow, and
die. Itis only by feeding them alike liberally that
we can hope to make them produce bountifully.
Until a person comes to consider his growing
plants as if they were his growing animals, claiming
his care and attention, and looking to him to supply
them, largely, with the food they must consume,
then, and not till then, is he in possession of the prin-
ciples that constitute successful farming. At first
glance it would seem that the above statement was
so self-evident that there was little use of mention-
ing it, but when we look about a little and notice
the way that many farmers starve their growing
plants, even when they do not starve their cattle, it
shows that they have never looked at their growing
plants in this light.
What has this to do with soiling? It is the princi-.
pal thing, as a celebrated English general once said
in reply to the War Department, which said to him:
“General, it seems to the War Department that
the thing that most concerned you in India was the
growing of forage for bullocks.” “Yes, sir; that’s
Our Plants. 9
the principal thing in carrying on a successful war-
fare in India or any other country. If we have the
forage, we shall have the bullocks; if we have the
bullocks, we shall be able to support the men, and
if our men are well supported, we shall have no
trouble,to conquer the enemy.” That’s the whole
story. If we will give our greatest concern to our
growing plants, we need not worry ourselves about
the rest. The animals to eat it will come along
easily enough. If you see it in that light, you will
find, by the adoption of the soiling system, that: you
are able to provide an abundance of food for your
growing plants in a sure and economical way, 7.¢.,
by the greater production of barnyard manure,
plowing under green crops for manure, soiling your
plants as well as your animals. But before we pro-
ceed to discuss the value of barnyard, liquid and
green manuring as compared with commercial fer-
tilizer, let us first consider the comparative value of
the ordinary grain and forage crops, both as a for-
age (manure) for our plants and as feed for our ani-
mals. This will help to explain some important
questions in regard to producing the most economi-
cal plant food and elinch several strong arguments
in favor of soiling.
“Good farming,” says Lockhardt, “consists in
taking large crops from the soil, while at the same
time you leave the soil in better condition for suc-
ceeding crops.” This strikes me as being the best
definition of what constitutes good farming I have
ever seen, It is the very science of farming.
10 Soiling.
Good crops make good manure, good manure pro-
duces good crops.
The value of grain and forage crops for plant
food consists in the amount of nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash that they contain, while the value
of forage crops and grains for animal food depends
chiefly upon the amount of albuminoids, carbo-
hydrates and fat they contain.
Animals, in the consumption of foods, take from
them but a small proportion of their value for plant
food, while the plants consume little or none of the
elements that the animals require. Thus, if aton of
feed, say cotton-seed meal, should be plowed under
as a fertilizer, as is often done in the Southern
States, it would be of no more value to the land than
if it had been first fed to the stock, providing none
of its value as a plant food had been allowed to waste
in the manure pile. Some plants or grains are very
rich or valuable as plant food, while others are richer
in animal food, and again others are valuable for both
purposes.
The following tables will furnish the reader some
curious and interesting facts, and some information
which will assist him, it is hoped, in making a most
economical selection.
The analysis from which the values of the differ-
ent foods are estimated was taken from the work of
Dr. Emil Wolffof the Royal Academy of Agricul-
ture, Wurtemburg, Germany. I believe these ex-
tended tables, as prepared by myself, were the
first of the kind to appear in print in this coun-
Our Plants. I!
try. They represent the average results of numer-
ous analyses, and are sufficiently accurate for all
practical purposes. The original analysis repre-
sented only the comparative proportions of differ-
ent foods as given in 100 and 1,000 lb. With these
figures as a basis, I have estimated the number of
parts or pounds found in one ton (2,000 Ib.) and
computed the animal food value per ton, estimating
albuminoids at $4, carbohydrates at 80 cents, fat at
$4 per hundred pounds.
These estimated values are obtained from the
average prices of the different grains in market, but
as the prices vary in different localities and in dif-
ferent seasons, they cannot be said to be absolutely
correct at all times. But they may serve to show
the relative values of the different kinds of feed and
forage. For instance, if the value of any one article
is too high or too low, then all the others are corre-
spondingly so.
In calculating the value of the different grains
and forage crops as plant food, I have taken the
market price of nitrogen at 15 cents, phosphoric
acid at 6 cents, and potash at 5 cents per pound.*
*These estimates were made for the first edition. At the
present time, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash can be
bought in certain forms for about one cent cheaper per pound.
1m Soiling.
Pounps_oF 2 i Pounps :
Anma. Foop ae or Pant Foop § 5
. Per Ton. of PER Ton. ne
Grains. iw 3a r a P oh
ag| ov : >y Sea) 62 3 Boe
29) a> a o 2o | so rs as
<FlOou] & Ea Zwelaa) & Pa
Field beans .,...... «.{ 510 | gro} 40 ||$29.21 |} 82.6 | 17.2 | 26.2 |1$18.04
Field peas..... ++| 448 [1,046] 50 27.38 || 71-6 | 17.2 | 19.6 || 15.78
Tares (vetches) ... 550] 844] 54 30-91 |] 88.0 | 20.0 | 16.2 |} 19,04
Indian corn.... 200 | 1,360] 140 24.48 || 32.0 | 13.8 7-4 7-16
2) 30 21.51 41.6 | 15.8 | 10.6 9.36
40 21.4t 35-2 | 16.8 | rr2 8.16
50 20.25 32.0 | 15.4 9.0 7-37
120 24.14 30.4 | 12.4 8.8 8.72
5° 18.64 }| 28.8 | 114 5-4 6.43
Pounps oF é Pounps ee
Animat_Foop ao oF Prant Foop 3 a
Per Ton Si PER Ton. w
Ground Feed and BS g 5
Refuse. sald eos dis I takes “ 20,
Se) a>] 4 3/25/25] § Ise
<E;om] s & lave laal! ge rs
Cotton-seed meal 660 | 352] 324 |/$42.66 |] 98.0] 56.2 | 29.2 ||$23 00
Linseed meal..... 566 826 | 200 37-24 || go 32.2 | 24.8 |] 2040
Corn meal ... 200 | 1,360 | 140 24.48 || 32.0] 11.8] 7.4 7-16
Malt sprouts.... 460 894] 50 27-55 || 73-6 | 360] 41.2 || 17.80
Brewer's grains . 98 222] 32 6.97 15.6 8.2 10 3 48
Wheat bran...... 280 | 1,000] 76 22.24 || 44.8 | 54.6 | 28.6 || 12.28
Rye bran... 2 1,070] 70 22.96 || 46.4 | 68.6 | 38.6 || 13.56
Rape cake .......... 566 | 670] 180 35-20 || 97.0 | 35-4 | 24.8 || 21.80
Pounps oF ¢ Pounps od
ANIMAL Foop ye || OF Prant Foo $ S
Per Ton “ie Per Ton. =
Dry Forage. 35 2%
(Hay and Straw.) 1 . iLol 1 i : oPa
ael4z| . |] *3 | 22/28] @ | de
= aad 20 =
<e|dz | & & |eelad| & ee
Red clover.. ...... .... 598 | 64 ||$x8.06 || 39.4 | 11-2 | 36.6 || $9.78
Timothy . 976 17096 || 31.0 | 14.4 | 40.8 8.40
Lucern ........ agiaaaieiaie 858 | 66 25.26 || 46.0 | r1.0 | 30.6 || 10.86
Tares, cut in blossom... 706 | 50 19.00 || 45.4 | 2t.4 | 56.6 |] 12.20
Peas, cut in blossom..... 736 | 52 19.40 |) 45.8 | 13.6 | 46.4 || 11.56
Orchard grass 814 | 54 17.95 || 31.0 | 8.2 | 264 7:58
Wheat straw .... 604 | 30 7-63 96] 4.4 | 12.6 2.60
Rye straw .. 540 26 6.56 8.0 4.2 | 15.6 2.39
Barley straw 656 | 28 8.75 |] 12.8] 3.8 | 18.8 3-46
Oat straw... 764 | 40 9.71 || 11.2] 3.8] 77.8 3.10
Loa straw ai 704 | 40 12.42 || 20.8 | 7.0 | 20.2 5.24
Taw . 730 | 20 14.80 || 32.6 6.4 7.0 8.24
Cornstalks vssawws.... 720 | 22 8.98 9-6 | 10.6 oe 3.08
Our Plants.
I
W
Pounps oF e : Pounps aa
Anima Foop a || OF PLant Foop s 8
Per Ton. aa - Per Ton, aot
Green Fodder. . : 2a ' 3 * . g
Bd] od 9 ° as fo |] 5
Se/a>| 2 | "3 28) 28) #2 | se
ct & Z2M) aay 2p > 3
aside: BR datoined 60 | 258] 16 5.10 |] 10.8] 3.0] 9.2 || $2.64
Clover (red) 66] 154] 14 4.43°|| 10.2 8.8 2.8 (2.50
UCEM. ..-.e ee go} 156] 12 5-32 |] 14.4 3.2 | 79.6 3-38
‘Tares (vetches) . 62 152 12 4.22 IL2 4-6 | 12.2 .2,90
Peas. 64] 12 4.25 10.2 | 10.2 3-0 2.56
46 | 170] 10 4-14 7-4 3-4 |.15-0 ||, 2.27
66 | 298 18 5-74 10.6 4.8 | 12.6 | 2.81
22 | 218] 10 3.02 3.8 | - 2.6 8.6 |} 1.20
118 | 300] 30 8.32 || 20.0] 2.5 | 17.0 4.78
50] 306] 28 5-56 8.0 1.6 p2 1.95
30 126 8 2.52
400. 950 40 25.20 9.2 2.8 8.0 2.26
Pounps oF d Pounps ad
AntmmaL Foop no oF Pirant Foop so
Per Ton af Per Ton ae
Roots, Etc. : : aa, i R on
r] ra) ° a ; 5
Ba) 43] 2 3 | 2/28] 2 las
“E&/ou a re % bo | A | cane)
Potatoes ......+--sees00s 40 | 420 6 $5.20 |] 6.8 | 3.8 | 41.4 $1.96
Turnips .. -| 64} 340] 12 5-74 3.6 | 1.8 | 6.6 1205
Field beets. . 22 | 182 2 2:31 |k. ,
Sugar beets. 20 | 308 2 3-43 3.2 1.6 7.8 T.OL
Carrots agus bea eieialopeynan = esis s 30 | 216 4 3.08 4-4 2.0 |, 5.6 1.18
Pumpkins.... -.-....... 26 56 2 1.56 3
BaRN-YARD MANURE.
The manure heap is the farmers’ bank. His
drafts will invariably be honored at any banking
house in proportion to the amounts of the deposits
in his compost pile. But it is a mistaken notion to
think that manure of one kind is as good as another
kind of similar bulk. The foregoing table shows
that a ton of clover hay contains $9.75 worth of
plant food, a ton of cornmeal only $2.60, while
14 Soiling.
the same weight of cotton-seed meal is worth
$23. Clover hay is worth more than timothy,
both as a food for animals and plants. The particu-
lar value of timothy hay for horses is that it con-
tains a larger percentage of carbohydrates (muscle-
forming food), and is, therefore, better for animals
requiring muscular exercise than clover which con-
tains more fat. I wish to call your attention to
green lucern, oats, and peas cut in blossom. Also
tye, and especially rape, of which I shall have con-
siderable to say under the head of crops for soiling
sheep.
There are many interesting facts to be found in
the tables, which I have not space to enlarge upon,
but which I cannot too strongly recommend the
reader (not already familiar with the facts they set
forth) to study carefully. By so doing a person
may make his selections of feeds with economy.
For instance, he might well afford to sell corn and
buy oil meal, cotton-seed meal or wheat bran.
Personally I have great dislike to feeding corn-
meal to any degree of excess, even to hogs. Fed to
dairy cows, I believe, it has done a great deal to
ruin what might otherwise have been a good dairy
animal by making it a beefer. By feeding it to
dairy cows before their calf is born, the calf is
brought into the world with a greater tendency to
fatten than its mother had. And afterward, when
they reach their maturity, it helps them along in the
same direction toward completing their ruin as high-
class dairy cattle, while in beefers it makes tallow
Our Plants. 15
instead of meat, and in the hog, grease instead of
pork. Oil cake, old process, can usually be bought
for $5 per ton more than the price of corn. It is
worth $13 a ton more as a food for animals, and $14
per ton more for manure. Cotton-seed meal shows
a still greater difference in value, and is worth about
three times as much both as animal and as plant
food.
No one can be found, except perhaps commercial
fertilizer agents, but will admit that no commercial
fertilizer was ever made that takes the place in the
soil of barnyard manure. Says Prof. W. A. At-
water: “Stable manure contains a@// the ingredients
of plant food. It is a complete fertilizer. Nor is
that all. It improves the texture of the soil; it
tends to regulate the supply of moisture, and it
-helps to set free the stores of inherent plant food
which every soil contains.” That is the whole story
in a nutshell. And if every farmer would commit
it to memory, and do his utmost to increase its
manufacture on his own farm, it would save not
thousands but millions of dollars that are now yearly
spent in the purchase of artificial fertilizers. A
ton of oil cake fed and made into manure is worth
as a manure, according to the table above, $20.40.
Take the same amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
and potash in a ton of commercial fertilizer, and it
cannot be bought for less than about $30 per ton.
In other words, a ton of oil meal is worth as much,
ton for ton, as a fertilizer as any commercial brand
that can be bought for $30. That amount of money
16 Soiling.
would buy at least two tons of bran. So I might
go on through the whole list of farm grains and
by-products, and set them up beside commercial
fertilizers, and in point of economy it makes a very
bad showing for the latter, as will be seen by the
following table:
Pounps oF PLant Foop
ER Ton, © g g
Sa | ge
Nit Phos - oe
itro- nos,
gen. Acid. Potash
Clover hay.. 39-4 IT.2 36.6 $9.78 | $10.00
Oil cake..... s+] 90.6 32.2 24.8 20.40 28.00
Wheat bran...... vee] 44.8 54.6 28.6 12.28 15.00
Cotton-seed meal, : 98.0 56.2 29.2 23.00 | 24.00
Fertilizer A . 45.0 | 200.0 90.0 23.25 | 30.00
Fertilizer B . 65.0 200.0 33.0 25.55 | 3200
Fertilizer C .... 70.0 250.0 40.0 31.00 37.00-
The amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and
potash given in commercial fertilizers is estimated
by the analysis given on the sacks. The cost per
ton in the last column is the price the fertilizers are
sold at. I have given to the nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash found in the fertilizers the same
values as in the hay and oil meal. The real value
of the hay and oil meal compared with commercial
fertilizers in the above analysis is seen at a glance.
It makes the strongest possible argument to the econ-
omy of barnyard manure. We still have in the oil
meal and the clover hay its value as an animal food;
besides, as Professor Atwater says, “barnyard ma-
nure is a perfect fertilizer,” which few, if any, com-
mercial fertilizers ever claim to be. Every farmer
Our Plants. 17
admits, no doubt, that it is desirable to get as much
barnyard manure as possible, but he’ says that he
does not know how he can possibly keep more stock
on his land, which will not support what he already
has as they ought to be supported. How then is he
to keep any more? We shall see later on that it is
a very simple trick.
Green Crops FoR MANURE.
This chapter might properly be called “ Soiling
Our Plants.”” And it is to help answer the question,
How enrich our farm in a sure and economical
way? It may not be convenient for some of my
readers, in adopting soiling with a view of obtaining
a greater amount of barnyard manure, to be able to
buy the additional number of animals that may be
supported by such a system of feeding. He may
also be, like the author, opposed, even if he had the
means, to buying commercial fertilizers. Not only
that, but one of the first lessons taught the person
who attempts to soil is the importance of having
‘rich soil on which to grow his soiling crops. If he
cannot buy the cattle to make the manure, or if he
cannot buy the manure, he can at least grow it, and
even after he has the cattle bought, he will always
find it greatly to his advantage to have on hand as
much green manure as possible, to plow under every
year. Although this subject perhaps belongs further
on under the management of soiling crops, I have
decided to put it in here with the question of man-
ures in general, especially as it fits in very well after
2
18 Soiling.
what has already been said in regard to barnyard
manures, etc.
“Ordinary barnyard manure,” says Mr. Harlan in
his most excellent work on “Farming with Green
Manure,” “contains ten pounds of nitrogen, five
pounds of phosphoric acid, and twelve and one-half
pounds of potash.” By referring to the above table,
we notice that a ton of green rye is worth just about
asmuch. I have seen some wonderful results in the
improvement of land by plowing under acrop of rye.
I once rented a piece of land—seven acres—adjoin-
ing my farm, that had for a great many years been
used in connection with the Methodist parsonage of
the place. Every minister that came took from it
all that he could during his three years or less, so
that finally it would hardly grow mulleins. The
first season, it was in grass. We drew the whole
crop to the barn in two loads and a half, about as
many tons. We plowed it.up and sowed it to rye,
plowed the rye under the next spring and sowed it
to Hungarian millet; plowed that under and sowed
it to wheat, and harvested thirty and one-fourth
bushels per acre the next season, and cut from it the
following year at least ten tons of hay. No other
fertilizer was used. I have also had equally won-
derful results with following rye with oats and peas,
to be plowed under for wheat, instead of summer
fallowing.
Land in a good state of cultivation will produce
from five to eight tons of green rye per acre. A ton
of green rye contains nearly $3 worth of plant
Our Plants. 19
food, and which amount of fertilizing material will
cost nearly double that price in the form of com-
mercial fertilizer,
Dr. Hamlin says: “When we compare it (rye)
with barnyard manure, its greatest value as a green
dressing becomes apparent. I have seen fifteen
tons per acre growing on the 8th of May, and this
was ascertained by careful measurement.”
This makes indeed a very cheap fertilizer, viz. :
seed, $2, and interest on the value of the land
from October until May (eight months), $4, or a
total cost of only $6 for fifteen tons of green
manure. The same amount of barnyard manure
could not be bought, drawn to the field, and spread
for less than $20. The great advantage of rye is
that it occupies the ground late in the fall and early
in the spring, so that little time is lost by using it
to plow under, but of this point I will speak later
under the subject of soiling crops. Oats and peas
make one of the very best green crops for manure.
Hungarian millet grows quickly, and is without
doubt one of the very best quick-growing green
manure crops for the Northern States. It is worth,
green, to plow under, $4.78 per ton. Twelve to fif-
teen tons to the acre is a fair crop on good soil.
The value of clover as a crop to turn under is well
known, but a crop of millet is quite as good, and can
be grown quicker and at less expense.
The great economical feature of green manuring
is that it is delivered on the spot, evenly spread, at
such a trifling cost. Sixty pounds of seed should
20 Soiling.
produce twelve tons of green millet, containing near-
ly $60 worth of manure, and that is not at com-
mercial fertilizer prices either.
Cow peas are largely grown in the Southern States
to reclaim the worn-out tobacco and cotton soils, and
its value for this purpose is incalculable. My per-
sonal experience with it has been limited to two or
three trials. The following interesting information
taken from the United States Bulletin, No. 16, shows
us why the cow pea and other leguminous plants like
clover, etc., are particularly adapted to plowing un-
der for green manure (by E. W. Allen):
“Green manuring, or plowing under green crops
raised for the purpose, is one of the oldest means for
improving the fertility of the soil. It was advo-
cated by Roman writers more than two thousand
years ago. Its advantages are many. It furnishes
the surface soil with a supply of fertilizing materials,
increases the humus and improves the physical quali-
ties and tilth of the soil. As a humus former, green
manure stands next to barnyard manure. Green
manuring may be used to take the place of more ex-
pensive fertilizers. It is in this latter use that it
finds its widest application.” In attempting to ex-
plain how the fertility of the soil is maintained by
green manuring, when the crops plowed under re-
turn to the-soil only what they exhausted from the
soil to produce their growth, the author of the bul-
letin, Mr. E. W. Allen, says: ‘‘ The question has been
solved by one of the most important discoveries yet
made in agricultural science. It has been found
Our Plants. 21
that certain plants can feed upon the nitrogen in
the atmosphere and store it up in their tissues. As
they grow they take their phosphoric acid and pot-
ash from the soil. It is believed that plants are en-
abled to get this nitrogen through the activity of the
lower forms of life, bacteria or microbes. They
produce or cause to be produced little nodules or
tubercles on the roots. Through these tubercles
the plants get their atmospheric nitrogen.
“These discoveries throw a new light on green
manuring and on plants best adapted for that pur-
pose. They recommend it more highly than ever
before as a soil renovator and a cheap means of
maintaining the fertility.
“Tt will thus be seen that it is possible to manure
the soil with nitrogen of the air, which is free and
inexhaustible, and thus save buying this most ex-
pensive element, which as stated above, costs from
15 to.20 cents per pound, while potash and phos-
phoric acid cost only 5 to 7 cents and even less.”
Speaking of the cow pea as a fertilizer, the same
autlior says: “It responds readily to the application
of potash and phosphates. An acre of cow peas at
the Louisiana Station yielded 3,970.38 pounds of
organic matter, containing 64.95 pounds of nitrogen,
20.39 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 110.56 pounds
of potash.”
22 Soiling.
Liguip MANURE.
There is perhaps no one thing in farm economy
in the United States where there is a greater waste
than in regard to this most valuable fertilizer.
Many farmers have brooks running through their
barnyards, or have them situated on side hills,
washed by rains and water from the roofs of their
barns.
The following table shows the number of pounds
of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash found in a
ton of fresh dung and urine, and their comparative
values:
Dune. URINE.
Phos. | Pot-
Nitro-} Phos. | Pot- | yaiue_ |] Nitro- ree HK | Value
cid, | ash. a
gen. | Acid. | ash. “ll gen,
Sheep inwiesin as sso 11.0 6.2 3.0 | $2.56 39.0 0.2 45.2 | $9.61
Horse weies ss sa 8.8 7.0 7-0 2.30 31.0 sees | 30.0 7.49
Cow's es naman 5.8 34 2.0 1.37 11.6 ee 9.8 2.90
SWING. .5 os vrcweste 12.0 8.2 5.2 2.93 8.6 1.4 16.6 2.44
The analysis from which the above table is com-
puted is also from Professor Wolff, to which I have
added the value as estimated in the previous tables.
The methods used to save liquid manure in this
country, although rarely ever practised, are by ab-
sorbents behind the stock in stalls, and the housing
of manure under some kind of shed or basement. My
own plan has been to use land plaster freely in the
gutters behind the stock, the manure carted to the
fields and spread as fast as made during the winter,
Our Plants. 23
or spread about under the basement and straw stack
which stands on posts, permitting the stock to run
under it, the yard being deeper under the stack
than elsewhere, with eaves-troughs so arranged that
all water from the roofs was carried out of the yard.
In foreign countries, and especially on the islands
of Jersey and Guernsey, every farmer has a liquid
manure cistern, and over or near it all the manure
of the stable is daily piled or composted. The drain
from the pile and the wash of the yard is collected
in this cistern, and from there pumped into carts
for this purpose, and distributed usually on the
meadows. The Jersey and Guernsey farmers are
the best agriculturists in the world, and they would
as soon think of going without a stable for their cat-
tie as without a liquid manure cistern. I think we
make a great mistake in this country in not having
such cisterns.
In applying liquid manure, it is always greatly
diluted by allowing the eaves of the barn to run in
the same cistern, or water is otherwise added.
Where they obtain several cuttings of lucern for
instance, a dressing of liquid manure is put on after
each cutting, and the results are something magical.
A man with one horse cart, it is claimed, can pump
and deliver to the field, if within a quarter of a mile
of the barn, dressing for an acre. I doubt if one
man could deliver and spread more than one-half of
that amount of solid manure ina day. Where wind-
mills are used, they may be used to do the pumping,
having two carts, one being pumped full while the
24 Soiling.
other is being emptied. Should the cart be filled
before the drivers return, and run over, it runs back
into the well. I do not think of any one thing in
farm economy where there is a greatér chance for
saving than in this one question of liquid manure.
I believe it will pay a better return on the invest-
ment than any one thing that can be recommended.
The German proprietor of eight acres, referred to
by James Wilson, in “Ten Acres Enough,” who
transformed the neglected and exhausted soil into a
garden of immense productiveness and great profit,
started with a capital of $3 and four pigs. The
manure of this small number of stock was collected
in a buried hogshead, there reduced to liquid man-
ure, and applied by means of a wheelbarrow. The
results from this small beginning were so remark-
able that he soon added more stock, sinking a brick
cistern in the barnyard, into which the liquid man-
ure from the cow and two horses was conducted, to-
gether with the wash from the pig pen and yard.
The manure heap, always under cover, was
thoroughly saturated by means of / pump in the cis-
tern, and by means of a hogsheAd on wheels the
liquid was distributed over the gyound.
The reason why liquid manure cisterns are not
common in this country is simpy fashion. I believe
it is not too much to say that we waste as much
every year by not securing tlfe liquid manure as we
pay for commercial fertilizexp to take its place,
Our Plants. Pas
Savinc Manure (PLASTER).
We are told that “during the fermenting process
in the manure heap, carbon dioxide gas is given off,
and likewise ammonia, simultaneously with the de-
composition of the materials constituting the heap.
These two substances will at once combine to form
carbonate of ammonia, which is very volatile. Now,
when land plaster is added, the carbon dioxide con-
tained in the carbon of ammonia will unite with the
lime composing the plaster, forming carbonate of
lime: and the sulphuric acid which was previously
combined with the lime in the plaster will now be
set free, and will at once unite with the ammonia
contained in the carbonate to form sulphate of am-
monia, which will not volatilize, as was the case
with the carbonate.”
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER.
Our alphabet is composed of twenty-six letters or
characters, which we arrange so as to express thou-
sands of words. The botanical alphabet is com-
posed of fifteen letters or elements, which, being put
together in various forms, produce every known
plant.
Most of our artificial manures are special ferti-
lizers and supply the soil with only part of the plant
food required. Let us suppose, for example, that we
wish a certain field to produce a crop of wheat, and
that in order to grow that crop it will require five of
26 Soiling.
the fifteen elements that constitute the vegetable al-
phabet; to spell wheat, let us represent these five
elements by five letters of our alphabet, as W, H,
E, A, T.
If any one of these letters or the elements which
they represent are missing in the soil, the combina-
tion is incomplete, nature fails to spell the word, and
our crop is a failure.
How is a farmer to know which one of the letters
is missing? By analyzing the soil. Yes, but how
many farmers are.in a position to do this? Besides,
it must be done not only with each succeeding crop,
but in different fields for the same crop. You say
this is impossible. Certainly it is. Even if it were
possible, the analysis of a soil is little or no criterion
as to its ability to produce acrop. It may show by
analysis that a certain soil is abundantly supplied
with all the elements necessary to produce a crop of
wheat, and still the land be unable to grow wheat,
because, although the soil contains all the elements,
one or more of them (though in great quantities)
may be in an insoluble state, so that they are not
available to the plants. Therefore, even if analyz-
ing the soil were practicable, it does not tell what
we want to know.
The application of complete fertilizers is a step in
advance, because if the soil is supplied with all the
elements necessary to produce a crop, one is more
certain that the missing or deficient letter or ele-
ment will be supplied.
We will say in the case of growing a crop of wheat
Our Plants. 27
that all the letters or elements are present and avail-
able except T, and that that letter represents potash
which can be bought in various forms for about 4
cents a pound. The soil being already abundant in
all other elements, the application of a complete fer-
tilizer is a most extravagant practice. You pay’$30
to $40 per ton for a high-class complete fertilizer.
Apply it to the land in this case, and all the value
it has is the potash it contains, worth $4. Pay-
ing $35 a ton to get $4 worth of fertilizer is a rather
expensive luxury, tosay theleast. The nitrogen and
phosphoric acid are practically wasted, because the
soil has an abundance of these two elements already.
Thus it often occurs that the application of a little
lime’ or land plaster, salt or wood ashes, produces
equally as good results side by side with fertilizer
costing $60 per ton. It is not because, as some
farmers suppose, that commercial fertilizers are
worthless, but because the soil already possesses all
the elements contained in the fertilizer except some
simple one that a much cheaper element can supply.
I do not condemn commercial fertilizers, but they
are too expensive. I have experimented with them
several times, and have never but once or twice ob-
tained sufficient additional returns to justify the
outlay. I look at them as too much of a lottery, too
much guesswork. In a cold, backward season, I
have had good results; in a hot, dry season, a posi-
tive damage.
If I knéw just what each of my fields was deficient
in, and could supply it without buying a lot of other
28 Soiling.
elements of which my soil has already an abundance,
it would be different. But I do not know that, and
have no way of finding it out with any degree of
certainty. Therefore I shun the purchase of com-
mercial fertilizers, and put my faith in barnyard
manure, which I know, as Professor Atwater says,
is a complete fertilizer, and I believe him when he
adds, as already quoted: “It improves the texture of
the soil, it tends to regulate the supply of moisture,
it helps to set free the stores of inherent plant food
which every soil contains.”
Next to barnyard manure in point of economy
is green manuring, especially when the former is
scarce and must be hauled to any great distance.
Commercial fertilizers are too expensive for their
manurial value, as compared with grain and forage
crops plowed under or fed to stock.
You may take the analysis of any brand of ferti-
lizer selling at $30, go through the table of compara-
tive values, and pick out a grain or a forage con-
taining as high a percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash, that you can buy in the markets
for $15 to $20, or which you could grow for less than
a quarter of that sum: two tons of clover hay, for
instance, that can be bought for, say, $10 per ton,
and grown for less than half of that amount, contain
nearly as much plant food as aton of commercial
fertilizer that will cost $30.
If a ton of fertilizer that contains 45 pounds of
nitrogen, 200 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 90
pounds of potash (which is about the average anal-
Our Plants. 29
ysis) is worth $30 (which is about the average price
of fertilizers of that grade), then a ton of clover hay
is worth nearly $15, a ton of wheat bran about $16,
a ton of oil cake $30, while a ton of cotton-seed meal
contains as much plant food, ton for ton, as a $30
fertilizer, and can be bought for $6 per ton less.
That is their value, or what you. would have to pay
for the same amount of plant food if bought in the
form of commercial fertilizers, to say nothing about
the value of the grains and forage crops as a food
for stock. Say nothing about the increased value of
plant food as supplied in barnyard manure above
any form of commercial fertilizer. Put it nes other
way about.
If aton of clover hay contains plant food to the
value of $9.78, wheat bran $12.28, oil cake $20.40,
cotton-seed meal $23, then a ton of commercial
fertilizer that sells for $30 is worth only about $23;
a ton of fertilizer costing $37, about $30.
If you say that I have put the value of commer-
cial fertilizer too low, then.all values set down in
the tables are too low. If, on the other hand, you
say that the forage and feed have been given too
high a value as manure, then commercial fertilizers
have also been given too high a value. a are
both figured on the same basis.
Selling grain to buy fertilizer seems ‘to me such
an extravagant way. 2
When we pay’$30 for a ton of commercial fertilizer,
the money goes off the farm. When we grow an equal
amount of plant food and retain it on the farm, we
30 Soiling.
double its value. Nothing has gone off. We have,
on the other hand, created or made that much
money.
The amount spent in this State (New York) yearly
for commercial fertilizers is over $6,000,000, the in-
terest on which would pay for the extra labor of
soiling every cow in the State, or building a liquid
manure cistern on every farm, the saving of which
would perhaps equal the amount paid for commer-
cial fertilizers. To the farmer who would enrich his
farm in a sure and economical way, and to the farmer
who puts his faith in barnyard manure and would
attain the greatest possible amount at the least pos-
sible cost, the soiling system, as we shall presently
show, affords just those conditions and advantages.
Oit Cake AND COTTON-SEED MEAL.
Before closing this chapter on manures, I wish to
call the reader’s attention to a by-product, that in
this country at least is in no way appreciated. [refer
to oil cake.
You will notice by the foregoing tables that oil
cake is worth $37.24 as a food, and $20.40 as a ferti-
lizer, while corn meal is only worth $24.48 as a
food, and $7.16 as a fertilizer. In other words, it
will take a ton and a half of corn to equal the feed-
ing value of a ton of oil meal, and three tons of corn
meal to equal the oil meal as a fertilizer. There is
a small percentage of plant food lost in the con-
sumption of food by cattle. Its combined value
Our Plants. 31
per ton as a food and fertilizer is, therefore, oil meal
$57.64, corn meal $31.64, a difference of $26 a ton
in favor of oil meal. The English farmer who
knows and appreciates the value of oil cake is buy-
ing ninety per cent. of the total that is manufactured
in this country, paying freight on it to our seaboard,
and then across the Atlantic and into the interior.
Thousands of tons per month leave this country for
foreign ports.
This is no speculation on my part; oil cake or oil
meal is one of the very best of foods. Why it is so
slow in finding favor with American farmers, I can-
not say. Asa food for fattening sheep or beef, corn
meal is no comparison. It produces the finest
flavored mutton, the tenderest beef with the great-
est amount of lean in proportion to the amount of fat,
and it makes meat instead of grease. A field of
turnips fed off to sheep with a ration of oil cake en-
riches the land for a whole rotation of crops. It
cannot obtain much from the roots, for they are
ninety per cent. water to start with. Any one who
has ever tasted English oil-cake-fed mutton will
agree with me that it is as much superior to corn-
fed mutton as is possible to imagine.
Oil cake may seem expensive at $28 to $30 per
ton, but it is the cheapest fertilizer you can buy.
Cotton-seed meal is another by-product, although it
is not to be compared with oil cake as a food, be-
cause it is not relished as well by the stock, and if
fed in too large quantities sometimes produces in-
jurious effects. However, it is a good wholesome
uw Soiling.
feed, and as a fertilizer none can compare with it.
It should be fed sparingly, but nevertheless should
be used on every farm. Sell corn and buy oil meal
or oil cake, and you will make a good bargain every
time,
CHAPTER III.
OUR ANIMALS.
How to Freep TuHem ECONOMICALLY.
Now that we have considered our soil and its fertil-
ity, our plants, and how to feed them economically,
we will have a look at our animals. Then we shall
be better able to understand and appreciate the ad-
vantages of soiling. These are some of the princi-
pal lessons that the soiling system teaches. These
lessons were taught me by a force of circumstances
against which I fought desperately, and were
learned from the end backward. I have, therefore,
in this plea for soiling, reversed the order with the
hope of leading the reader up to the subject from
the foundation.
As the quantity and quality of the forage depends
upon the fertility of the soil, in like manner does
the condition of our farm stock depend upon the
quantity and quality of the food which the soil pro-
duces.
Tue Cow as a Macuine.
A cow is but a machine for the production of beef,
milk, cheese, or butter. Sheep are but factories on
a small scale, for the production of wool or mutton.
The horse is but an engine for motive power, either
draught or speed.
3
34 Soiling. ,
When we come to consider our plants as depend-
ing upon us, like our animals, for their food supply:
when we come to consider our animals as so many
machines or factories, and ourselves as the proprie-
tors of so many mills, and as truly a manufacturer
as the man who runs a cotton or grist mill: when
we consider that all these mills are dependent upon
the fertility of the soil, we have mastered the funda-
mental principles of farming. Whether we require
of our animals beef, milk, butter, cheese, wool, mut-
ton, or motive power, the raw material from which
these things are produced is simply the food these
animals consume, and, as in any other mill or fac-
tory, the profit realized by the owner is what these
animals can be induced to consume beyond the
amount required to sustain life, and heat the blood,
and supply waste.
An engine requires, say, ten pounds of coal per
hour to produce power enough to sustain itself in
motion. The profit to the owner will be found in
the amount of coal it can be made to consume in
excess of the ten pounds to a point where the con-
sumption of coal cannot be utilized in the engine.
Repeated experiments at home and abroad have
demonstrated that it takes two per cent. of the live
weight of cattle or sheep per day to live. A cow,
for instance, weighing 1,000 pounds requires twenty
pounds of hay or its equivalent to heat the blood
and supply the waste. The profit or economy in
feeding that cow will be, therefore, as in the case of
the steam engine, found in the amount she is able
Our Animals. 35
to digest and assimilate above the twenty pounds
she must consume to propel herself. Of course,
cattle, sheep, and horses, like the engine, have a
limit beyond which it is a waste of material, to say
nothing of the injurious effects and risk to the ma-
chinery. Fuel fed to an engine already blowing off
steam might better have been consumed in a bonfire.
Forage in excess of what an animal can digest and
assimilate might better go into the dung-hill direct.
The art, and science, and economy of feeding,
therefore, is to feed up to an animal’s fullest capac-
ity.
This seems like a very simple question, and one
that should be so self-evident that it requires no
mention, but when we look about and see the thou-
sands and tens of thousands of farmers whose policy
seems to be to see how little they can feed, instead
of how much, one is reminded that it is a point that
is seldom practised. Just here lies the great advan-
tage of the soiling system. It provides, as we shall
presently show, an abundance of rich succulent
food, so that a cow can feed up to her full capacity
every day of the year.
WuHen INSUFFICIENTLY FED.
It is not only absolutely necessary, in order to feed
a cow economically, which is another name for feed-
ing abundantly, that she should be fed up to her
fullest capacity, but she must begin there and keep
there. If she is not started there, it is not only
difficult but more expensive to get her there. She
36 Soiling.
should not only have all the raw material she can
consume and digest, but she must expend the least
amount of muscular labor to acquire it consistent
with health. We shall notice this point further un-
der “ Objections to Soiling.”
When animals begin the season in good flesh, it
must be maintained by abundance of food. Failing
to supply it, either one of two things happens.
They either stop short in their product, or draw on
the stored energies of the system, which are, as R.
S. Thomson says in “Science of Farming,” “reab-
sorbed into the blood and burned in the place of
food. If the deficiency of food continues, the mus-
cular substances will also be attacked and absorbed.
This process will continue until the animal can no
longer obtain from its tissues material to produce by
its combustion sufficient heat and energy to maintain
the vital processes, and the animal dies.” Another
great difficulty in the pasturing system is, the ani-
mals, cows in milk especially, begin to draw on their
stored materials long before it is usually noticed.
They go on giving a good flow of milk on pasture
which is insufficient to sustain them,. until the first
thing the owner knows his cow is a skeleton, and to
get her back again will require the cost of all she
has hitherto produced. Getting a cow up into con-
dition which has once been lost, while she is milk-
ing, is a very long, stern chase, and a very expen-
sive undertaking, as any one knows who has tried
it. Better dry her off and begin again next. year,
and not only have her up at the beginning, but keep
Our Animals, 47
her up through the year. In order to accomplish
this at the least possible expense, the soiling system,
which provides an abundance of rich, succulent food
the year round, will be found to meet every require-
ment.
In feeding farm stock, it is the liberal hand that
maketh rich. Withholding will not enrich nor giv-
ing impoverish. With this hypothesis, the soiling
system is in perfect harmony.
Looking at a cow as a machine, and a sheep asa
wool factory, we see the importance of not only
feeding liberally, if we would be economical, but of
providing the animals with food so that they are put
to the least wear and tear to obtain it. The food
which is consumed by a cow to replace and replen-
ish the wasted tissues caused by laboring all day to
collect her food, is by the soiling system put to a prac-
tical advantage and a profitable one as well. I shall
be able to illustrate this point more fully further
on under the chapter devoted to soiling sheep.
The rearing of calves for dairy purposes is a sub-
ject to which I have given much attention, and al-
though I cannot enter into the details or give any-
thing like a complete treatise on that subject here, I
may say that for supplying growing calves with an
abundance of rich, succulent forage at a time of life
when they require the highest development of those
organs which constitute the machinery of a dairy
cow, there is no system of feeding to accomplish
this end like a well-conducted feeding of green for-
age to them in their stalls.
CHAPTER IV.
SOILING.
My First Lesson IN AGRICULTURE.
In 1874 I found myself in possession of an old farm
in Wayne County; it seemed as if I had secured a
prize. I had lived on this farm until I was ten or
twelve years of age, and after that spent most of my
school vacations upon it. This was in the sixties,
when agriculture was booming and such land was
worth $150 per acre. In those days, this particular
farm enjoyed the reputation of being one of the very
best in the county.
After taking possession of the farm some ten or
twelve years later, I was greatly surprised at the
change that had taken place, not only in the general
run-down appearance of the place (which was not
to be wondered at on a farm that had been worked
on shares for fifty years), but in the matter of the
farm’s ability to produce.
I discovered that the number of cattle that it once
maintained in such prime condition had been re-
duced by half, and that the flock of sheep which was
once the pride of the former owner had disappeared
entirely. My disappointment reached its climax,
however, when my first wheat crop from a field
Soiling. 39
considered one of the best on the farm was a failure.
As a lad I had driven the old Wood and Manny
reaper in this same field in grain so heavy that I
was often obliged to stop the machine to enable the
man who “sat standing” on the platform to fork it
off, as it came on the table faster than he was able
to dispose of it, and at the rate of about forty
bushels per acre. Of course, I expected, from my
former knowledge of the farm, to get good crops
from all of the fields, and from this particular field
something extra. Imagine my surprise and disap-
pointment when it produced but fifteen bushels of
wheat per acre, and wheat of inferior quality at
that. This revelation was more than discouraging.
Like most people, I have met with many disap-
pointments and much heavier losses since then,
seen fondest hopes and most substantial looking air
castles fade away like mist, but I was young then,
just past my teens, and I took this disappointment
very much to heart. Such a wreckage as seemed
to fall about me that day, I have never since experi-
enced. The situation figured out with the following
result:
STATEMENT SHOWING THE COST AND THE PROFIT AND Loss OF
GROWING FIFTEEN AND Forty BUSHELS OF WHEAT PER
ACRE.
Fifteen Bushels, Forty Bushels.
Dr. Cr. Dr, Cr.
To fitting the ground.............. $5.00 $5.00
To two bushels seed at $1.10 per
DuUshe] voc aissscdin sala duttveedinsiatiers 2,20 2.20
ACOs mawing ci aiiiedemererraretenens 8.75 8.75
40 Soiling.
Fifteen Bushels. Forty Bushels.
Dr. Cr, Dr. Cx,
To harvesting and drawing to barn. 1.75 2.00
To threshing, etc., at six cents per
bushel soo baa vsuistexre enon wees -gO 2.40
To marketing, one and one-half cents
per bushel...........2-- ee eee +22 .60
By cash for wheat at $1.10 per
Bushell ssecscune ase veeses. anaes $16.50 $44.00
Notable cic 4+ Qatineiwe $18.82 $16.50 $20.95 $44.00
Balances nisic swings ge cians 9 16.50 20.95
LOSS per acre wince gee ad ean ea een $2.32
Gain! Pet atresia a sa cenneng weds es ee eee aaa ey ese eda aes $23.05
There were sixteen acres in the field. This made
a total loss of $27.12, while there would have been a
net gain of $368.80 had the field produced forty
bushels per acre, which it ought to have done. The
difference per acre in cost of growing forty bushels
over a yield of fifteen bushels is only $2.13 per acre,
while the difference in income would have been
$27.50 per acre. But this $2.13 does not begin to
represent the actual loss; saying nothing about all
that labor being thrown away, the wasted plant
food that was in the soil that must be returned, and
the wear and tear of team and tools, etc. The seed-
ing as may be expected failed to catch, and this was
by far the greatest loss of all, a loss that no arith-
metic can figure out. There was the loss of the
timothy seed sown the fall before, and the clover
sown in the spring, and the labor of putting it on
(no very small items). But the further damage to
the land itself, which, as I said before, is incalculable,
Soiling. 41
would undoubtedly have all been avoided had the
land been in a higher state of cultivation. It isa
case of “To him that hath shall be given, and from
him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath.”
Sad and disappointing as was the above result, I
have long since looked back upon it asa most for-
tunate occurrence, and one of the best lessons in
practical agriculture that I ever received.
From the day I made those disappointing figures
dated a complete change in my notions and methods
of farming. I had absorbed all I knew about farm-
ing, as a lad, while living on and visiting the old
place.
What ‘had become of the old farm that was once
known as one of the best in the county? The sun
shone as brightly as ever upon it, nor were the
clouds less generous or the dews less refreshing.
The seasons also came in their usual rounds the
‘same as of old. The land was all there, but what
had become of the old farm? It had gone, for I
soon discovered that my other crops were in pro-
portion to my wheat crop. I was not able to figure
out anything but a loss all the way through.
The old farm as I knew it had disappeared; its
fields were as beautiful, its meadows as peaceful,
its woodland as delightful, its brook as charming,
and its shady lane as inviting as ever, but the old
farm had gone. It had been sold by the pound, by
the bushel, and by the ton, peddled out along the
wharves of the metropolis, sent away to foreign mar-
42 Soiling.
kets, and finally washed into the sea, and this is
how it happened that, as I said in the beginning,
“the number of cattle had been reduced by half,
and the flock of sheep had disappeared entirely.”
“And is this what they call farming?” I asked
myself. “Is this the most independent life that a
man can lead?” It seemed to me that this sort of
thing was mere drudgery, and of all things the most
dependent life a man could lead. I was simply
working for my board and clothes, and running in
debt for the latter on a farm of 127 acres, worth at
that time $125 an acre, representing an investment
of $15,875. “Is this the most healthful occupation
aman can lead?” It looked to me to be a short cut
toa premature grave. Was this the calling that all
other men envied, and the source of wealth? It
looked to me as if selling peanuts on the street
corner at a profit was much more enjoyable.
It seemed to me asif there was more independ-
ence in a ten-acre clearing full of stumps where
wheat could be grown at a profit, than in a 127-acre
farm where it was grown at a loss.
In making this general survey of the situation, I
came to the conclusion that the only way of redeem-
ing the fertility of the soil was the proper application
of barnyard manure. Commercial fertilizers were
not the fashion at that time; even if they had been,
their purchase was hardly to be considered, for some
of my neighbors who had tried them in gravelly soil
said that they did not pay. The farm was four miles
from town, so that the purchase ot stable manure was
Soiling. 43
out of the question. But there was no use going on
without manure. Here came the rub. How was I
to increase my stock when the few head I already
had were not more than half fed?
My faith from the first was in barnyard manure, but
how to get it, that was the question. I drifted along
through the first winter into the next summer, when
presently’I found the solution of the whole question
worked out on my own place for me, and in a ‘way I-
least expected. The answer to the problem was,
“Soiling.” Iwas forced into it against my will. I
at first fought desperately, but soiling came out
ahead, as will be seen in the next chapter. I give
this personal experience so that if the reader is one
who finds himself in a similar predicament (and I
know thousands of my fellow farmers are or are
very near it), they may take heart and find some re-
lief in the same direction, and, instead of rebelling
against the way in which fate seems to be leading
them, turn squarely about and go the way she
points. I give this experience also for the benefit
of the farmer whose faith is in barnyard manure in-
stead of in commercial fertilizer. He will see, as
perhaps no other can, how his fondest hopes may be
more than realized, z.¢., how he can manufacture
five times as much barnyard manure as formerly
and keep the same amount of ground under cultiva-
tion for marketable crops. How he can always be
sure, beyond any doubt, that he is returning to the
soil yearly more plant food than he is taking from
it, which means an increased fertility of the soil;
44 Soiling.
which means larger crops; which means more
profit; which means more books and papers, a bet-
ter seat in the cars, at church, and at the theatre;
better clothes, more recreation for himself, and a
higher social position for his family.
In a word it puts the man on the road to inde-
pendence, and shows that a farmer’s life after all is
not the most dependent life a man can lead; and
that in spite of the foreigners the Government keeps
setting up in the farming business, in spite of being
smothered by over-production, he may still pursue
farming with the respect to himself and family that
men of other professions enjoy, where an equal
amount of capital is invested.
How I Haprenep to ApopT SoILING.
As I was saying inthe last chapter, I drifted along
until the following summer. I was very much dis-
couraged. I saw no hope for anything better. I
tried to make myself believe that the year before
had been a bad season, an excuse that thousands
and tens of thousands of farmers are yearly making
as an apology for poor crops; the worst of it is that
they seem to succeed in making themselves believe
it. But I have long since noticed that a season too
wet or a season too dry affects principally men who
have farms like mine, farms that have been robbed
of their fertility. It is usually an apology for not
knowing how to farm; shifting it onto the weather
is the easiest thing in the world, but although I tried
to work that excuse on myself, somehow it failed.
Soiling. 45
Finally, it came about the middle or last of June,
and my cattle began to get unruly. (I only had six
head—think of only six cows and five horses on 100
acres of tillable land! No wonder the fertility of
the old farm had gone.)
The old tumbled-down fences were no hindrance
to the natural taste for adventure and desire to
roam, which became magnified as the condition of
the pasture diminished, and the spirit that entered
the swine, or some that was left over, seemed to fill
them in proportion as their stomachs became empty.
They went wild themselves, and drove all hands
nearly crazy. It was just at a time of year wher
farm work was driving, and, therefore, no time to
build fences.
In fact, after a week or two of schooling over the
old fences surrounding the pasture, nothing was too
high for them to get over. My cows, every one of
them, were so proficient in jumping that they were
fit to ride across any country to hounds, and as to
speed, any farm lad knows how a steer can run
through the corn. JI remember driving them out of
the corn myself one day, and having them jump back
again in another place while I was patching up the
first breach.
If there could only have been a precipice where
they could have run violently down into the sea and
all have been drowned, I should have been a most
happy spectator.
The sleepiess nights, the worry, the anxiety, the
miserable fences that could not be fixed were all
46 Soiling.
more exhausting than a hard day’s work after the
plow or in the harvest field, and that had to be done
besides. One day I was called from home, and
when I returned, I asked my man if he had finished
a certain piece of work I was particularly anxious to
have accomplished that day. “No, sir. The cattle
got out, and it took me nearly all the forenoon to
get them back again and mend the fence.” “Did
you deliver the butter to the station this afternoon,
as I told you?” “No, sir. Just as I was starting
for the station, the cattle broke out again, and be-
_fore I could get them back it was too late to get to
the train.” That was the last straw. He told how
he had chased the unruly brutes through the corn,
in language that cannot be printed.
I was pleased, however, to hear him express my
own sentiments so forcibly. “I can't stay here, sir,
if this thing goes on much longer.” “I don’t blame
you, Pat,’ Ireplied. “I have a notion to quit my-
self, but I can’t spare you. There would be no one
here to speak of the brutes as they deserve if you
should go. Shut them in the barnyard at once, and
feed them hay until we can cut some clover. We
will rig up the mower and feed them green clover
in the barnyard. They will not jump that eight-
foot barnyard fence, will they, do you think?”
“Sure, you will have to lock up the ladder,” said
Pat, whose ready tongue never forsook him, “or
they will be climbing over it.” Thus we began soil-
ing.
For a few days the cows were restless and home-
soling. 47
sick, and evidently pining for a gallop through the
corn, but when we began feeding them green
clover and they were thoroughly filled they became
reconciled and peaceable.
There is nothing like a full stomach to make a
cow the most quiet and contented animal on the
farm. The discontent they manifested the first
week or so made me sorry for them, and if there
had been a place to turn them, they would, no
doubt, have gone out of the yard, and thus would
have ended my experience in soiling. Fortunately
there was no such place. At first we began feeding
them in open racks in the barnyard, but this proved
a failure. One boss cow would master the whole
rack and succeeded in nearly goring a heifer.
Again I was wishing I could turn them out. There
was only one alternative, z.c., to fasten them in their
winter stalls and feedthemthere. This we did, turn-
ing them out nights. I took care not to let my neigh-
bors know about this, for I knew they would laugh
at me. Such athing had never been heard of in
that vicinity.
Let me say right here, that I believe it is at this
point that many a man who has tried soiling has
failed or became discouraged. They have at-
tempted partial soiling, when they have experienced
all the inconveniences and only a small part of the
benefits, and this is the case with everything else
that is half done. As soon as we put the cattle in
the barn, and tied them in their stalls, they began to
gain wonderfully in flow of milk and to thrive be-
48 Soiling.
yond all expectation. I was surprised also at the
very small amount of ground required daily to sup-
port them handsomely, and I was still more sur-
prised to find that the extra labor required to feed
the cows and cut the clover in this manner was
nothing like what I had imagined it would be, and
then it dawned upon me that I might do this way
all summer. Why not keep twelve cows instead of
six? ‘Make twice as much: manure, and ‘manure
twice as good in quality, which amounts to four
times as much. That’s the thing to do, and the
greatest load I ever attempted to carry in the form
of a business enterprise was saddled onto soiling,
and I found soiling quite able to carry it and much
more besides. Thus began what proved to be the
most successful and most economical method of
feeding farm stock. Thus I found a solution to the
question, How to enrich the farm in a sure and
economical way; how to supply the farm stock with
the most nutrious food at the least cost; how to ob-
tain a full flow of milk from our cows during the
entire season, independently of parched pastures;
how to increase the number of farm stock and the
acreage of the farm without buying more land.
CHAPTER V.
ADVANTAGES OF SOILING.
Tue advantages of soiling over pasturing are nu-
merous. The principal reasons for its adoption
may be found under the following headings: rst.
Saving the land. 2d. Saving of fences. 3d. Sav-
ing of food. 4th. The better condition and greater
comfort of farmanimals. 5th. The greater produc-
tion of beef, milk, wool, or mutton. 6th. The in-
creased quantity and quality of barnyard manure.
7th. The increased fertility of the soil. 8th. The
increased acreage of the farm.
The disadvantage of the system as compared with
pasturing is extra labor.
Tue Savinc or Lanp.
Says the Hon. Josiah Quincy, whose experience
in soiling covered a period of eighteen years: “One
acre soiled from will produce as much as three acres
pastured in the usual way, and there is no proposi-
tion in nature more true than that any good farme1
may maintain upon thirty acres of land twenty head
of cattle the year round.”” He adds: “ My own ex-
perience has always been less than this, having ex-
ceeded seventeen acres for twenty head.”
Mr. Henry Stewart, of New York, says: “I have
4
50 Soiling.
kept the same amount of stock by soiling on seven-
teen acres that I previously kept on fifty acres.”
By soiling, D. J. Powell, of Winchester, keeps 100
cows on roo acres, and he adds that ‘‘ with complete
soiling I have kept fourteen cows on eleven acres
the year around, with the help of a few loads of
brewer’s grains and some bran and meal.”’
Where land is in a high state of cultivation some
farmers claim to keep as many as seven and eight
head by soiling where they were able to keep but
one by pasturing. I think, as a rule, it is safe to
say that, whatever land is required to support a
full-grown animal during the pasturing season, the
same land will support five or six head by soiling.
My own experience has been even better than this.
My farm at Maple Lane contained just about roo
acres of land inside the fences, after taking out roads,
lanes, buildings, and woodland. On this 100-acre
farm, before adopting soiling, I was only able to
support twelve head of stock, which required of hay
and pasture sixty acres per year, or five acres per
head, which I find is about the usual amount
throughout the country on good and fairly produc-
tive farms. This left forty acres for marketable
crops.
After adopting the soiling system, the number of
farm stock increased until I had thirteen age cows,
five yearlings, four calves, four horses, two colts,
and seventy long-wooled (Cotswold) sheep. Esti-
mating 1,000 lb. for a full-grown animal, this was
equivalent to thirty-six head. These thirty-six
Advantages of Soiling. or
head were supported from the product of thirty
acres of land. This was the average for three
years. This left me seventy acres for marketable
crops. It will be seen that while I was keeping
three times as much stock as formerly, I did so on
just half the land, and at the same time nearly
doubled the acreage of marketable crops. What
does this mean? It means that thirty-six head at
hay and pasture would have required 180 acres.
The capacity of my farm was, therefore, increased
from sixty to 180, an increase of 120 acres. The
acreage of my farm for marketable crops was in-
creased from forty to seventy, an increase of thirty
acres, or a total increase of 150 acres without buy-
ing arod of land. So much for the saving of land.
In other words, any 1oo-acre farm that will support
twenty head of cattle by hay and pasture (and that’s
about all it will do unless it is in a very high state of
cultivation), that same farm by soiling will support,
and in much better condition, roo head of cattle.
So far as soiling alone is concerned, if you were to
buy a farm to support 100 head of cattle, and your
method was hay and pasture, you would require at
least 500 acres, to say nothing about grain. Where-
as, if you adopt a strict soiling system, as hereafter
described, you would be required to buy only roo
acres, a saving of 4oo acres. Is this not worth an
effort? Can you not afford a little extra labor to
make a 1o0-acre farm support 100 head of cattle in-
stead of twenty? We shall discuss this point further
under the head of extra labor. It may be asked,
52 Soiling.
“How can a farm support such a heavy cropping?”
You will notice that where I had not quite doubled
my acreage for marketable crops, I had three head
of cattle for every one formerly kept. Nor was this
all. My stock was not only producing three times
as much barnyard manure in quantity, but its qual-
ity, especially during the summer months, was at
least doubled compared to what it would have been
if made at pasture, where it is mostly destroyed by
bugs and worms, or makes a rank growth where it
drops, which all cattle shun for a year to come, and
will only eat of it when absolute hunger compels
them. There is another item of saving of land
All the land occupied by inside fences may be saved
and turned to producing crops instead of being a
yearly expense.
Here is a sample of how the soiling system works,
and may be demonstrated by any one who has the
courage to try. May 1, 1880, we turned twelve
milch cows to pasture in a field containing four and
one-half acres. At the end of the fourth week we
were obliged to take them out, as they were getting
very thin and shrinking badly in flow of milk. The
pasture was exhausted. They were turned into the
sheep pasture until June 7th, when we began soiling
them, and the same twelve head were supported with
all they could possibly consume for the next four
months from the product of four acres, making one
acre soiled from equal to four pastured, while the
condition and comfort of the stock was so much bet-
ter, and their yields so much greater, that there was
Advantages of Soiling. e¢
really no comparison between the twosystems. The
value of the four acres pastured at 50 cents per week
per head would be $24, while the four acres soiled at
the same rate gave a feeding value of $96, a differ-
ence in favor of soiling in the saving of land of $72.
While this question of the saving of land is being dis-
cussed, it is to be emphasized that in this particular
lies the great advantage of soiling and ensilage over
pasturage and hay. Experimental stations figure
and analyze and show green crops but little better
than hay and ensilage, but little better than cured
forage, and they go into hair-splitting discussions
on this line, forgetting that the great undeniable
advantage that soiling and ensilage have over pas-
ture and hay is that the soiling system enables the
farmer to increase his acreage without buying more
land. This work will not enter at all into the differ-
ence in feeding value of green and cured forage.
The-soiling system gives the farmer such an enor-
mous gain in the saving of land that all other
questions are small and insignificant in comparison.
Particular stress is laid on this point, because it
is so often lost sight of in discussing this ques-
tion, especially by experimental stations. To re-
peat, if there was not another single advantage of
soiling summer and winter over the usual way for
feeding, this question of saving of lands.is so great
and undeniable that the reader need not look be-
yond it. However, there are other advantages
which may be discussed, and several of them are
quite enough in themselves to warrant adopting
54 Soiling.
the system, but the one grand object is and always
must be the saving of land or the increased acreage
of the farm.
SAVING OF FENCES.
In some sections of the old countries where the
soiling system is generally practised, the farmers
have done away With interior and boundary fences,
setting landmarks to indicate lines, and thereby
working every foot of.land. Says Mr. A. W.
Cheever, in “ The Country Gentleman”: ‘“ Another
great advantage I find in soiling over pasturing is
the saving of fences. None of my mowing or culti-
vated fields are pastured at all, so that I have been
enabled to dispense with all inside fences, and lately
have been giving up the use of road fencing also.”
No farmer will disagree with me in saying that
farm fences are great nuisances, harbors for rats,
mice, and vermin, most convenient places for nox-
ious weeds and grasses, and great hindrances in
every stage of farm work. For instance, if we wish
to cultivate two fields adjoining each other but
separated by a fence, we must stop and turn about
as we approach the fence from either side in plow-
ing, harrowing, cultivating, rolling, drilling, reap-
ing, and raking. Thus in growing a crop of corn,
with a fence forty rods long it would require about
1,500 or 1,600 turnings, and for wheat 1,200 or
1,400, according to the mode of culture. All this
wastes time, besides trampling down the ground and
crops. As Mr. Quincy says, “ The whole farm may
Advantages of Soiling. 55
be divided and cultivated with precise reference to
the state of the soil, when the plow runs the length
of the furrow determined by the judgment of the
proprietor.” His farm at one time had five miles of
interior fence (equal to 1,600 rods), of which he
says, “I have not now one rod of interior fence; of
course, the saving is great, distinct, and undeniable.”
My own farm was at one time divided into seven-
teen fields, which required over 1,000 rods of inte-
tior fence, the interest on the cost of which would
pay the taxes on the entire property, or pay for all
extra labor of soiling twelve or fourteen head of
stock, to say nothing of the cost of yearly repairs.
I built some 300 rods of fence soon after coming on
the farm. It hardly made a showing compared to
what was needed. It would have required an out-
lay of $1,000 to put all the fences in proper shape,
and for what? Simply to keep twelve head of stock
from destroying the crops. Each field must be
fenced, for, by the rotation of crops, each field was
in turn pastured.
Reader, if you are a farmer, don’t build another
rod of fence until you have given the soiling system
a fair trial and find it a failure. Says D. S. Curtis
on the cost of fencing, in the Agricultural Report of
1859: “The most ordinary plain board fences cost 8
to 10 shillings per rod, and more in many places,
while rail fences are often still more costly. But
taking the lowest estimate, $1 per rod, the expense
of enclosing an eighty-acre lot would be $480; two
cross fences, one each way, throwing the lot into
56 Soiling.
four twenty-acre fields, would cost $240 more, a
larger sum than the value of the land in many lo-
calities.” As Mr. A. E. Stewart says, “Soiling ef-
fectually settles the fence question.”
SaviInG OF Foop.
The great trouble with cows or any stock at pas-
ture is that they soon find certain sweet grasses that
particularly suit their taste, and to obtain these
they tramp, tramp, tramp. Notice a lot of cows
turned into a field of clover or grass. They drop
their heads as soon as they are through the gate, and
for a few moments they eat it as it comes. As soon
as their keenest hunger is satisfied away they go.
A cow sees another cow eating quietly in a certain
spot, and she starts over there thinking she has
something good. They finally find certain small
patches in any field where the feed is very sweet.
This they cut down close to the ground, and it is
these sweets that destroy their taste for anything
else. It is like turning a lot of children loose ina
bake shop and confectionery store. At first they
can eat ordinary bread and butter, but presently
they throw it away for cookies, after that they
throw away cookies for candy, and, finally, they are
always hunting for candy and cookies. That is a
fair comparison to a lot of cows turned into a good
pasture and allowed to help themselves. Nothing
tastes good to them but the very sweetest grasses,
and they actually go hungry in the midst of plenty
Advantages of Soiling. 57
and tramp, tramp, tramp, in search of sweets. If
you go into the same field and cut it as it comes,
with a scythe, and feed it to them in the barn, they
eat the good, the better, and the best, weeds and all,
and do well on it. To find that best and sweetest
mouthful, they have trampled as much as they will
eat. They have wasted a lot of energy that might
have been put to a better and more profitable use,
seeking it; gone hungry, or next thing to it, be-
cause they could not find enough to fill their stom-
achs of the best, and come to the barn at night
weary and tired. Of all extravagant, wasteful hab-
its, the pasturing system has noequal. Tethering
is a great improvement in this respect, if the cattle
must go out. Tethering will be discussed more
fully later on. :
There are several ways in which farm stock de-
stroy their feed while at pasture, by tramping it un-
der foot, by their dung and urine, and by lying on
it. The more productive the pasture, the greater
the loss. Just how much is wasted by these means,
I do not know. Some estimate it at one-third,
others at a half. Another item of more or less im-
portance is that it is not so exhaustive of the soil to
grow a crop of hay from it as to use it as pasture,
especially if the grass of the pasture be closely
cropped, thus leaving the soil more exposed to the
sun. All these objections are overcome by soiling.
The food may be cut at just the proper time, when
the leaves and blossoms have reached their full de-
velopment, It is often noticed that, here and there
58 Soiling.
in a field, patches of distasteful grasses or noxious
weeds are left untouched by the stock, except in
case of great hunger, and allowed to go to seed.
The seed is scattered about the field and pressed
into the soil under the hoofs of the feeding: stock.
In time the pasture thus becomes only a garden of
weeds. This would never occur were the practice
of cutting adopted. Mr. Youatt, an English author,
says, in his valuable work, “The Complete Grazier ”:
“Tf a close consumption of plants is the object prin-
cipally regarded, it is evident that the benefit to be
derived from soiling will be very great; for experi-
ence has clearly proved that cattle will eat many
plants with avidity, if cut and given to them in the
barn, which they would never touch while growing
in the field.”
THE BETTER CONDITION AND GREATER COMFORT
OF Farm STOocK.
On this question there is no chance whatever for
argument. The difference in the condition of cattle
soiled and those at pasture is decidedly and positive-
ly in favor of soiling.
In the first place, all animals that chew the cud
are particularly adapted to the soiling system for
several reasons. The very nature of their digestive
organs shows that they are best provided for when
they can have their feed in abundance and near at
hand. Their habit is to collect their food quickly
until the first stomach or paunch is full, This first
Advantages of Soiling. 59
stomach is used as a basket or receptacle into which
they store their food. When full they lie down,
and it is then that the feeding proper begins.
When a cow or sheep or other ruminating animals
are grazing, they are not, as many suppose, in the act
of eating. They are simply gathering or collecting
their food. The sooner they can do this collecting
the better, because they do not like to begin eating
until the basket is well filled. Besides, the less time
it takes to fill the basket, the more time they have
to eat and convert it into the desired product.
Again, if they must waste a lot of energy and mus-
cular force carrying themselves about, as they do
wher required to fill their baskets from a scanty
pasture, that wasted energy, which is all at the ex-
pense of food, as already shown, might better be
employed in producing milk or butter. After the
animals have filled this first paunch or basket, their
habit, as before stated, is to lie down, and then the
feeding properly begins by bringing up, from this
first stomach, a cud at a time, which they proceed to
masticate thoroughly, after which it is sent to the
second stomach, and so on to the third and fourth
stomachs, where it becomes digested and assimi-
lated with the blood until the basket is emptied,
when the cow is ready to collect it full again.
Looking at the cow as a machine it will be seen
that when she does not have to seek her food by
walking miles for it in the hot sun, annoyed by
the flies, etc., she is able to convert the largest
amount of feed into the product her owner requires
60 Soiling.
at the least possible outlay of her strength, and the
more basketsful of grass or forage she can make
way with in a day the more profitable a machine
she must become.
A few years ago, when the Mohawk Valley was
the principal dairy section of the State, we are told
that it was the custom of the farmers and dairymen
to cut down all the shade trees in their fields so that
the cows would not be wasting time lying under
them, when, as the owners thought, they should be
up and at work. They also had boys going about
to drive their cattle up when they attempted to lie
down. They said truthfully that milk was made
from grass, and a cow was a machine, and she must
eat so much to supply her own wants. The more
she can be induced to eat ina day the greater will
be her returns to the owner. But they based their
reasoning on a mistaken notion, z.¢., that a cow was
feeding or eating when she was grazing or collect-
ing her food. While they were. perfectly correct in
assuming that their cattle were machines, and the
owners’ profit depended upon the amount of food the
animals could be made to consume above what they
required to heat their blood and supply their waste,
they were entirely wrong in supposing that a cow
was serving their best interests by being kept on
her feet. The next thing is to provide them with
the greatest possible comfort, so that when a cargo
is ready for the mill, the mill will be in as perfect
running order as possible. That is to say, when the
cow lies down and the milling begins, she will have
Advantages of Soiling. 61
a comfortable resting-place, clean, dry, and easy.
No one would think of starting a factory with-
out first oiling the machinery, and so adjusting
its parts that it will run with the greatest possible
ease. The tie should be such as will enable her to
lie in a perfectly natural position. When you have
provided the raw materials and everything is oiled
and ready, your cow then is in the best possible
position to do business as a profitable member of the
farm household. With a well-contented mind and
a well-filled stomach, she can work up several times
as many cargoes a day as if her time was being
. spent chasing about the pasture looking for sweets
and fighting flies. At any rate, you, as manager
and proprietor of the mill, have done your part, and
there is no excuse whatever for the cow, and no in-
clination, you will find, except to do her best and at-
tend strictly to business. Nor is the question of the
collection of their food with the least possible labor
and a good comfortable place in which to lie down
the only thing that adds to the greater comfort and
better condition of stock soiled. By keeping them
in their stables day-times, they are protected from
the enervating heat of the sun. They are also shel-
tered from storms, secured from jumping into fields
of growing grain or fruit orchards. They are pro-
tected from drinking muddy, impure water and
against thirst. This last is an item that is not, asa
rule, given the attention it deserves. Milk is 84%
per cent. water, and a supply of good fresh water,
close at hand, is a very important item, because,
62 Soiling.
when a cow is turned to pasture, and has to go
to a distant part of a field to help herself, she
waits until great thirst drives her to it. Finally,
when she does ‘go, instead of getting a drink and
returning to business, she overloads her stomach
with water, and stands about in the stream or
pond until absolute hunger drives her out again.
So she lives on from day to day, eating only
when she is very hungry, and drinking only when
thirst becomes excessive. The soiling system,
with a good well or spring at the barn, prevents
all this annoyance, and is no small matter in add-
ing to the comfort and also to the credit account
of the animal.
Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, so far
as the animals’ comfort is concerned, by a proper
system of soiling the cattle are protected from
flies, those awful pests that sap their blood and
drive them to a state little short of frenzy. How
can cattle so tormented be cxpected to do a good
day’s work? Living in the best of pastures after
the middle of June is simply living to exist. To
show skeptical people that cattle preferred being shut
up in their stables in fly-time, to roaming at will in
pastures, I have turned my cattle out—away they
would go with their tails over their backs until the
flies got after them, when back they came to their
stalls as fast as they went.
If the reader could see the difference in the con-
dition of the cattle soiled and those pastured after
the beginning of fly-time, he would see such a con-
Advantages of Soiling. 63
trast as would require no farther argument to con-
vince him of its value.
Look at that poor, gaunt cow as she comes from a
pasture field after a hard day’s work, fighting flies un-
til she is desperate, and sometimes until she has
given up in despair, too exhausted to battle longer
against them, or attempt to dislodge them as they
cluster on her neck and back undisturbed. Notice
her shuffling gait and melancholy face, the picture
of despondency, her hair standing on end. Turn
out into the same barnyard a cow that has been
properly soiled in stables darkened to exclude the
flies; she is as plump as partridges after wheat har-
vest. She acts like a school-boy from his books,
eyes bright, head erect, step sprightly, hair sleek,
stomach full, and ready for a frolic. This is no
fancy sketch; indeed, I feel as if I had failed fully to
represent the great contrast, as I have often wit-
nessed it. I feel safe in saying that I think that no
candid farmer, however prejudiced he may be against
stabling his cows in summer, would need any other
proof to convince him that, so far as the greater com-
fort and healthful condition of the stock is concerned,
the soiling system affords the most gratifying results,
and adds materially to the profits.
GREATER PRopUCTION oF Beer, MILK, anD BUTTER.
On this question, there can be but one opinion,
z.é., that to produce either beef, milk, or butter, the
result will depend upon the amount of food con-
64 Soiling.
sumed, and the profit will largely depend upon fur-
nishing our stock with an abundance of succulent
food during the entire year. To accomplish this
independently of parched pastures and drought is
not a difficult matter by the practice of soiling.
The following testimony as to the superiority of
the system was given by Mr. E. W. Stewart, in an
article in “The Country Gentleman”: “We shall
find the same reasons apply in still greater force, in
the slaughter of beef and mutton. Animals in-
tended for slaughter should have different treatment
from those whose value depends upon the develop-
ment of muscle. Those reared for labor need much
exercise, as well as appropriate food, for strengthen-
ing the bony and muscular system; but those in-
tended for human food need only so much exercise
as promotes health and a vigorous appetite. And,
as we have seen, soiling gives a greater command
over the supply of food at all times, so when prop-
erly conducted it must afford a greater certainty of
rapid growth. We have easily grown calves on
green food fed in the yard, together with skimmed
milk, that weighed 700 lb, at ten months old. We
have uniformly found this system more favorable to
the growth of young animals than pasturing—that
less milk or grain in addition is required to produce
equal growth. And steers and heifers during the
second year will make a steady and uniform growth
on the full soiling system, with the liberty of a small
lot for exercise. Animals for beef or milk are not
grown for muscular exercise. They need most full
Advantages of Soiling. 65
feeding, fresh air, and kind attention. The skilful
feeder has here an opportunity to observe the wants
of each animal, and may always supply them.
“There must be no standing still if a steer is to gain
two pounds for every day of its age up to goo days.
German and French beef growers adopt largely a
strict soiling system, and produce a higher average
weight at a given age, than any pasturing people
has attained.
“Soiling also offers the opportunity of doing the
principal fattening in warm weather, when not more
than seventy-five per cent. of the food is required to
make the same gain as in winter. We tested the
comparative effect of soiling and pasturing on the
same class of animals, by putting five two-year-old
steers and heifers, weighing 4,500 lb., into a good
pasture, while five of the same age and condition,
weighing 4,450 lb., were soiled, with exercise in a
small yard, and at the end of four months, while
those in pasture had gained 625 lb., the five soiled
had gained 750 lb., with nothing but green soiling
food, making the two lots equal in kind of food.
The pasture, although good and abundant when
the experiment began, did not continue through-
out equally good on account of dry weather, while
the soiling food was given in equal abundance to the
end.”
Mr. Brown, of Mankle, Scotland, tried the com-
parative merits of soiling and pasturing in fattening
forty-eight steers equally divided. The twenty-four
soiled brought 4377, and the twenty-four pastured
5
66 Soiling.
4342, a difference in favor of soiling of £35, or a
profit of over $7 per head, to say nothing of the sav-
ing of land and the increase of manure.
In regard to the greater production of milk Mr.
Stewart relates the most remarkable test of the two
systems, published by Dr. Rhode, of the Eidena
Royal Academy of Agriculture of Prussia. It was
conducted through seven years of pasturing, and
then through seven years of soiling. Mr. Hermann
is the experimenter. The pasturing began in 1853,
and ended in 1859, the soiling began in 1860, and.
ended in 1866. From forty to seventy cows were
pastured each year, and a separate account kept
with each cow. The lowest average per cow is 1, 385
qts. in 1855, when seventy cows were kept, and the
highest 1,941 qts. in 1859, when forty cows were pas-
tured, and the greatest quantity given by one cow
was 2,988 qts. The average increased during the
last four years from 1,400 to 1,941 qts. The aver-
age for each cow for the whole seven years of pas-
turing was 1,583 qts. In the soiling experiment
twenty-nine to thirty-eight cows were kept, and the
lowest average per cow was 2,930 qts. in 1862, and the
highest per cow was 4,000 qts. in 1866. The highest
quantity given by one cow was 5,110 qts. in 1866.
The average per cow for the whole seven years of
soiling was 3,442 qts. The yield of the same cow is.
compared for different years. Cow No. 4 gave in
1860, 3,636 qts.; in 1863, 4,570 qts.; in 1866, 4,960
qts. Cow No. 24 gave in 1860, 3,293 qts.; in 1863,
4,843 qts.; in 1866, 4,800 qts.
Advantages of Soiling. 67
Many of these were the same cows in both experi-
ments; and it will seem that the same cow increased
from year to year, showing what full feeding will do,
and also another important fact, that this full feed-
ing was conducive to health of the cow during the
seven years:
Dr. Wright says of soiled cows that they “will, at
least, equal, if not surpass, those kept in the usual
way, in both quantity and quality of milk, and the
dairyman, by adopting this method, finds his profits
enhanced nearly one-fourth.” An English author
says, ‘The cows used to stall feeding will yield a
much greater quantity of milk, and will increase
faster in weight when fattening, than those which go
into the field.”
I have made repeated experiments which satisfied
myself in regard to the increase of milk and butter,
and with the exception of the first month or two
(May and June) I have never failed to get better
results from the soiling system. The author of
“Ogden Farm Papers,” in the “ American Agricultur-
ist,” has a very interesting article on the subject of
soiling, in which he says: “ The product of cows will
be more in the case of soiling than in the other. In
June I was making a very satisfactory amount of
butter. So were the pasture men all around me.
Now that the drought has (in spite of passing rains)
begun to affect the pastures, their product is falling
off, and by September will be materially lessened.
My product is increasing week by week, until, from
the same number of cows, it is now more than ten
68 Soiling.
per cent. more than in June, and, experience of pre-
vious years has shown, it will be fully ten per cent
more in September than it is now.”
Tue INCREASED QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF
MANURE.
So much has been already said on the question of
manures, that the reader knows what a high value I
place upon that produced in the barnyard, and its
comparison with the costly and uncertain results ob-
tained from commercial fertilizers.
No farmer needs to be told that, if he has an
abundant supply of manure, he can raise large
crops. The want of it, more than any one thing
connected with farming, makes thousands of farm-
ers and their families slaves to unremitting toil,
drudging through life, when if one-quarter of the
labor that is spent in trying to subsist by cultivat-
ing exhausted soils were turned to accumulating a
restorative, independence would take the place of
dependence, and the farmer enjoy all the comforts
implied by well-filled barns and granaries.
Manure is the very life and soul of husbandry. It
is the basis of vegetable production, the substructure
on which the farmer can alone hope to build success-
fully. The attainment of manure by the soiling
system is one of the greatest and most characteristic
benefits to be derived from its practice, and the
amount which thus naturally accumulates far ex-
ceeds all anticipation. All who have had practical
Advantages of Soiling. 69
experience agree, so far as I have been able to learn,
that the value of the manure made under this system,
when properly conducted, is worth at the very least
twice as much as that made while pasturing, where
it destroys as much feed as its virtue enriches the
soil. A great part is lost by falling upon rocks,
among bushes, and in watercourses. It is evapor-
ated by the sun. But the saving of land, of fences,
of food, the better condition and greater comfort of
the farm stock, the increase in the production of
beef, milk, and butter, and the attainment of manure,
are all subservient and subordinate to the one prime
object and benefit to be derived from the system, z.¢.,
Tue INCREASED PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE SOIL.
The first, greatest, and most important question
that can occupy the attention of Eastern farmers is,
in my opinion, how to restore the fertility of our
soils; and as to the Western farmer, how he may
preserve it. If the reasons already given here have
nothing in them of sufficient importance to induce
the farmer to adopt the soiling system, the fact that
it affords the surest and most economical way of in-
creasing the fertility of his soil should lead him to
give the system a fair and thorough trial. And,
again, to the farmer who wishes to add more acres
to those he already owns, the soiling system affords
a certain means of doing so without buying more
land. In my own experience, as already shown,
soiling has nearly doubled the acreage of my culti-
70 Soiling.
vated land; it has increased the quantity of manure
three times, and the quality of the same to five or six
times the amount produced by the hay and pasture
system. I find, in looking about, that thirty-six head
of full grown stock and seventy acres of marketable
crops (by soiling and ensilage) were about as much
as under the hay and pasture system was produced
from an average farm of five hundred acres. “My
farm is by no means in a high state of cultivation
(about thirty to thirty-five bushels of wheat per
acre). The system has done no more for me than
it may do for any farmer who will conform to its re-
quirements, which are simple but exacting.
From fifteen bushels of wheat per acre, and other
crops in proportion, the old farm at Maple Lane had
in eight years quite doubled that, having taken thirty
and one-fourth bushels of wheat per acre from the
same field that the first year produced only fifteen.
Tue INcREASED ACREAGE.
In older countries the farmers have been obliged
to increase the yield of their present possessions by
doubling and trebling the acreage of their farms.
As in crowded cities they add to the capacity of
their factories and houses by building up story
above story, so the farmers of these older countries
build up their soil until they are two, three, or four
stories high. That is to say, they have increased
the productiveness of their soil, until one acre is
made to produce what formerly required two, three,
Advantages of Soiling. 71
or four acres. There is, I venture, hardly a farmer
east of the Mississippi who would not be glad to
know how this may be accomplished. The secret is
an open one—by keeping a large number of farm
animals, and this is the result of soiling.
In France and Germany soiling is the rule, and
pasturing the exception, and the number of their
live stock has been greatly increased since the intro-
duction of the sugar-beet industry. It is hardly
necessary to add that their soil has increased corre-
spondingly in productiveness; while under the pas-
ture system productiveness in America has‘as stead-
ily declined, until the average wheat yield is only
about thirteen bushels per acre. Let me show
you what the soiling of thirty-six head of cat-
tle did for me by way of increasing the acreage of
my farm.
You will remember that I started with twelve
head, seven cows and five horses. These twelve
head required sixty acres of hay and pasture, be-
sides the coarse forage, such as stalks and straw,
that grew on the other forty acres of my 1oo-acre
farm. (I have gone over this once under the head
of saving of land. I wish to emphasize it now un-
der this head.) By soiling and ensilage (which is
simply winter soiling), I was able to increase my
stock from twelve head to thirty-six. Thirty-six
head at pasture would have required 180 acres, an
increase of 150 acres. At the same time my acreage
for marketable crops was increased from forty to
seventy acres, or an increase of thirty acres, making a
72 Soiling.
total increase of acreage of 180 acres, without buying
a foot of land; this, added to the original farm, gave
an equivalent of 280 acres. These figures are start-
ling, but there is no getting past them. Iam not say-
ing what I think may be done, but what actually hap-
pened. If we are frightened when we think of the
extra labor it will incur to soil our cattle, just think a
moment. Is it not worth a little extra labor to add to
the acreage of a 100-acre farm another 180 acres with-
out buyingit? Noristhatall. Thesame acres under
the soiling system more than doubled in productive-
ness, as already shown. So that taking the old farm
as I started with it, which is about the average of the
farms, I have practically increased my acreage from
roo to 500. Do you say that that is too liberal?
Just look about you to-day, and see how many 500-
acre farms you can find where the system of hay for
winter and pasture for summer is the method, and
how many can you find that carry over thirty-six
head of full-grown stock, and at the same time have
under cultivation for marketable crops to be sold off
the farm over seventy acres? When you show me
that farm, I will show you one that is above the
average. Here lies (both soiling and ensilage) the
great and undeniable advantage over pasturing.
Beside it, all other points here mentioned sink into
insignificance.
When ensilage first came out, our experimental
stations haggled, and contradicted, and doubted,
always looking to the comparative value of hay, or
cornstalks, and ensilage, losing sight entirely of'the
Advantages of Soiling. 7%
great advantage, z.¢., that by growing ensilage, you
made one acre produce what formerly required five,
six, and eight. The same is true of soiling. It is
the increased acreage without buying more land that
gives the system an advantage so wide, so great, so
unmistakable that there leaves nothing more to be
said. Lately our stations have taken up soiling.
Most of them are looking to see how many more
quarts of milk are produced by one system over the
other. Of course, it is always in favor of soiling,
but that is but one of the least of the advantages.
Others talk about the saving of fences, better con-
dition of the cattle; but the two great questions are
the greater production of barnyard manure, and the
still greater advantage that it enables us to double,
and treble, and quadruple our acreage without buy-
ing more land.
Do you say that this is too good to be true? Do
you doubt its practical application to farming in
general? Let me show you where a single colony
of 1,200 farmers are all producing much better results
than any herein reported. I refer to the Channel
islands, Guernsey and Jersey. The island of Jersey
is twelve to fourteen miles long, and four to seven
miles wide. Ithasa population of 55,000, with 40,000
to 50,000 visitors annually. The average size of the
farms is eight acres, and there are about 10,000
acres farmed. On this amount of farming land,
there were, according to the last census, 11,891 head
of Jerseys and 2,343 horses. This makes 14,234
head of live-stock that are being supported from
74 Soiling.
10,000 acres of land, nearly one and one-half head
for every acre farmed.
The principal industry is the growing of early
potatoes for the English markets. Onan eight-acre
farm will usually be found four or five acres of po-
tatoes (followed by a crop of roots the same season),
two acres of grass, and one of hay, oats, and a patch
of tree cabbage as a soiling crop for the pigs. Such
a farm will carry two to three horses, and seven to
ten head of cattle, besides pigs and poultry.
All the cattle are soiled the year around except
the cows in milk, which are tethered, that is to say,
they are fastened by a rope or chain to an iron peg
driven inthe ground. The tether is ten or twelve
feetin length. They begin at one end of a field, and
when they have mowed a swath clean the length of
their tether, they are moved on, and so along across
the field. By the time the field has been fed over
in this manner, it is ready to start again at the be-
ginning. A field is fed over five or six times dur-
ing a season. Of course, the land is very produc-
tive. Three hundred bushels of early partly grown
potatoes per acre is about the usual yield. This
little island, besides principally supporting this very
large population, exports annually of farm products
between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000. This r10,ccc
acres is only a good-sized Western farm. This
leads me to say that the Jersey farmers are the best
and most scientific agriculturists in the world.
They pay from $40 to $7s an acre annual rent for
their farms, and make a better living off of an eight-
Advantages of Soiling. 7s
acre farm, as a rule, than any farmers I know of in
America do on 100 acres. This shows what can be
done on a fertile soil. This enormous production
is principally owing to the great number of farm
stock which is made possible by the soiling system.
CHAPTER VI.
PARTIAL SOILING.
My experience in partial soiling is not particularly
satisfactory as compared with a strict soiling sys-
tem. It isastep in the right direction, and is just
that much better than pasturing. But, as said be-
fore, you get all the discomforts of the system, and
only a small share of the benefits. If you should
see a man cut his hay or ensilage, and bring it to
the barn and dump it on the ground, you would say,
“Why do you not stack it properly? See what a
great waste and inconvenience. Why do you not
run your ensilage fodder through a cutter and put
it in the silo, and do the work properly? Half do-
ing a thing is never more than starting.” Well,
that is how it always looks to me to see a man try-
ing partial soiling. Take my advice and go the
whole figure. Doit right, as you would do anything
else, and you will, at least, know whether the system
is good or bad. You simply do not know how good
it is, because you never tried. You can never learn
to skate by simply sliding on the ice, or to swim by
taking a foot bath.
It is something of an effort to begin. Your
neighbors will probably laugh at you and call youa
book farmer and that sort, but when you make a 100-
Partial Soiling.
acre farm produce what generally requires 40c
Soo acres, you can satisfy yourself with the old;
ing, “ He laughs best who laughs last.”
I do not mean to advise you to go into the sys
with arush. Go into it gradually. There are li
things that will come up the first year or two 1
may discourage you, something you did not tt
of. I shall try to give you my experience and p
tice, and if you keep near the line, I am sure
will succeed. But when you do try, put your ca
in the barn and feed them there. Put them in ¢
times and turn them into a small pasture or enclos
nights; and whatever you do, do not begrudge a
tle extra labor. You cannot get something for n
ing, but you can get more from soiling for the mo
expended than anything I know or ever heard o:
connection with farming,
OBJECTIONS TO PARTIAL SOILING.
One master cow will occupy a whole rack. A
she has mussed it over and breathed on it for ati
others will only eat it when compelled to from k
ger. Feeding in the field is little better. The
tle drive and hook one another about, and gr:
mouthful here and another there, and eat it in f
when they should have it by themselves in qu
They tramp upon it, foul it, tramp up the mead
destroying the grass and tramping in weed seed
pester vou for years to come. One cow sees
78 Soiling.
a nice stalk or mouthful, and immediately she is
seized with a jealous desire to have that same
mouthful, and away she dives. If the other is on
the watch, and quick enough, and can run fast
enough, she gets outofthe way. The most you have
gained by this system of feeding cattle is that you
have given them a good stirring up. One has lost
a horn, another an eye, and by the end of a few
weeks the weaker ones that needed the extra feed
are mostly cripples, or stand on the outside and
eat what the others refuse. The cow that gives milk
has shut down, because her principal business now
is to chase and fight. Feeding a lot of cows, es-
pecially those with horns, soiling crops in a-yard or
field might do very well if they were being trained
for a football match, but you will find that they
will do better with half the amount fed to them
quietly, each in her own stall. Again, by partial
soiling, you miss another great benefit, protection
from flies, those little pests that drive the cattle
to distraction; instead of filling themselves up to
their fullest capacity so that they can give you a
brimming pail of milk as a reward, they stand in
a pool of water between a couple of bushes or under
a thicket, fighting, fighting all day, except when
sheer hunger drives them out to seek a few mouth-
fuls, and when they do go out to feed, it is for
themselves and not for you. They must do it to
get a bit of fuel to heat their blood and supply a
new draught for the hordes of flies that will tap and
rob them of it to-morrow.
Partial Soiling. 79
All partial soiling can dois to patch out a poor
pasture. You have not done away with any of the
annoyance or disadvantage, and the questions of the
saving of land, and manure, and fences, comfort of
stock, greater production of milk and butter, are not
answered.
All these objections are easily overcome by simply
feeding the cows in their stables. The extra labor
of cleaning the stables is compensated, it is safe to
say, several times over in the question of manure
alone. Put them in the barn daytimes and turn
them out nights (after milking them), and milk them
in their stalls in the morning, thus avoiding all run-
ning and chasing, and clubbing them with milk-
stools, to say nothing about the greater comfort to
the milkers, especially in fly time.
By partial soiling, as was said at the beginning,
you have all the loss and inconvenience of pasturing
with only a small fraction of the benefits; while
the greatest and most important lesson to be had
from a strict soiling system, z.e., greater production
of barnyard manure, is lost sight of.
Let me admonish my readers who have hitherto
practised partial soiling to take just one more step
in advance, and you have my word for it that in
that one step you will go from darkness to light,
from patching an old garment to a new, up-to-date,
tailor-made suit which is yours almost for the ask-
ing.
CHAPTER VII.
OBJECTIONS TO SOILING.
» Extra Laspor.
Tue only objection to soiling that any one can
possibly make is the question of extra labor. In
the first edition of this work, was noticed one other
objection which was sometimes made, 7.¢., lack of
exercise. In those days there was not one farmer
in ten that stabled his cows winters, to say nothing
of summers. This may seem’ strange to my
younger readers, but with the exception of a few
dairymen, who furnished milk to town, I believe I
had about the first farm barn in the county fitted
with cow stables. This was early in the seventies.
The objection was that the cattle needed more exer-
cise. In those days, cattle were fed in open racks
under open sheds, and under the shelter of straw
stacks.
But since that time, there have been great changes
in the methods of stabling, until now not one farmer
in ten can be found who does not stable his cows in
winter. Therefore, mention of this objection, 7.¢.,
lack of exercise, has been omitted entirely in this re-
vised edition. The cattle are turned out nights, and
Objections to Soiling. Sr
stabled daytimes, so that no one will be found now
to object to soiling on this ground.
The question of extra labor, however, cannot be
disposed of as easily. But even that has become
very much simplified and cheapened. It never was
in the first place half as much of an objection as it
appears to be. This question of extra labor is a
bugbear. First, let me ask you who are not soiling
your cows because of the extra labor, to mention
any branch of farm economy worth having but that
does require extra labor, which generally increases
in proportion to the benefits derived. The only ex-
ception known of to that rule is soiling. There is,
to repeat, not another thing in practice, or that is
known, or can be mentioned, where the returns are
so great as the returns for the extra labor invested
in soiling. The great trouble is that we do not see
beyond the mere question of getting something into
our cows’ stomachs, and if they will get it there
themselves, what is the use of our troubling?
That’s the principle. That is the way we invari-
ably have of looking on the subject. We plant corn
because it won’t plant itself. There seems always -
enough of that sort of work we must do without
cutting grass and hay for cattle, and carrying it to
the barn for them, and then putting it before them
in their racks several times a day, and cleaning out
the stables after them, and darkening the stables so
that the flies won’t bite them. That is the way we
approach the subject. It looks like the mistress of
the house preparing a dinner of quail on toast for
6
82 Soiling.
the hired girl in the parlor. How many times are
farmers heard to say: “ Oh, my cows are quite as able
to help themselves as I amto help them. If the
best pasture Ican give them is not good enough,
they can go without.” That isthe way we generally
go about solving the soiling question, and many of
us never get beyond that point. The extra labor of
soiling over pasturing is greatly magnified. Thirty-
six head of cattle may be-soiled at an additional cost
for extra labor of $1 per day, 3 cents per head. My
own experience in soiling twelve head of milch
cows is that all the extra labor aside from growing
the soiling crop did not require more than three
hours a day extra labor, and the work was accom-
plished by a boy fifteen years old. I cannot give
exact cost of growing the crop, etc., as no minute
was made of it at the time, but I feel perfectly safe
in the above estimate. Let us see in what this extra
labor consists: plowing the land, seed, and time to
put it in, cutting and delivering the same to the
barn and to the cows, and cleaning the stalls. As
you will see further on in a detailed account of how
this is accomplished, the extra labor to soil cattle
over pasturing is very insignificant in comparison to
the benefits.
“Soiling,” says Mr. H. Stewart, “is-a little more
laborious than pasturing, but $1 spent in extra labor
is replaced ten times over in saving of land, saving
of feed, and saving of manure. I have found labor
very much cheaper than feed.” Again he says:
“Besides fifteen cows, there were three horses,
Objections to Soiling. 83
seven heifers, one bull (twenty-six head), and some
pigs. All the cleaning, feeding, and attendance on
these animals was done by a boy of fourteen years
for one year, and the boy had considerable time to
spend in field work. The extra labor involved is
well repaid by the extra manure made, and the gain
from the cattle and the increased fertility of the
soil will be clear profit. The bugbear of labor is a
phantom. It is imaginary. The need is more for
head work than for hand work.”
Another writer in “The Country Gentleman,” who
has had many years’ experience in soiling, says, “It
requires one man to spend half of his time cutting,
hauling to the barn, and feeding forty-eight cows,
at $1 per day” (a trifle over 1 cent per cow).
I never could see why a farmer should object to
extra labor, when there is found a profit in it. It is
rarely that a man accumulates wealth from the labor
of his own hands. The carpenter, blacksmith, shoe-
maker, or other mechanic who ever becomes well-to-
do, usually owes his prosperity to the labor of other
men’s hands. There is a great amount of work
to be performed upon a farm that would pay a
handsome profit, but, as it does not always return
to the farmer directly in cash, he is inclined to apply
himself to such work only as puts the ‘almighty
dollar” directly in his pocket. This, I think, is
another reason why the soiling system is not more
generally practised. Many do not like to see acrop
of green rye, oats, or peas cut down and fed to
stock, when, by waiting a few weeks longer, they
84 Soiling.
could harvest it, and deliver the grain to market
for cash. It has often been remarked by visitors
at my place, who have witnessed the cutting of a
splendid crop of oats or rye just as it was head-
ing out, “ What a pity!” It is a greater pity, in my
estimation, to see a man so short-sighted \as to be-
come “ penny wise and pound foolish.”” Such men try
to see how little they can feed and keep their stock
alive. They go on year after year, plowing wheat
after wheat, yearly reducing their stock and the fer-
tility of their soil, and grumbling because “farming
don’t pay.” Let us see what the expenditure of $1
per day for extra labor accomplished in my case.
My farm contained only 100 acres of tillable land and
pasture. By the hay and pasturing system, as be-
fore mentioned, I was able to keep only twelve head
of stock a year on sixty acres. By soiling summer
and winter, I was able to keep thirty-six head of full-
grown stock from the product of thirty acres. Who
is there who cannot afford $1 per day in extra labor
to produce such results as these?
CHAPTER VIII.
SOILING VERSUS PASTURING.
Penns. Bul. No. 21, page 105 (1889).
“In instituting a comparison between the yields of
pasturing and soiling, it is necessary to take ac-
count of the fact that, by our system, two crops of
soiling are grown on the same ground in the same
season. ‘These may be either rye and corn or clover
and corn. In computing the yield of corn and add-
ing the yield of rye, and in the other that of the
clover, and, finally, averaging these sums, the result
is as follows:
¢
Digestible Digestible
Organic Matter. Albuminoids.
Pasturé..cca x cos cca cigeeeceie ss soa e's9% 1,126 249 pounds.
Soiling, rye and corn...........-0.005 5,776 328
Soiling, clover and corn............ «+ 5,914 374 =‘
“The average yield of edible, digestible matter by
soiling crops is 5.2 times as great as that by pastur-
ing. We may say that, in round numbers, we can
produce from three to five times as much digest-
ible food per acre by means of soiling crops as is
produced by pasturing represented by our small
plots.”
86 Soiling.
GREATER PRopUCTION OF MILK.
Iowa Ex. Bul., No. 15, page 274 (1891).
“The losses that occur annually to our farmers
from the drying up of their pastures in July, Au-
gust, and September, induced us to grow a few acres
of green feed, and ascertain to what extent such
feed of different kinds can be had from an acre of
land, how much a cow requires of each kind, and
the effects of such feeding on quantity and quality
of milk compared with well-watered and well-shaded
blue-grass pasture. The principal objection to soil-
ing has been that time is too expensive to be em-
ployed for this purpose. Time and circumstances
are breaking the force of this argument. Iowa
lands have become high-priced. Many of them are
stacked with herds of valuable animals that must
respond, or they will not pay. Growth, meats, and
milk are made cheapest in summer. Droughts of
July and August call for something to round out the
season’s work. These considerations induced the
station to begin experiments in this direction. Be-
gan June zoth, when the drought was drying up the
pastures. We sowed for soiling crops winter rye,
clover, oats, and peas. :
“Oats and peas were fed from June 2oth to July
28th, when oais and second cut clover were substi-
tuted until August 8th, when green corn and clover
were fed to the end. Six cows were selected; all
Soiling versus Pasturing. 87
received the same ration. Three of the cows, Nos.
21, 22,and 23, were tied up in a darkened, ventilated
barn and let out each day for water and exercise.
On August 9th, they were turned out and the other
three, Nos. 209, 220, and 244, were tied up. They
were fed eighty pounds daily of forage crops except
Nos. 220 and 244, that had one hundred pounds each,
being largercows. The milk was weighed each milk-
ing and analyzed by the chemist periodically.
° Fat, Solids,
Milk. Pounds, Pounds.
Cow No. 21 in stable 48 days
-| 133-700 | 47.199 | 162.671
Cow No. 21 in pasture 48 days.
«| 104.800 | 39.785 | 134.053
28.900 7.414 | 286.18
In favor of soiling.......... S
Cow No. 22 in stable 48 days.......-.... seeeees| 127.250 | 43.685 | 156.088
Cow No, 22 in pasture 48 days.,....... +-| 117.050 | 40.560 | 146.895
In favor of soiling ..........cceeeeeee 10.200} 3.125] 9.193)
Cow No. 33 in stable 48 days............ -| 133-825 | 45-632 | 160.897
Cow No. 33 in pasture 48 days.......-+.. | t2x.075 | 41.137 | 137.835
In favor of soiling. .ccseessece ce coun aveesarceseens 22.750| 4.495| 23.092
otal 2AlW Sannadan pian enandande ieniDin saa, SARA 61.550 | 15.034 | 142-903
SumMMARY.
“The cows first tied up increased in milk while in
the stables, and lost very fast as soon as they were
put in the pasture. Cows tied lost heavily on pas-
ture, and gained in milk as soon as they were put
on green feed. We were feeding indoors against
one of the best blue-grass pastures in the State, well
shaded and running water accessible. Of the three
cows put in pasture first, June zoth, when it was at
its best, Nos. 229 and 220 were fresh cows and 244 was
88 Soiling.
more than an average cow. With the grain ration
given them, they had greatly shrunken on the pasture
by August 8th, while the three tied up for the same
period gained considerably. The indications from
the experiment are: that the average cow will eat
seventy-five pounds of green food a day kept in the
stable, with a grain ration added; that cows fed on
oats, peas, clover, and corn, fed green in the stable in
midsummer, will give more milk than when feeding
on a good blue-grass pasture; that a cow fed on
green feed in stable darkened and well ventilated
will gain in weight more than she will in a well-
shaded pasture; that a cow will respond more
readily to a well-balanced ration of grain while eat-
ing green feed, than she does on dry feed. An acre
of oats and peas cut green weighed twenty-four
tons, and an acre of corn and oats cut green
weighed thirty-three tons. It is not necessary to
cut green feed oftener than twice a week, if it is
spread to avoid heating.”
CHAPTER IX.
ROTATION OF SOILING CROPS.
Laying Out THE Work.
In laying out the work it is simply necessary to
know how many head of animals we wish to soil.
If some are calves or yearlings, estimate about 1,000
Ib. live weight as equalto a full-grown animal. For.
the sake of illustration, let us suppose that we wish,
the coming season, to soil ten cows, three two-year-
olds, four yearlings, seventeen head, equal to four-
teen head of full-grown stock weighing 1,000 lb. each.
The first thing we wish to knowis how much land we
will require per day, week, or month to supply the
necessary amount of forage. The following esti-
mate has been adopted of the land required for a full
grown animal per day:
Of lucern, clover, three-fourths square rod per
day. Of barley, oats and peas, rye, wheat, millet,
one-half square rod per day. Of corn or sorghum,
one-quarter of a square rod per day.
This is a fair estimate for a day’s feeding on land
in a good state of cultivation. For a beginner it
would be well to add, say, one-fourth more in each
case until he learns the capacity of his soil. When
land is in a high state of cultivation, it will require
go _ Soiling.
less than the estimates first above given. No cow
can possibly consume half a square rod of rye, bar-
ley, oats and peas, or millet in a day’s feeding,
where there is a good strong growth.
I cannot lose this opportunity to call your atten-
tion to the great feeding capacity there is in an acre
at this rate. There are 160 square rods in an acre.
This, at one-half square rod per day, gives 320 days’
feeding from one acre.
It is always best to make a liberal allowance.
There need be no waste, since any surplus may be
cut and cured for winter forage, or, better still,
plowed under as green manure.
In laying out the work necessary to provide for
fourteen head of full-grown animals, we will start
the fall before the season we intend to begin soiling,
and carry the work along for the year. The first
question is to decide how much land shall be allowed
to grow the necessary amount of forage. Fourteen
head of cattle (consuming, say, three-quarters of a
square rod per day) will require ten and one-half
rods per day, or seventy-three and one-half rods per
week; say eighty, an even half acre. This will re-
quire for June and July (eight weeks) four acres of
ground. Then we add the necessary corn ground,
two acres more for the August crop; the September
and October crops are grown on the land from which
the June and July crops were taken. For June we,
therefore, sow during the autumn this six acres,
more if possible, to rye and wheat. Wheat sown at
the same time as rye will follow rye the next spring,
Rotation of Soiling Crops. gt
as it is about a week later. These seedings of rye
and wheat should be top-dressed with manure dur-
ing the winter. We, of course, cannot use all this
tye and wheat next spring for soiling: at least, two
acres of this will be plowed under in the spring, but
it is better that the land should be growing some-
thing during winter, as a mulch and collector of
nitrogen, than to lay barren or fallow. Soon as
spring opens, we plow under two acres of the four
acres. You say, why not let it grow? Because you
will not require it all, and because oats and peas are
better soiling crops. But, perhaps, you do not like
the idea of wasting the seed. Don't be alarmed.
That $2 worth of seed has been accumulating many
times its cost in plant food during the fall and win-
ter. There is nothing lost, but a decided gain.
True, the rye is only a few inches high, but the
roots have been taking up the plant food from the
manure spread upon the land during the winter.
Plow it under. Now we come to an important
question. How much of this two acres shall we
sow to oats and peas at a time?
One week is about as long as any soiling crop
(corn or sorghum excepted) is at its best for soiling.
We, therefore, sow enough every week to last a
week. If we put in more than this at a time, we
either have to begin cutting it before it is at its
best, or continue to cut it after it has passed its
best. A soiling crop is fit when the grain is well in
the milk; before that it is too watery, after that it
soon becomes tough and woody. And right here,
92 Soiling.
in my opinion, has been a great drawback to suc-
cessful soiling. Men have planted too much at a
time, and the soiler has been disappointed in the
result. His cows have shrunken in their yield of
milk, and no doubt many a man has thus become
disheartened in his first attempts at soiling.
Crops FoR JULY.
It has been my practice to plow in the spring, and
sow first a week's supply of barley. Barley will
germinate at a lower temperature than oats. Fol-
lowing this a sowing of oats and peas is put in
weekly. The barley and oats and peas are for July.
The wheat and rye of last fall’s sowing were for the
later half of May, through June, until the barley or
first spring crop is ready.
With fourteen cows it will be necessary to put in
half an acre a week, beginning in the spring as soon
as the ground will permit. Saturday is usually de-
voted to this weekly task. It is better to plow at one
time (after the first week’s seeding of barley) or as
soon as the ground is warm enough, say an acre and
a half. Plow deep. This will make land enough
for three weeks’ seeding of half an acre per week.
Then let the farm team devote every Saturday
afternoon to fitting that half acre, and sowing the
oats and peas.
Of barley, sow two and one-half bushels per acre.
Of oats and peas, three bushels per acre, half and
half, common Canadian field peas. The one sowing
Rotation of Soiling Crops. 93
of barley and three of oats and peas are depended
upon to supply the July feeding. These four spring
seedings I have been able to get in (in Western New
York) during the month of April. This brings us to
the question of supplying the
Crops For AUGUST.
With the last sowing of oats and peas, whenever
it is (either a week earlier or a week later than last
year signifies nothing. Go straight along with the
programme), make the first sowing of corn Stowell’s
Evergreen (or some other medium-sized variety),
and continue with corn and sorghum during the
month of May for the August and first week of Sep-
tember; as corn is longer in condition to feed than
oats and peas, more can be sown at atime. I have
never practised it, but think very highly of the idea
of sowing sorghum in alternate rows or in the same
row with corn. These crops may be sown on the
land from whence came the wheat and rye cuttings in
May. The sorghum or corn and sorghum should be
sufficient to last through the first half of September,
or as long as it is safe to depend upon its not being
cut by frost. This brings us to and into
Crops FOR SEPTEMBER.
As the barley and oats and peas are consumed in
June, the ground they occupied is put into millet
and barley for October (to be followed by ensilage
94 Soiling.
from the silo). As to the sowing of millet, put in
all the ground you can of this, and plow under (what
is not consumed in the autumn by soiling) for rye
next spring; and the land that was devoted to corn
and cut off in August is all put into rye for next
spring. This completes the year.
It seems as if a great many words had been used in
describing this simple rotation. If I am at fault in
this, I hope the reader will attribute it to my desire
to be clearly understood. The whole thing may be
stated in a nutshell as follows: In the fall sow rye
to plow under for soiling crops until barley or oats
and peas are ready. In the spring sow early as
ground is fit to work, four or five sowings, a week
apart, of oats and peas. The first sowing of barley
if the spring is cold and backward. With the next
to the last, and the last sowings of oats and peas,
sow corn and sorghum, four or five sowings, to carry
until middle of. September, to be followed by millet
and barley for late autumn.
Oats and peas are sowed on rye plowed under in
April, corn sown on rye plowed under in May, corn
and sorghum sown on land soiled from during June,
millet sown on land that rye, oats, and peas were cut
from in July, rye sown on all corn ground cut over,
for soiling in August and September. October rst,
sow the balance of the land not already into rye
for next spring, either to cut or plow under for
soiling.
So far a rotation has been shown independently of
clover, lucern, or crimson clover. These were pur-
Rotation of Soiling Crops. 95
osely omitted, advising the soiler to work into
ucern gradually, and as to crimson clover my own
experience has not been successful, but others have
been. If you will begin with the rotation given, you
will soon find opportunities of branching out with
the clovers. It is not advisable to depend upon
common red clover; oats and peas are better. By
all means, however, have a patch of lucern for the
horses, if nothing more. The following interesting
letter is from Mr. Charles Wolcott, Blue Hill Farm,
Canton, Mass., June 11, 1881:
F. S. Peer, Esq.
Dear Sir: I have yours of the qth and note the inquiries.
Our practice has been to feed upon winter rye first, then oats,
next spring rye, next millet (the golden) grown on the win-
ter rye land. Sweet fodder corn (Stowell’s Evergreen) grown
on oat lands, Southern white fodder corn sown in drills on oat
land and spring ryé land, and, lastly, barley grown on the
land formerly occupied by winter rye, and lastly by golden
millet. This gives a good rotation for feeding, and with us
always has worked well. Respecting the value of manure
saved by soiling, my judgment is that all that is made is
saved, for Ido not believe that the manure dropped in pas-
tures enriches the soil at all, it being mostly dried up into an
almost insoluble cake.
The care of my stock (now forty-eight head of milch cows)
devolves on one man, who feeds, cleans, and waters them in
the barn, two men to help him milk. One man and one horse
draw the green fodder in less than half aday. We feed three
times a day in the stanchions, where the cows stay except
when they are turned out once a week in the yard if it is cool,
for an hour, but never if it is hot. They much prefer the
barn tothe yard. Their health is always good, and they are
thrifty. The quality of milk with nv is about he same the
96 Soiling.
year round. The quantity is larger with me in the soiling
season than my neighbors average.
To conclude, I will say that I cannot see that I can afford
to pasture my stock, as I haven’t made enough money yet to
be able to throw it away.
Yours respectfully,
CHaRLEs W. Wotcortt.
CHAPTER X.
CUTTING AND GATHERING THE CROPS.
Necessary Toots, Etc.
My own experience in soiling twelve to fourteen
head of cattle and four horses may be briefly stated
as follows: The cutting was done with a D. M. Os-
borne self-rake reaper No. 3. I began with a
scythe, then the mowing machine, but the reaper
was the thing, throwing it off in gavels in the best
possible way to facilitate handling, and where it will
wilt without drying out. Monday morning, for in-
stance, the farm team is attached to the reaper, and
cuts in twenty or thirty minutes enough feed to sup-
ply the stock fortwo days. Thisreaper was used for
three seasons for this purpose, also for cutting the
ensilage corn. Nowadays the self-raking reaper has
generally been supplanted by the self-binders. I
have letters from several binder companies, saying
that they will guarantee their machines to cut the
‘green crops for soiling, and no doubt they can. It ,
need not and should not be bound. The improved
corn cutters leave little to be wished for in the
gathering of the corn forage for soiling or ensilage.
and the work and expense of harvesting are with
these machines reduced to a minimum.
7
98 Soiling.
DELIVERING TO BARN,
A one-horse lumber wagon, truck, or half truck
with wheels two and one-half to three inches wide
will be found to be of great service, and will answer
BOX FOR WAGON.
the purpose until the number of head soiled reaches
twenty-five or more, when a two-horse wagon with
wide low trucks (which is also most useful in har-
vesting ensilage fodder) will be found advisable.
The box for the wagon I had in use for this pur-
pose was a double one; the upper box was put on in
four separate pieces (two end and two sideboards)
which projected over the sides of the main box as
shown above.
FEEDING.
There is but one satisfactory way of feeding soil-
ing crops, and that is to the cattle fastened in their
stalls. Each cow gets her share, with no running or
chasing about. She eats what is put before her,
Cutting and Gathering the Crops. 99
and is satisfied. She is in the best possible position
to be milked, and her greater comfort has already
been explained.
CAUTION IN FEEDING.
There is more danger of feeding too much at a
time than not enough. There is no doubt but that
here lies the reason of many discouraging results in
soiling. Of the three great mistakes a beginner is
apt to make, z.¢., feeding soiling crops in open racks,
sowing too much at a time, and feeding too much at
a time, the latter is probably the greatest mistake of
the three.
A cow with more fodder (especially green forage)
in her manger than she can eat up clean at the time,
will go hungry sooner than eat it after she has
breathed upon it foratime. This, of course, causes
a shrinkage of milk, and is, I am sure, the reason
why the soiling system has, in some cases, been
condemned by some who suppose their cows abun-
dantly provided for, when their manger stands full
of feed. They cannot understand how it is that
their cows do not do as well at soiling as at pasture,
and they jump to the natural conclusion that the
cow or cows are pining for open pasture, and if they
turn them out, they would undoubtedly gain in milk
for a day or so; then they would say that their cat-
tle do better at pasture than at soiling. The trouble
has been that their cattle have been hungry in the
midst of plenty. After a cow breathes on forage
100 Soiling.
left in a manger for a time, it becomes very distaste-
ful to her, while to the feeder it looks bright and
fresh, and she gets no more, perhaps, until hunger
compels her to eat that up.
Whatever you do, always remove from before the
cows all that is left in the mangers before giving
them afresh feed. You will be surprised some time
to see a cow go greedily at a fresh feeding at noon,
when you have taken from her manger what she
failed to eat in the morning.
If there is anything left in the manger, pass it
over to the hogs. They will be very pleased to
have it.
Manner oF FEEDING.
Experience has taught me that, to produce the
best results from milch cows, they should be, fed
four or five times a day. Five feedings in my ex-
perience have given better results than four, and just
as good as six.
To think of feeding cows five times a day, when
the usual custom is to feed but twice, may seem like
a great task, but by systematizing the work it will
be found not nearly as difficult as one may imagine.
Let us follow a day’s work in feeding fourteen
head of cattle five times a day, z.c., at 5 and 8 a.m.
noon, and at 4 and 7 p.m. Enough feed has been
delivered to the barn the evening before for the first
mortring feeding, which the cows find in their man-
gers when they are let into the barn from the yard,
or paddock, or orchard where they have spent the
Cutting and Gathering the Crops. 101
night. After breakfast the farm team is attached to
the reaper, and in twenty minutes or half an hour
has cut enough forage to last two days, and has gone
on to its regular farm work. I found a boy fifteen
or sixteen years old quite able to do the extra work
of drawing, feeding, cleaning stables, etc., and have
about six or eight hours a day to devote to the regu-
lar farm work. After breakfast the boy feeds calves,
pigs, etc., and at 7:30 with the one-horse wagon
goes to the field and draws to the barn the 8 o’clock
feeding, which he delivers into the mangers from
the wagon, and leaves upon the wagon enough for-
age for the noon feeding. The boy is now at liberty
to work elsewhere on the farm or in the dairy. At
noon the forage that was left on the wagon is given
to the cows, a work of 10 or 15 minutes. Other em-
ployment is found for the boy until 3:30, when he
goes to the barn, puts the horse to the wagon, and
delivers to the cattle their 4 o’clock feeding. He
then draws in enough forage for the 7 o’clock feed-
ing, and the first (5 o’clock) feeding for the follow-
ing morning. He then cleans the stables, assists
in milking, and at 7 o’clock gives the final or fifth
feeding to the cattle, which is quickly done. This
ends the day, with the exception of turning the cat-
tle out at 8 o’clock for the night. They have free
access to water in the yard when let out for the
night. They require no more water during the day.
In thus relating my own method and practice in
providing for fourteen head of dairy cows, I am well
aware that it might not be suited in every respect to
102 Soiling.
every other man’s case. It is hoped, however, that
it will give my readers a correct knowledge of the
general principles of the system, so that those who
may wish to adopt it will have a guide, if not an
absolute rule. The things insisted upon as abso-
lutely essential to success may be summed up as
follows:
First. —Feeding the cattle in their stalls day-times,
turning them out at night. ;
Second.—Sow every week during April, May, and
June enough ground ta supply a week’s feeding only.
Third.—Remove all forage left in the mangers
before each fresh feeding.
Fourth.—Feed five times a day all the cattle will
eat.
Fifth.—Supply perfect ventilation. Open stable
doors at night. Keep doors and windows closed
day-times, the latter darkened to exclude the flies.
(But this can only be done when the barn is proper-
ly ventilated.)
These five rules are laid down as the cardinal prin-
ciples. As to all the rest, use my experience asa
guide, and better it wherever you can. Anyway,
adopt any method that will best serve the five rules.
CHAPTER XI... ..
BARN CONSTRUCTION.
GENERAL PLAN.
Tue principal requisite in the construction of barns
for soiling summers and feeding ensilage winters is
to have a driveway through the barn, so that the
soiling crops and the ensilage may be fed to the
stock directly from the wagon into their mangers.
If the barn is wide enough so that the cattle can
stand with their heads toward the centre, and still
leave room for a passage behind them, so much the
better; but if the cows face the walls with only a
manger in front, the cattle may still be fed quite
handily from a passage behind them, while the pas-
sage may be used in carting out the manure, which
may be delivered direct from the stables to the field in
one handling. This plan is preferable, unless, when
the cows face the centre, there is still room behind
them for a wagon drive for the manure. The ob-
ject, of course, is the saving of labor. A barn
thirty-five feet wide will accommodate two rows of
cows facing the walls, and give a ten-foot drive be-
hind, and a four-foot passage in front of them,
whereas, if they face the centre, and there is a drive
104 Barn Construction.
behind them for manure and one in front for soiling
crops, the barn will require to be at least fifty feet
wide; although it is not quite as convenient to feed
the cattle their soiling crops from behind, especially
if they are fastened in stanchions, the great economy
in building the barn thirty-five feet wide instead of
fifty is considerable. With open mangers, the cat-
tle may be fed from the drive behind them nearly as
well as from in front. Therefore, it is preferable to
have them face the wall and a drive behind them,
especially if the number of cattle is great enough to
deliver the manure from the trench directly to the
field. Of course, if there are but a few, and the
stables are cleaned by the use of a wheelbarrow,
and a narrow passage behind, I would in this case
recommend the cattle to stand facing thecentre. A
barn on this plan also should bé at least thirty-five
feet on the inside. This will leave a feeding pas-
sage ten feet wide in front of the cows.
The next thing to be considered in the construc-
tion of a barn is that it should be warm in winter
and cool in summer. The best possible construc-
tion of a barn to attain this end-is to build it with
two air spaces between the outer and inside cover-
ings. A barn built on the most approved plan for
keeping ice, or for cold storage, or refrigerator pur-
poses is best to accomplish this end, z.¢., to keep out
the cold in winter or keep out the heat in summer.
Barn Construction 105
OxpjecTions TO Masonry BasEMENTS.
I have had much experience with stone and brick
wall basements, and would on no account recom-
mend them for any kind of stock. They are, as a
} r
I
End Elevarion of Bridge.
‘
‘
'
'
--
re-cctee
rule, damp, chilly, and unwholesome, if not un-
healthy, a great portion of the year. I am so prej-
udiced against them, compared with double air-
106 Barn Construction.
spaced wooden walls, that I would not have one put
under a barn of mine if it could be done without
cost. If it is necessary to build a barn with a base-
tsometric Showing:
walls of Barn & Air Spaces.
ment, I would recommend excavating back from
the foundation, and driving into the upper story over
a bridge six or eight feet long, as shown (cut, p. 105).
107
Barn Construction.
Buyspres aptsn0 1
*»
CS ——— 5
Lew ML
“Saryo waUssr =)
ho dey ‘woeds ay ‘
Suryreaus
dade >
Survyyesasr—
———
Cross Section
1 of Barn Wall.
%
an
Scale:-
Vertical Section
%
an)
°
6
2
.
6
fa)
ry
108 Barn Construction.
If the cattle barn is to be under the main barn, as is
usually the case, or simply a shed, the method of
constructing walls with double air spaces is as fol-
lows: On the sill twelve inches wide, set up a two-
by-four one inch back from flush with the outer
edge. On this nail sheathing, on the sheathing
building paper, over the building paper clapboards
or novelty siding, or whatever siding is desired for
the outside of the barn. On the inside of the two-
by-four studding nail inch sheathing; over this
building paper; then set up another two-by-four
against the inside or middle lining, and on the other
edge nail sheathing, then building paper, and cover
with matched siding (see cuts). The ideaisto get two
dead-air spaces. The nearer airtight the spaces are
the more perfectly the cold will be excluded in winter
or the heat kept out in summer. An airtight air
space is one of the best non-conductors of heat or
cold for barn, silo, or icehouse. It is far better than
to have the space filled with sawdust. Where lath
and plaster is more economical than sheathing and
building paper, it makes an equally good partition,
dividing the two air spaces. This method of build-
ing side walls is less expensive than stone or brick
masonry, and when finished is so much warmer in
winter, so much cooler in summer, so much drier,
cleaner, airier, and more wholesome, that there is no
comparison between the two.
The windows should for the same reason be made
to accommodate three sashes both for winter and
summer. The windows, however, should be large
Barn Construction. 109
and numerous, but they are never to be opened or
used as ventilators. This plan is for the basement.
Above, the barn may be built in the usual way with
single siding, unless a horse stable, calves or sheep
pens are to occupy the upper floor, in which case their
quarters should be surrounded with similar walls.
Outside walls of such a construction will require no
artificial heat in winter to keep the stable warm, a
system that is both expensive and needless, and will
be as cool as it is possible to have a barn in summer.
Eight feet in the clear is enough if properly venti-.
lated.
VENTILATION,
The next great question is that of proper ventila-
tion. It has just been said that windows are not to
be used summer or winter for ventilation. It is un-
necessary, and can be attained more perfectly in
other ways. The question is to admit fresh air and
to dispel foul air. My method would be as follows:
The foul air is of two kinds, the warm air from the
animals’ bodies, which is lighter than the air and
ascends, and the poisonous gases, which are heavier
and stay on the floor. We must, therefore, provide
an exit for both. The former is easily gotten rid
of in the usual way by a ventilator in the floor of
the ceiling to a point above the ridge by a wooden
shaft surmounted by a cupola. Taking advantage
of the fact that the cooler, fresh air is heavier than
the heated air of the stable, therefore it best sup-
plies the exit of the latter, by coming into the stable
110 Barn Construction.
near the floor on which the animals stand. This air
either in winter or summer for a small stable may be
supplied from the inside of the barn at the floor of the
room above. The reason is that the temperature
there is cooler in summer than if taken from the out-
side, the coolest air in the barn above being on the
floor. It is equally advantageous in the winter, be-
cause no matter which way the wind is or how hard it
blows, the air from the room above is steady and uni-
form both in movement and temperature, that is when
the barn doors upstairs are closed. We, therefore,
prefer to get our fresh supply from indoors (above)
rather than from the outside. To accomplish this,
we may use wooden air ducts as shown above, opening
from the floor above, and discharging in front of the
cattle into their mangers, or near their heads so that
III
Barn Construction.
Vent Shaft. B
Isometric of Drop & Manger
zs Showing Ventilation.
112 Barn Construction.
they can get it pure. We have now provided for
the entrance of fresh and the exit of heated and im-
pure air, but we should still provide a place of exit
for the impure air that is heavier than the fresh air.
This is accomplished by an air duct opening lower
than the entrance of the fresh air, and must be car-
ried by a tile duct or conductor pipes and allowed to
discharge underneath the barn or lower than the
barn floor, or allowed to discharge into the liquid
manure cistern, in which case a swinging damper
closes automatically if air attempts to enter through
this duct from the outside. The cut (page 111) shows
this air taken from the gutter behind the cows and
in a tile drain discharging into the liquid manure
cistern. This same pipe also provides an escape
for the light foul air or gases that may rise from
the cistern, as shown in the cut at &. This is
simply a galvanized conductor pipe that is carried
above the building on the principle of trapping a
sewer pipe discharging into a cesspool. If cattle
barns were thoroughly and properly ventilated, there
would in all probability be less tuberculosis among
our herds than there is at present. Pure invigorating
air is the best of all preventives, if not a cure, to con-
sumption in the human family; why not in cattle?
The fresh air comes into the barn through shaft
A /, and is conducted along on an air duct directly in
front of the cattle, as shown, discharging into each
manger (see page 111). This air shaft in front of
the manger comes into the stable at each end of the
barn (as shown on page 111 for a small number of
Barn Construction. 113
Section of
Ve Ball Bearings
of Automatic
Ventilator,
Section, Automatic Ventilator.
114 Barn Construction.
cattle, and on page 113 for alarger number). The
forced-air shafts should have shown the damper on
the floor the cattle stand upon, where it may also be
Barn with Automatic Ventilators
regulated by hand by moving an adjustable weight
in and out on the damper shown in the floor above.
A good place for the exit of this carbonic-acid gas
out of the barn is from holes along the side of the ma-
nure trench behind the cattle, 4 A (page 111), as it
seeks the lowest level. Thesame ventilator B takes
the warm, offensive air from the fresh droppings to the
top of the building (asshown). Witha large number
Barn Construction. 115
of cattle it may be found desirable to force air into the
barn from the outside. Ventilators regulated by the
action of the wind, with automatic check damper, as
shown in cuts (pages 113, 114). W. E. H. Massey, of
Toronto, has adopted this method with great success.
The first cut shows an automatic ventilator which
revolves on ball bearings, and is kept facing the wind
on the principle of a weather vane, which keeps the
opening of the ventilator always facing the wind,
thus forcing the fresh air down theshaft. An auto-
matic damper in the shaft regulates the supply so
that a wind-storm could not drive in more air than
was needed. This automatic damper can be regu-
lated to suit any strength of current, or closed en-
tirely by hand.
The draft of an outlet ventilator may likewise be
greatly increased by making the opening always face
in the opposite direction to the wind, as shown.
While discussing this question of ventilation, I
may take this opportunity to call the reader’s atten-
tion to the reason why it is particularly necessary
that dairy cows especially should be supplied with
a great abundance of fresh air aside from its health-
giving properties to all animals. Milk is a product
of the blood. Therefore, no cow can manufacture a
large quantity of milk without first manufacturing
a correspondingly large quantity of blood. The
blood is made from the food the cow consumes, but
in manufacturing a large quantity of blood a large
quantity of pure air is required to enter the lungs of
the animal to purify the same. So you see the re-
116 Barn Construction.
quirements of a good dairy cow are, first, capacity
for food, large paunch powerful machinery for di-
gesting and assimilating the product; second, she
requires a large lung capacity to purify the blood
from which milk is the product. Then if she has
a muscular jaw, heavy muscular lips for milling the
foods, and large open nostrils for supplying a large
pair of lungs, we have the essential machinery of a
productive dairy cow, and the necessity of supplying
an abundance of fresh air is apparent.
WATER.
There is one other requirement that our barn
must not fail to have, and that is fresh water in
abundance. Water is the least expensive of all the
other things that go to make up the raw material
from which milk is made. Personally I object to
water continually standing before the cows in their
stalls. Ensilage and soiling crops are very watery,
and cows are apt to get into the habit of drinking
for want of something to do, and bowel trouble is
the result, caused by the washing of undigested food
past the third and fourth stomachs, causing irrita-
tion and looseness of the bowels. Give them all
they want to drink at a time, and at least twice a
day, but shut it off and empty all troughs. The in-
dividual iron troughs are usually operated by a float,
and the troughs stand fullallthe time. There should
be some means of shutting off the supply, and empty-
ing every trough. I have seen most of the patent
Barn Construetion. t17
troughs, but none of them that I know of answer
all the requirements, flushing at drinking time,
emptying, and keeping empty after and between
watering times. In preference to these I must still
recommend a trough that I used for several years
(OQ
Q)
Hinged Water Trough R Overflow
most satisfactorily. It is shown above. Itis simply
a wooden or sheet-iron trough on hinges, or not
fastened to the opposite side of the manger. When
not in use, it is turned upside down; nothing
can get into it. It is thus kept absolutely clean.
When wanted for use, it is simply turned over in
front of the cattle and fits into notches cut in the
partitions separating the mangers. Then it is filled
by a faucet or a hose at one end. There is a hollow
plug #& in the trough that takes care oi the over-
118 Barn Construction.
flow, which discharges into a two-inch drain pipe.
The water is left running until the cows are through
drinking. ‘Then it is shut off and the hollow plug is
removed; thisempties the trough. This overflow is
at the same end as the supply faucet. When the
trough is emptied, it is turned over until again re-
quired. One trough to every four or five cows is
about as long as can be conveniently managed.
(The hinges should be of galvanized iron.) Of
course, this requires a little more labor than where
each cow has a separate trough that is full all the
time, but there is a great objection against that
method of watering cattle. There is as much bene-
fit to be derived by having a drink of pure, fresh
running water when wanted, as there is in having
pure, fresh air to breathe. It is not a mere ques.
tion of slaking thirst in the one case, or the filling
the lungs with air in the other. It is the freshness
of both that stimulates.
If it is considered advisable to use individual
water buckets, the following system of piping is
advised, as shown on page 119. Jis the inlet pipe
from spring or tank; the valve &, which is gov-
erned by a float /, that shuts off the water when
the receiving tank is full. To water the cows
close valve B 2 and open valve 4. Every in-
dividual bucket 66 will thus be filled to a level
with the water in the receiving tank //, which is
automatically shut off as soon as all the buckets
which are set on the same level are full. When
the cattle are through drinking, close valve AA
11g
Barn Construction
“ey Snoay 42]9M JenplAipul Burmoys copays YBnouy, uoyj29c
= =< aE aap ~~ — 43/ey— =
fyraway t A oon J
H 1
ced \eved pus 9 7
a sbnown i
r a
im eit & bal x
SS 5 7 wi anp tro ? ayom id
(| ae } 4 99 | Z fyps|| 99
120 Barn Construction.
and open valve B 2, thus emptying all the trough
entirely into a sewer or the liquid manure cistern,
which, of course, we must now provide. Between
the barn, and the discharge of the water thus
drawn off there should, of course, be a trap, which
trap is ventilated, as shown on page 111. This
plan overcomes all the objections which I have
mentioned in connection with individual water-
ing troughs. It supplies pure, fresh water which
is never allowed to stand or become contaminated
by the impurities of the air. It provides for a sim-
ple and inexpensive drainage that can never clog,
and does away with all floats in the trough that get
out of order. The troughs are covered with a
wooden cover @ a, which I saw in operation in Mr.
James Forsyth’s barn at Owego, N. Y. When a
cow wants a drink, she puts her nose against the
cover, raises it, and helps herself. Mr. Forsyth
assures me that the cows “catch on,’ as he ex-
pressed it, very quickly. This keeps the trough
always clean and free from dust. The inlet and
discharge pipe are the same. The flow and dis-
charge comes straight from the main pipe into the
bottom of the trough, andis easily cleaned. A three-
fourths-inch pipe supplies the troughs, while the main
pipe is two to three inches, according to the number
of cattle and length of the stable.
Barn Construction. 121
HaNnpDLiInG THE Manure.
The points we wish to study are how to builda
barn adapted to soiling, with the view of reducing
the cost of labor to a minimum, which it is well to
do in the construction of all farm buildings where
labor for any purpose is employed.
The question of barn construction as to the econ-
omy of handling the manure is a problem worthy of
our attention. The most economical plan is to cart
the manure directly from the stable to the field,
and spread it broadcast in the one handling. It is
not always convenient to do this, and at some sea-
sons of the year the land is not in condition to re-
ceive it. However, during the greater part of the
year, it may be carted directly from the stable to the
field and spread from the wagon. I believe that
there is no more effective way of manuring the land,
and getting the greatest good from barnyard manure,
than to spread it broadcast on the ground as fast as
made, either summer or winter. I have demon-
strated this several times. A manure spreader is a
most convenient and labor-saving machine, espe-
cially when this system of delivering is adopted.
My idea of a trench behind the cattle is to have it
deep and narrow, instead of, as usual, wide and shal-
low. A deep, narrow trench prevents cows stand-
ing in it with their hind feet. It holds two or three
days’ droppings without soiling the cows when they
122 Barn Construction.
lie down. If narrow (the width of a scoop shovel
and little more) the cows can easily step across it,
whereas, when it is only four or five inches deep and,
as usual, eighteen inches wide, they must step down
and into it in getting to and from their stalls. The
most satisfactory drop with which I ever had experi-
ence was one sixteen inches deep, and twelve and
one-half inches wide.
There are some iron gratings which give satisfac-
tion, in which case the trench is made to hold three
‘or four days’ or a week’s droppings, so that they are
only cleaned once or twice a week. There are no
disagreeable odors coming from this accumulation
of manure, the trench being ventilated as shown.
All the warm, offensive air is drawn off, and by the
use of a daily sprinkling of land plaster (see chap-
ter on land plaster, page 25) as an absorbent, the
stable is kept as pure and wholesome as a well-con-
structed closet in a private house. Where land
plaster cannot be obtained, road dust or dry muck
as an absorbent is, we are told, the next best thing
to procure. If it is desirable to clean the stables
not oftener than once a week, the manure trench
should be at least eighteen inches deep and eigh-
teen inches wide, in which case, it will, of course,
require to have an iron grating behind the cows.
I have never had practical experience with these
iron grates, but, from what I have seen, they could
be improved upon by making the opening between
the bars wider, and the bars themselves narrower
and deeper, so that the manure in falling will go
Barn Construction. Leg
through. As usually constructed, the manure, un-
less thin, lodges on the bars. Cast-iron gratings
are recommended, not to exceed one-half inch in
thickness by one inch anda half in depth (the narrow
~[R
{ 1 2
= |
f —] !
[ J
L J} a
[ Section.
{
C ] .
coors
Cast tron Grating, .
Section of Drop.
16" x 16"
124 Barn Construction.
edge up) the upper edge rounding, and the bars re-
duced to one-fourth inch at the under edge, as shown.
Some recommend flat one-inch steel bars set on
edge, the bars three-eighths of an inch thick, and
running lengthwise of the drop instead of crossways,
as shown. Prof. E. W. Stewart, of Lake View, Erie
County, N. Y. (author of a very valuable work on
feeding animals), first introduced these “self-clean-
ing stables.” He (Mr. Stewart) recommends grat-
ing of T-shaped steel bars, made in sections for the
width of two or three cows; as to size of trench, he
says, in a circular describing these grates, usually
sixteen to twenty-four inches deep, three feet wide.
If built thus, this will hold droppings of a large cow
for about four weeks. He adds, in substance, that
stables thus provided are kept sweet, or much freer
from disagreeable odors, than where the stalls are
cleaned every day. He also recommends these
stalls for pig-pens. There is, Mr. Stewart informs
me, no patent on this appliance. Mr. James
Forsyth, of Owego, has cast-iron grates behind his
cows, with a trench large enough to hold droppings
for a week, and I was never in a barn so free from
the smell of manure. Mr. Forsyth speaks in very
high terms of this system of handling manure as a
labor-saving device; especially when the manure is
to be carted to the field in a manure-spreader, it has
very much to recommend it.
The trench itself had better be either of brick or
cement, or cast iron, or, if built of wood, should be
carefully put together with red-lead joints, or in
Barn Construction. 125
some way made water-tight. We can no longer
afford to waste the most valuable half of barn
manure. This drop or gutter may drain into the
liquid-manure cistern, have a hose turned into it,
and be thoroughly cleaned after emptying. The
gutter is easily made of concrete; first the bottom in
the usual way; the sides are made by filling in a
space between two planks set on edge as shown
below, well supported to keep from springing.
The ditch is dug two or three inches wider than
this space between the sides of the ditch and the
upright plank (which plank is only used as a mold to
'
J)
metas
eRe
~~ OS
obs Se wee WR os gee
ge ik cad ay SY AS =
4
be taken away when the concrete has set). The
floor upon which the cows stand is also cemented.
This is a little more expensive than plank, but, once
in, it should last indefinitely. Depressions for a cast-
iron grating to fit in level or flush with the plat-
form the cows stand upon and the driveway behind
them, should be provided.
126 Barn Construction.
MANURE SHED.
Where and when it is impracticable to deliver the
manure directly from the wagon or manure-spreader
to the field, it is quite essential that some provision
should be made either to compost or cover it.
A very inexpensive manure shed on a grain farm
may be built by setting some large posts in the
ground where the straw-stack is usually built. Saw
the tops of the posts off level, and on them place
timbers flattened on both sides, and on these timbers
place poles, old rails, or boards, and on top of this
build the straw stack. I had such a manure shed at
my Maple Lane farm, and found it a great conven-
ience, as it made also a splendid place to turn the
cows in weather too bad for them to be outside.
Three men cut the necessary timbers in my own
woods, and completed the work inthree days. It was
about one hundred feet by eighty feet. The posts
were sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter, and set
about three feet deepin the ground. It answered
the purpose beautifully, and I would never want to
be without such an arrangement on a grain farm.
Professor Roberts, of the Cornell University, tells
us that the waste in manure in an open barnyard is
from forty to sixty per cent.
If there is a stone-wall basement under your barn,
it can be utilized to good advantage as a manure-
shed, for that is really, in my judgment, the best
use for a basement of this kind. The principal ex-
pense for such a shed is the roof. I have had con-
Barn Construction. 127
siderable experience in the different kinds of roof-
ing, and the best and cheapest I know of is to build
them of boards grooved and battened, the battens
also grooved, as shown in the illustration.
aa ny
ES a) on ia
Roof Boards.
At Squawkie Hill, my present farm, I have forty-
two box stalls for brood mares and colts, and a cov-
ered enclosure, 22 by 120 feet, that was roofed in
this way in 1885, and is to-day (1900) in first-class
condition, and decidedly better than most of the
shingle roofs put on other buildings at the same time.
It has had but two coats of iron ore paint during
the time, looks well, and answers the purpose beauti-
fully.
Lioguip MANURE.
On the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, where the
science of agriculture is better understood than any-
where in the world, the farmer, whatever else he
possesses, is sure to have a liquid-manure cistern.
He thinks he cannot farm it without liquid manure,
and he is quite right. Inthe States we invariably
let all the liquid manure go to waste, and in its
place pay out annually (in the State of New York)
over $6,000,000 for commercial fertilizer, as already
shown; when if the liquid manure of the farms
through the State, that now goes to waste, was
128 Barn Construction.
saved, it would probably be worth as much to the
farmers as the commercial fertilizer they now an-
nually purchase. It is strongly recommended to
every farmer to try and arrange some sort of cistern
for this valuable fertilizer, just outside the barn,
where the liquid from horses and cattle and the
drain of the barn could be saved. There are any
quantity of patent liquid manure-spreaders in Eng-
land, and there will be plenty of them in this coun-
try, when there isa demand. The Channel Island-
ers mostly pump it into a hogshead on a two-wheel
cart, and pull a plug to let it discharge into a wooden
box, about 4 by 6 inches square, at the rear of the
wagon. ‘This box is bored full of small holes on the
back side. After what I have witnessed on the
islands of Jersey and Guernsey, I would never again
attempt to farm without a liquid-manure cistern.
Tue MANGERS.
My experience with cattle mangers has been va-
ried. The requirements are, first, something that
can be easily, and quickly, and thoroughly cleaned;
second, there must be no corners or partitions be-
tween cows to accumulate dirt or grain that in time
becomes filth, The cows, we have shown, require
plenty of pure, fresh air, and we must see that there
is nothing accumulating under their noses to defeat
thatend. The most serviceable manger is one built
entirely of concrete and cement, or, if made of wood,
it must be so constructed as to make the joints water-
Barn Construction. 129
tight. If there is any place in the barn that should
be kept scrupulously clean, it is the mangers in
front of the cows, over which they must breathe
for the greater part of their lives.
All the partitions that are needed between cattle
is one just large enough to keep them from hooking
each other, or getting at each other’s allowance of
food.
The cattle always show to best advantage in barns
with the least possible amount of woodwork be-
tween them. Twenty years’ experience in exhibit-
ing cattle at fairs has taught me that the most
effective display is made in a tent where the cattle
are simply tied to a 2 x 4 rail fastened to stakes driv-
en in the ground, and the rail being about a foot
above the ground, with no partition or anything be-
tween them or about them in any way. In order to
economize room in stables and stand the cattle
closer together, some little barrier or partition di-
viding the stalls is necessary. The partitions are
three feet six inches apart. If four feet, can be given
to each cow, they will require no partition whatever,
if fastened by a halter, or as described further on.
In the illustration on page 130 will be found my
idea of stall and manger with partitions. The par-
titions are made of one and one-half and three-
quarter inch galvanized gas pipe as shown, the ends
imbedded in cement. A three-quarter inch pipe at
c braces the partitions sideways. Hanging to the
pipe oo is a board 6d that separates the mangers,
but does not quite touch the bottom of the manger,
9
Barn Construction.
130
1 a |
0 nb 4? bu
“*SYBnoaL a>7EM Lenolaypul
Buimoue tress Jo uoryracy woijersig aPIS
opr
ey T.
yruiyy
wy
7 Teh
7.
ie
mye
Aapemn
a a
pwryag 36 DSO opamp
Barn Construction. £91
and in cleaning out the latter may be swung to one
side, either at right angles to the position shown, or
removed entirely by unhanging it, thus making
a clear passage from one end of the stable to the
other, which is thus easily flushed and cleaned by
turning on a hose. These feed-box partitions are
held stationary by a simple fastening, as shown at /.
A two-inch galvanized gas pipe A forms the top of”
manger. The floor on which the cattle stand may
be thoroughly cleaned with the greatest of ease, and
no place is left to accumulate filth.
The platform on which the cows stand is also
made of cement, or boards, or plank laid in cement.
There should be no air space under the floor to col-
lect dampness and rot the timbers. The distance
from manger to drop, without grating, for ordinary
sized cows, should begin at four feet six or eight
inches at one end of the stable, and may be reduced
to four feet at the other end, and then place the cows
according to their size or length. With an iron grat-
ing over the drop, the platform should be made about
six inches shorter, so as to bring the hind feet of the
cow onto the grating.
CaTTLe TIEs.
Where economy of space is required, stanchions
(which should always be the swinging kind—see
illustration) enable the cattle to be put in stalls
about three feet apart from centre to centre.
But where pure-bred animals are kept, and it is
desirous to make as favorable a display of them in
132 Barn Construction.
the barn as possible, the stanchions are not the
thing. They hide the cattle too much, and they
must be given a little more space, 7.¢., three feet six
The Swinging Stanchion.
inches; in which case there is no simpler oe than
a strap about the neck, which is fasteneé by a short
chain to the middle of the manger.
This fastening may be so arranged as xo liberate
the whole row at once, if it is desirable to do so, by
simply pulling on a lever, operating an iron rod that
runs the entire length of the stalls through the
2-inch iron pipe that forms the top of the manger
next to the cow. The next best tie is a common
web halter.
Whatever kind of tie you decide upon, get a
Barn Construction. 133
noiseless one. There are some fairly good patent
ties. I have had most of them on trial, but they
are either a weight on the cow’s neck, and make a
lot of noise, or take too much room. The trap is
noiseless, light, and gives the greatest amount of
freedom. I say noiseless; the short chain rattles a
little, but a rope may be substituted, or the chain
covered with leather.
CHAPTER XII.
STABLE MANAGEMENT.
StTraBL—E MANAGEMENT IN WINTER.
In the winter time the cows are kept in nights,
and turned out during the daytime, when the
weather is favorable. I protest against the princi-
ple of keeping cows in the stable all winter without
going out, as is being advocated by some. The
argument is that cold requires extra fuel (feed), and
that exercise also is at the expense of extra feed,
and that a cow can only consume and assimilate so
much food in twenty-four hours, and if she expends
it in additional heat to keep the body warm, or in re-
placing the wasted tissues or muscles by exercise, she
will have just so much less fuel to convert into milk
and butter. This is undoubtedly true, theoretically
atleast. But unfortunately this is not the whole truth.
While a cow is a machine, as has been said, she is
not an iron machine. They should most certainly
be turned out every day during the winter that the
weather is suitable, as an appetizer, an invigorator,
and for the relaxation of certain muscles. But while
it may cost a few pounds of milk in the daily yield,
for the year it will, I am sure, be enough greater
to make up any temporary loss. It must be borne
Stable Management. 135
in mind that, while a cow is a machine, she is not
a finished machine. She is constantly rebuilding
and repairing her body, not only in one part or par-
ticular, but the whole system is being constantly over-
hauled and renewed.
That a herd of cattle may be collected and put in
the barn, and fed there for six months or a year,
without stepping a foot outside, summer or winter,
can be done, and that the owner will not be liable
tosee any bad effects to the cattle themselves, is a
fact possibly true; but it is only a question of a
few years when that man will discover his mistake.
The reader’s attention is called to the Havemeyer
herd, one of the prominent dairy herds in this coun-
try. This herd was fed continuously in the barn
until the mistake was discovered, necessitating a
decided outcross with animals of stamina and more
robust constitution. If, therefore, you have any re-
spect for the future generations and would breed to
improvement, give your dairy cows and growing
dairy calves all the outdoor exercise they require in
suitable weather. If the weather is bad for a week,
keep them in for a week. Don’t be a crank and
drive them out in weather foul and fair. A cow is
a machine, but the strength of the machinery is de-
pendent upon health, and the ability to eat depends
upon an appetite. Whatever you can do to keep up
her energies and stimulate her appetite will be
found the surest, safest, and, in the long run, the
wisest and most economical course to pursue.
136 Soiling.
STABLE MANAGEMENT IN SUMMER.
The stable management for summer is just the
reverse of the winter method, z.¢., during summer,
as soon as fly time begins, that is, June 1st, or be-
fore, the windows of the barn should be darkened,
the cattle kept in all day, and turned out in an or-
chard or a small enclosure nights after milking, and
admitted to the barn early next morning. During
the night the barn doors may be left open, but they
should be closed as soon as the cattle enter and kept
closed all day as much as possible. You will find
with the outside walls built as described, with two
air spaces, that when the cool night air is shut in
the barn the heat of the sun will have no effect
upon it, except from the fresh air that afterward
enters through the flues. This will not make much
impression, as all the woodwork and floors are
thoroughly cooled during the night, and will remain
so to a great extent all day.
We have now shown the advantages of soiling
and the most convenient barn construction for pur-
suing the system most economically. We may now
turn our attention to the best crops for soiling.
CHAPTER XIII.
SOILING CROPS.
Tue different crops that may be used to advantage
may be selected from the following list by the soiler,
with reference to the nature of his soil, climate, and
the condition of his farm, and the kind of stock
soiled.
I have noticed only thdse that have come into
general use, and with which I have had personal
experience, unless otherwise stated. Rye, followed
by wheat (sown in the fall), followed by spring sow-
ings of oats and peas, and these by sweet corn and
sorghum, with millet, crimson clover, and ‘barley to
carry the stock through to ensilage.
RyE.
There is probably no other plant grown for soiling
which furnishes such an abundance of food early in
the season. It occupies the ground when no other
crop except wheat will grow. It is less sensitive to
cold than wheat, and its vegetation is more rapid.
It may also be cultivated longer on the same soil
than any other crop of cereals, as it is far less ex-
haustive to the soil. It will produce a fair yield
where wheat will not pay the expense of growing.
138 Soiling.
The land plowed early in the spring for oats, and
peas, and corn, and sorghum, should all be sown to
tye the fall before, and top-dressed during the win-
ter. It is much better that the soil should be bear-
ing a crop, even if very late sown, so late that
it does not even come up, than to remain fallow all
winter, especially where the practice is to top-dress
in the winter, which method has given me the best
results of any, so far as the application of barnyard
manure is concerned. Sow two bushels per acre.
WHEAT.
In some respects wheat is a better soiling crop
than rye. It may be fed longer, that is to say, when
it is more mature than rye. Rye is fit to cut
earlier, therefore has that advantage, as well as the
other good qualities already mentioned. But its
fault, its only fault, I might. say, is that soon after
heading it becomes tough. An acre of wheat sown
early to follow rye is a most excellent practice, and
will come in handy between rye and oats and peas.
The beardless varieties are preferable. Sow two
bushels per acre.
BaRLey.
Barley makes a most excellent soiling crop, and
in a cold backward spring had better be put in for the
first spring sowing with peas, as it will stand more
cold and grow at a lower temperature than oats.
Barley as a soiling crop is well relished by cattle.
-Soiling Crops. 139
Barley and peas on rich land make a most desirable
soiling crop.
It is also one of the best late soiling crops for
October, sown after the first cutting of oats and
peas, for the reason above given, that it stands quite
a frost, and keeps on growing when oats and corn
find it too cold. Mr. A. W. Cheever, of the “New
England Farmer,” says: “Two years’ experience
with barley for cutting in September, October, and
November shows that it is very valuable for late fall
feeding, as it is not much injured by frosts. Some
of my neighbors have been cutting it this season,
even after the ground was frozen.” For this pur-
pose, the six-rowed barley is said to withstand
the cold better than the two-rowed variety. Says
Mr. Flint (* Grasses and Forage Plants’), “It has
passed into a regular six-rowed variety, which is a
winter grain, and endures more severe cold.”
Sow with common Canadian field peas, three
bushels per acre, half and half.
Oats aAND PEAS.
When it comes to a question of the very best soil-
ing ration for producing the greatest flow of milk,
there is no forage crop that, in my experience, ex-
ceeds oats and peas.
Sow as early in the spring as the ground will per-
mit, and begin cutting when the oats are heading,
and the peas have well-grown pods. Sow equal
parts, and three bushels per acre, My practice has
140 Soiling.
always been to put it in with a common grain drill,
but some advocate putting the peas in deep and
broadcasting the oats. I cannot say as to this. I
always had great success putting them in together
with the drill, making one job of it. Ido not see
how it is possible to produce any better results than
I have attained by this method.
Oats and peas are a most excellent soiling crop for
ewes when suckling their lambs, and when it is de-
sirable to crowd the lambs for the butcher, they will
be found a most excellent assistant. Brood mares
with foal at foot can have no better treatment than
to be put into the barn daytimes, and fed a liberal
supply of oats and peas. I am in favor of it for
work-horses, if they must have green food. Of
course, there is nothing better than good timothy
hay and oats for a horse to work on, but oats and
peas may be fed without loosening the bowels, as is
often the case with grass or clover. Lucern, how-
ever, is, no doubt, quite equal to oats and peas for
feeding horses. In feeding oats and peas to work
horses, I prefer them well advanced, that is to say,
the heads well formed, and the peas old enough for
table purpose, or a little beyond that stage. In a
letter from Mr..Crozier, of Long Island, after men-
tioning several of the leading crops that he uses for
soiling, he says, “ I also grow that most valuable crop
for soiling, oats and peas, one of the best crops I
grow.” .
Mr. T. Brown, in an article in “ The Country Gen-
tleman,” gives it as his experience that oats cut and
Soiling Crops. 141
fed green will produce the most milk of all green
crops, and will be the. greatest profit to the cheese
factory. For my own part I look upon oats and
peas as the staple soiling crop. Of course, later in
the season we must resort to corn and sorghum in
most parts of the United States, as these crops grow
and thrive better in hot weather, and in time of
drought.
Iowa Bulletin, Number 19, 1892,
Reports that up to this time they have*had most
success with oats and peas. Recommend one and
one-half bushels of oats and one and three-fourths
bushels of peas per acre. The peas are sown broad-
cast and cultivated both ways. Then the oats are
sown broadcast and harrowed each way. Work be-
gan April 1oth and cut July 7th. The three best
varieties of peas were:
Weighed Green. Cured.
Réntie’S NO. TOs. os csawew sede re seee s 4.2 5.5
Greenheld ones secaus Wiieelaaasnr saws 14 2 ft i2)
Egyptian scx caacicaaivieuccmer eres 13.3 3.6
It further says that peas and oats cut in this stage
form one of the richest foods, especially in protein
and fat.
Corn.
For soiling purposes the smaller growing varieties
are quite large enough. My personal experience
has been mostly with Stowell’s Evergreen and “Sou
142 Soiling.
Fodder” and common Northern varieties of field
corn. The principal advantage in selecting the
smaller varieties is that they are more convenient to
handle, and more suitable for feeding whole in the
cattle’s mangers.
Soiling Crops 143
Within the last few years the introduction of ma-
chines for the special purpose of harvesting stand-
ing corn and ensilage fodder has placed in the
hands of the dairyman a most valuable and labor-
saving device, which can be heartily recommended
to any one soiling their cattle, when the number of
animals soiled will warrant the outlay.
There is a variety of fodder used inthe West that,
from its description, should make a valuable variety
of soiling, 7.¢., the Pearl Flint variety. It is said to
set from three to six ears to stalk, with medium
growth stalk. Sow from one to one and one-half
bushels per acre. It should be sown thicker than
for ensilage.
The most convenient way of planting is with a
grain drill riggéd to drop a kernel every four to
six inches, and in rows from twenty-eight to thirty-
five inches apart. That is, providing the drills of
the seeder are the usual width, that is, seven
inches. If eight inches, the rows should be twenty-
seven or thirty-two inches apart. If a drill is not
geared to drop the required number by allowing
one tube to run, two or three feeds can be run into
one of the cast shoes by simply taking the rub-
ber tubes from their respective shoes, and letting
them discharge into one shoe or drill. An eleven-
hoed drill is the most convenient for this purpose,
and usually the proper gearing can be had to sow
the desired amount from the discharge of single
tubes. In an eleven-hoed drill, let Nos. 2, 6, and 10
drills discharge. This will plant three rows at a
144 Soiling.
time, twenty-eight inches apart. If it is thought
best to plant thirty-five inchesa part, let Nos. 3 and
8 discharge; in each case the wheel of the drill will
answer for a guide in the return bout. When sown
broadcast, the leaves stop short of full develop-
ment, the stalk is weak, and liable to be thrown
down by storms, and has not the strength to right
itself. It is hardly necessary to add that the ground
should be well manured and cultivated. Mr. Har-
ris Lewis says that he has found Stowell’s Ever-
green sweet corn makes the richest milk of all the
plants he has tried.
SoRGHUM..
My experience in growing sorghum for a soiling
crop has been so satisfactory that I can heartily
recommend it to any one wishing to try it. It has
but asingle fault. It is slow at starting. In 1878
several farmers, including myself, became inter-
ested in the question of growing sugar cane (sor-
ghum) which we had made into syrup. I had
planted about an acre, but it did not seem to germi-
nate, and I bought seed for as much more. To my
surprise the former planting came on all right, and
I had twice as much as I cared to have made into
syrup, and the result was that we tried it as a soil-
ing crop, and found that the cows not only ate it
with great relish, but that they made a slight in-
crease in the flow of milk. Subsequently I made a
practice of sowing it yearly, and have strongly ad-
Soiling Crops. 145
vocated its use ever since. I have seen it claimed
that three and four cuttings could be made from the
one seeding in a season, but I have never been able
to obtain more than two, and the last two years I
used this second growth to plow under, sowing the
ground to rye for the next spring’s crop. This, I
believe, is one of the advantages of the crop, that
the seed grows the first crop for the cattle and the
second crop for the land the same season, followed
by rye for the first cutting next spring. This gives
two soiling crops and one green manure crop upon
the same land in a single season. Sorghum, when
once established, will flourish during a drought in
which corn comes toa standstill. Some recommend
drilling it in with corn, or in alternate rows with
corn. I should think this would be a very good
idea.
It is possible, no doubt, that in the Southern
States, where the seasons are longer, and where land
is in a high state of cultivation, it might produce
two crops or even three as claimed; and as it is
a comparatively new soiling forage, I submit the
following reports from experimental stations and
from newspaper articles on the subject. Sow in
drills to cultivate same as corn, as it starts slowly.
It is better to plant on sod, thus preventing weeds
getting the start of it.
Io
146 Soiling.
SorcHuM Reports.
Georgia Bulletin, Number 13, 1891.
“This class of plants, as shown by the analysis,_is
highly nutritious. Three or four cuttings can be
obtained during one season, outyielding almost any
other forage plant. The seed, of which the stock
produces an abundance, compares favorably with
corn as a food. The sorghum will’stand a dryer
season than the corn. When corn rolls or the plants
are drooping or standing still, the sorghums are lit-
tle affected, but continue to grow and yield good re-
turns in fodder and grain, so that they are even
more reliable as a soiling crop than corn. They are
greatly relished by all farm animals, green or cured;
and it is claimed that the milk and butter as well are
improved in quality and quantity when fed to milch
cows. A little more care should be exercised in at-
tempting to cure sorghum than corn, as it heats
easily when in too large shocks. The best plan is
to cut it, and let it lay on the ground and wilt, tying
in small bundles and shocking it by setting the
bundles so as to support each other like shocks of
wheat.
“Tt is sown in drills and cultivated the same way as
corn. The first cutting should be done before the
stalk flowers. It should be thoroughly cultivated
between each cutting. Level culture is best, in
drills or hills, the same as corn, Animals prefer
Soiling Crops. 147
sorghuin to any other article of forage diet. Con-
sidering its ability to grow in the hottest and driest
weather, and that three and four cuttings with one
planting can be obtained on rich land, there is no
plant for soiling which can equal or surpass sor-
ghum in the production of milk. Yellow orange is
given as the best sorghum, containing the largest
proportion of dry matter per acre.”
First SECOND THIRD
Curttinc. CUTTING. Cuttine, ToraL.
Green, | Dry. Green.| Dry. || Green.| Dry. | Green.| Dry.
Link’s hybrid .......}] 22,464 | 2,57g || 13,728 | 1,996 || 8,320 | 1,664 | 44,512 | 6,239
Early orange........|| 18,760 | 2,392 || 10,054 | 1,788 || 7,072 | 1,289 | 37,336 | 5,169
White Milo.......... 18,928 | 2,204 || 16,640 | 2,704 |} 16,224 | 2,579 | 51,792 | 7,487
Bennett's prolific. . ..}| 24,960 | 7,072
Braziliats «occas 23,472 | 6,489
Starts slowly.
Kansas Bulletin, Number 18, 1890, page 175.
“The problem is complicated in Kansas by the
uncertainty of rainfall, and by its unequal distribu-
tion. Corn is the universal forage plant in the
West, and in good seasons it is doubtful if anything
better can be grown, but for the greater part of
Kansas it is too uncertain to be depended upon to
furnish the necessary forage, owing to drought in
July and August, and uncommonly early killing
frosts.”
148 Soiling.
Non-SacCHARINE SORGHUMS.
This class of sorghums is, as a rule, a generous
grower, producing in good seasons a heavy yield of
leafy and palatable feed, which compares very fa-
vorably with corn fodder. In dry seasons these
sorghums have the advantage over corn that they
are not affected by drought to the same degree. In
continued dry weather, they will remain nearly sta-
tionary, but when rain does come they again pick
up and push ahead vigorously, whereas corn, when
once stunted, never recovers. They will also make
a better growth on poor land than corn can do, and
under the combination of a dry season and on poor
land, where corn will be a complete failure, these
sorghums may still give a fair crop.
The non-saccharine sorghums are as a class heavy
yielders of seeds, and the seeds compare very favor-
ably with corn in its composition and feeding proper-
ties.
Plant in drills; cultivate same as corn, three feet
apart in rows.
Kansas Bulletin, Number 18.
“Corn and sorghum, in alternate rows and in the
same row, gave best results in the latter case. The
theory is that plants with different habits of growth
and feeding powers produce a heavier growth by
planting together than separately.”
Soiling Crops. 149
ARIZONA.
Sorghum and alfalfa supplement each other, each
supplying what the other lacks to make a good cattle
food.
Eps. Country GENTLEMAN: In the suggestion to W. L.,
page 206, who wishes to try soiling, there is nothing said
about sorghum, and yet it is without question the best soiling
.crop, yielding food rich and palatable and which can be cut in
two months from sowing the seed, and is in its prime in less
than three months. It has the property of enduring drought
beyond any valuable plant that Iam acquainted with, and it
is eaten absolutely without waste. Besides, it has so much
the nature of grass that its quality is not impaired by thick
planting, asis corn. If W. L. will try a plat of it this year I
predict that he will never go through a summer again without
it. When you find a crop that will furnish full feed for six
cows a day from a square rod, you will realize the value of
soiling crops; and I have done this with sorghum repeatedly,
grown without any cultivation. W. F. Brown.
KarFir Corn (Non-SaccHARINE SORGHUM).
We have read more or less concerning this variety
of forage, and I have taken considerable pains to as-
certain its real value compared with Stowell’s Ever-
green and sorghum. It is a corn with similar habits
- * “tothe saccharine sorghums. The following article
appeared in the “ Breeder’s Gazette,” and as it pro-
duces such strong evidence of the value of Kaffir
corn, I publish as much of the article as pertains to
its value as a soiling crop:
150 Soiling.
Karrir Corn AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIAN Corn.
“The saccharine sorghums, after being subjected
to thorough tests through a long series of years,
have been accorded a high place among the forage
plants of America. In one respect, however, the
sugar sorghums did not meet the requirements of the
central and western trans-Missouri country. The
requirements were these:
“y, A plant with great drought-resisting powers.
“2, A plant cheaply grown, cheaply harvested,
cheaply cured, and cheaply fed.
“3. A plant which would be practically a substi-
tute fer corn in the production and value of grain.
“ The sugar sorghums meet all these requirements
except the last. Asa purely forage plant it stands
without a rival.
“What is needed in the trans-Missouri country, in
addition to the sweet sorghums, is a plant which has
all the staying qualities of the former, but. which
exerts its energies in the production of grain high
in quality and quantity. Such a plant would come
nearer a substitute for Indian corn than the sugar
sorghums, and the two together would supplement
each other, and combined would meet all the re-~
quirements for feed in the trans-Missouri country.
This kind of a plant Kansas farmers believe they
have discovered in Kaffir corn.
“Kaffir corn is one of the many varieties of the
‘
Soiling Crops. 151
non-saccharine sorghums, and one which has forced
its way to the front and scored a decided victory
over all other members of the same family. Its
chief competitors for supremacy were rice corn,
Milo maize, and Jerusalem corn. After a fair and
thorough test at the Kansas Agricultural Experi-
ment Station, and on the great experimental
grounds of Central and Western Kansas, over a pe-
riod of fifteen years or more, all competitors practi-
cally withdrew from the field, and Kaffir corn wears
the laurels. The more farmers become acquainted
with it and with the manner of its behavior in times
of acrisis, the more they appreciate its high quali-
ties. Here is an object-lesson given on my own
farm: It was necessary last spring to replant a por-
tion of the area planted to corn, which was done
about May 2zoth. About the same time fourteen
acres of Kaffir corn were planted. The late-planted
corn was practically ruined by the excessive heat
the latter part of August, while the Kaffir went
through practically unscathed and yields over thirty
bushels per acre. In times of heat and drought it
bravely holds up its head, and for the time being it
stands still. With its beautiful green foliage it
seems to defy the unmerciful fiends in the red-hot
air, and when King Sol begins to relent, and gra-
cious showers fall, it moves serenely on as though
nothing had happened. Such is Kaffir corn, and
these are the qualities which commend it to the
trans-Missouri farmer.”
ig2 , Solin
MIt.xeEt.
This is doubtless one of the most nutritious green
forage plants that is used in soiling cattle, as may
be seen by reference to the foregoing tables. Asa
green manure it also ranks first, containing twenty
pounds of nitrogen and seventeen pounds of potash
to the ton. It germinates and grows very rapidly,
and endures drought remarkably well. It is avery
leafy plant, and furnishes the most succulent food,
which is highly relished by all kinds of stock. It is
said to flourish in somewhat higher and dryer soil
than other grasses, but it attains greatest luxuriance
in soil of medium constancy and well manured. It
is usually sown broadcast, requiring one bushel of
seed per acre, or grown as hay, which can be done
after a soiling crop of rye, oats, or peas. It makes
one of the best rations according to analysis to
feed in connection with ensilage for a winter feed
that can be mentioned. I have grown it several
times as hay in this manner, and like it very much.
Another advantage, and by no means a small con-
sideration, is that it is such a grand substitute for
hay, and can be grown on the same ground after
a crop of hay the same season, or, as above stated,
after a spring or early summer soiling crop, and
then followed by a crop of rye. The same land that
will produce one ton of hay per acre will produce
at least three tons of millet, and in a favorable sea-
Soiling Crops. L¥3
son and on good, rich soil, a much larger yield.
The best crop of millet I ever raised was after a
crop of clover, and when the hay was gone we sub-
stituted millet for the noon ration, with ensilage
morning and night. To my surprise the cows did
equally as well on it as on the clover hay, and it pro-
duced twice as much feed per acre as the clover. I
have also grown some grand crops of millet after
oats and peas, simply cultivating the ground and
sowing the seed, harrowing, etc. It wants to be cut
before the heads are in “the dough.” When allowed
to stand until the seeds are fully ripened, the stalks
are rather tough and woody. It may be sown as late
as July. One bushel of seed per acre, broadcast, and
harrowed and rolled.
CLOVER.
The principal reason why clover has not been
more extensively’used as a soiling crop is that,
while it is very valuable, there are other crops used
instead, which produce two, four, or six times as
much per acre, and yet are not so valuable for hay.
It is much cheaper to cut the feed for fourteen cows
from five or six rods per day, than to cut it from
ten, twenty, or thirty rods. “One acre of clover,”
says Mr. H. Lewis, “will feed a dairy of forty-five
cows fifteen days,’’ and he adds that three acres fur-
nishes his herd of thirty-eight cows by soiling five
weeks. Mr. E. W. Stewart says: “Desiring to
know the feeding capacity of an acre of clover, I
measured off forty square rods, and I began feeding
[ga Soiling.
it to seven cows and five horses. To,my surprise it
fed them fifteen days, equal to feeding one cow 180
days. The two succeeding years I tried the same
experiment, feeding only cows, one of which proved
equal to feeding one cow 170 days, the other 165.”
Lucern oR ALFALFA.
My experience with growing lucern was at first
most discouraging, and, finally, most satisfactory.
In 1877 I made a trial of an eighth of an acre with
another crop on land near the barn, but it turned
out to be such a foul piece of land, and the weeds
were so much in the majority, that in the last of July
I sowed the piece to buckwheat to subdue the weeds.
I found it a shy plant at starting, and that on this ac-
‘count I had made a great mistake in plowing in the
spring and top dressing with stable manure, which
itself was, no doubt, full of weed seeds. I was de-
termined, however, to have a patch of lucern. I
cultivated the lucern patch and sowed it to buck-
wheat, increasing the amount of land to an acre.
The buckwheat came on well and did the weeding
thoroughly. That fall I plowed as deep as possible,
deeper than ever before, and sowed the piece to
tye. This rye crop I plowed under in the following
spring, and fitted the ground with great care by
cultivating and harrowing, until I had a seed-bed fit
for a garden, and sowed twenty pounds of good fresh
seed peracre. I felt certain that only a small por-
tion of my first seeding germinated. Here, I be-
Soiling Crops. 155
lieve, has been a source of discouragement to many
others in attempting to raise lucern. Dealers in
the Eastern States had little call for it at that time,
and still, for that matter, they order a few bags at a
time. This time I sowed the seed with a light seed-
ing of barley, and cut the barley for a soiling crop.
The lucern was just at a stage where it came on
with a rush, and my seeding was a success. I never
weighed the amount per acre, as I have often wished
I had, but the second year I obtained three cuttings
fromit. That, I am sure, gave me more forage than
from any other acre I ever had in soiling crops. The
soil was a deep gravelly loam.
Lucern is somewhat more difficult to cure than
clover. But asa soiling crop to feed in connection
with corn, it has no superior. Corn, as will be seen
on page 12, is very deficient in albuminoids, and
requires bran, shorts, pea meal, linseed, or cotton-
seed meal to supply the deficiency; but green corn
or ensilage, fed with lucern or Hungarian millet,
makes a good ration. The two fed together make
the most desirable combination that can be grown.
Its ability to withstand great drought, owing to the
great depth to which its roots go for food, and its
tremendous yield per acre of most succulent and
nutritious forage, make it second to none asa soiling
crop. One seeding will last for years. It is a crop
that answers well to liquid manure.
Where land is suitable for it, it should be given
the first place in the list of soiling crops. It is fit
to cut in the spring, nearly as soon as rye.
156 Soiling.
Requirements:
1. Fresh, clean seed.
2. Thorough preparation of soil after buckwheat
or a hoed crop, and a well pulverized seed bed.
3. Any soil with porous subsoil, which must be so
open and so located as not to have standing water
either on top or in subsoil. With these requisites
and a good start success is assured. I am so
sanguine of its proving a success under the above
conditions that I, quote at length the following,
confirming my own experience, and showing even
much better results: Z
ALFALFA OR LUCERN.
United States Bulletin.
“Grows in every State in the Union where condi-
tions of the soil are favorable. Asa soiling crop, it
has no superior. From three to four cuttings a year
can be obtained.
“Tt is not anew plant by any means. A native
of Western Asia, and, says Jared G. Smith in Cw7ted
States Bulletin No. 31, was introduced into Greece
at the time of the Persian war, about 470 B.c. From
Italy it was introduced into Spain and the south of
France. It was carried into Mexico at the time of
the Spanish invasion, and thence to the west coast
of South America. It was brought from Chili to
California in 1854, and from there it rapidly spread
over the arid regions of the Pacific Coast and the
Soiling Crops. 157
Rocky Mountains, where it is now cultivated almost
to the exclusion of other forage plants.
“ Alfalfa is a deep feeder. The tap roots descend
to great depths wherever the soil is loose and per-
meable, often averaging ten to twelve feet. It has
been recorded as sending its roots to the depth of
fifty and sixty-six feet.
“When the stems are cut or grazed off, the stalk
dies down to the very base, and new buds spring
up onthe upper part of the crown of the new root
and grow, forming new stems. This method of
growing explains why so many farmers have re-°
ported that alfalfa is injured or destroyed by con-
tinuous close grazing. Prime condition for success
is that the land be well drained. Twenty to twenty-
five pounds of seed per acre broadcast. Fifteen to
twenty pounds in drills.”
Nebraska Reports, 1, 1892. Article IX.
“In the fall of 1892, during the prolonged and
severe drought, it was the only green plant of the
whole list, notwithstanding the fact that the spring
was very dry. It grew nicely, and during the year
made growth as follows:
1892—First cutting, twenty-six inches, June 29.
Second cutting, twenty-six inches, August 2.
Third cutting, twenty-six inches, September 1.
Hay, Pounds. Per Acre.
1893—June clover ........ eee e cece eee nee 473 2,365
Mammoth clover ....... ie iran 3 475 2,375
Alfalfa, firstciites vies<sas i susaguee 816 4,080
158 Soiling.
First cutting hay, 816 lb.; second cutting hay, 805 Ib.; third cut-
ting hay, 743 lb.; fourth cutting estimated, 180 lb.; a total for one-
fifth acre of 2,544 1b., or 12,720 lb. per acre, or six and a half tons
of good dry forage.
“What plant can we grow that will, without special
care, give greater or even equal returns of good pal-
atable forage?
“Tt has succeeded in Southern California and
Mexico, where it has been a godsend to those people
who needed some permanent and reliable forage
plant that could withstand prolonged heat and
“drought. It goes to a great depth in search of
moisture. Roots have been known to reach the
depth of twenty feet or over. It is a very nitro-
genous plant, collecting, it is believed, the nitrogen
of the soil through a bacteria that works at the roots,
and is ever present in the soil. It is, therefore, a
great renovator of the soil, and a great accumulator
of the most desirable, most expensive plant food,
nitrogen.
“Sown as early as possible after frost. Land
should be in excellent condition. Fifteen to twenty
pounds of good, fresh seed per acre. That of the
previous year’s growth should always be obtained if
possible. Sow in drills or broadcast. Never sow
with another crop expecting good results, or with a
very small amount of grain, one-half to one-fourth
bushel of oats or rye or wheat per acre. Cut early
together with all weeds.
“ Keep stock off the field during the first year and
first part of the second year. If conditions are fa-
Soiling Crops. 159
vorable, you should have a fine stand. Tons upon
tons are being cured for hay, and-are being fed to
cattle and to other stock.
“Food Values: The value of any food depends
largely upon two substances present in varying
quantities. They are the proteins and the nitrogen
free extract. The former is a flesh or muscle pro-
ducer, while the latter is of the fat-producing order.
“Objections: Not easily established. Cannot be
pastured first year.
“Advantages: When once established, does not
tun out. Stands drought better than clover.
Grows rapidly, makes muscle rather than fat.”
Soitinc vs. PAsTuRING.
United States Report.
“ Alfalfa is one of the very best soiling crops. It
may be fed in this way to better advantage than if
the stock are pastured on the field. Cattle and
sheep cannot be safely pastured on alfalfa, particu-
larly when it is young and tender, or after there has
been a heavy dew or rain. They are always liable
to bloat if fed with green or wet alfalfa. Horses
and hogs are not affected in this way. The loss of
sheep and cattle from tympanitis, hoven, or bloat,
as it is called, is very great every year, and, though
a herd may go through an entire season without
loss, it is never perfectly safe to permit it to depas-
ture the alfalfa. By a proper arrangement of the
feeding pens and corrals alongside or near the field,
160 Soiling.
the method of soiling—that is, mowing the alfalfa
and feeding it in a partially wilted state—is a cheap
and perfectly safe one. The additional cost and
labor of cutting the crop, and hauling it to the
feeding pens, will be less than the loss that will be
sustained if several head of stock die of bloat during
the season. Young horses will make a very rapid
growth if pastured on alfalfa, especially if supple-
mented by the daily addition of a small feed of oats.
One of the disadvantages of depasturing alfalfa is
that the soil soon becomes trampled and hard, and
for this reason the roots are not able to make a
sufficiently strong growth, and the field is sure to
deteriorate.”
ALFALFA FOR HoGs.
“One acre of alfalfa will furnish forage for from
ten to twenty hogs per season. There is no cheaper
or better way of producing pork than to allow grow-
ing pigs to run in a field of alfalfa. At a conserva-
tive estimate, ten pigs per acre will gain a hundred
pounds each during the season from May to Septem-
ber, and 1,000 1b. of pork cannot be produced so
cheaply on any other feed. The pigs will come out
of the field in autumn in capital condition to fatten
with corn or small grain. The alfalfa in a hog pas-
ture should be mowed once or twice during the sum-
mer, or whenever it commences to get<hard and
woody. This will provide plenty of young and ten-
der herbage, which is more nutritious, weight for
Soiling Crops. 161
weight, than forage from the older plants, and if the
swine are provided with this food in its most nutri-
tivuus condition, their growth will be most rapid.
They need to be provided with an abundance of
fresh or running water in their pastures. This for-
age plant responds quickly to manuring; no other
fodder plant responds more promptly to extensive
cultivation. Yet it is not advisable to apply stable
manure when preparing the ground. Such manure
is always full of weed and grass seeds that have not
been digested, and which are really in better condi-
tion to grow than seed scattered naturally in the
field.”
ny
ALFALFA ForaGeE For Mitcu Cows.
New York Experimental Station, 13th Annual Report.
“The importance of feeding leguminous crops has
led to many inquiries concerning the value of alfalfa
as forage for milch cows, for the alfalfa is much
liked by the cattle and other animals and contains
an usually large proportion of nitrogenous constit-
uents. The rapid growth of the plant, which can
be cut three times during the season, and often four
times, makes it especially worthy of consideration
where soiling methods are practised.
“ A few of our farmers have grown good crops of
alfalfa successfully for several years, but it does not
seem suited to some sections of the State. Alfalfa
has grown well on the station farm, although the
soilis arather heavy clay. A field of alfalfa of 2.28
Ir
162 Soiling.
acres, sown in 1890, yielded this season (1894) for
the first two cuttings—the first during June, and
Alfalfa Seedling, 6 weeks old.
163
Soiling Crops.
the second about August 1st—at the rate of 24,500
lb. of green forage per acre.
On account of very
a a er
3Inches.
Alfalfa, 3 years old.
164 Soiling.
severe drought, the third cutting was vcry light,
and only part of the field was cut for the fourth
time. Another field of alfalfa of 1.3 acres, sown in
1893, yielded at the rate of 38,500 1b. of green for-
age per acre, as the total for four cuttings. The
last two cuttings were very light on account of
severe drought. The first two cuttings, from May
rst to 31st, and from July 9th to 29th, yielded at the
rate of a little over twelve tons of green forage per
acre. These fields had been steadily cropped and
not well manured for some years before sowing to
alfalfa, and were not in condition to produce heavy
crops.
“The palatability of alfalfa or of corn (maize) is
greater than that of most other forage plants of
rapid growth that yield heavy crops. This is a mat-
ter of the greatest importance, for while the milk
may be temporarily produced at the expense of loss
in the weight of the animal, the flow of milk must
be sustained by the food taken in excess of that
necessary for maintenance.
“In order to check the growth of weeds, a mowing
machine can be run over the field of young. alfalfa
with the cutting bar raised, so as to avoid cutting
near the crowns of the young plants.”
Crimson CLOVER.
My personal experience with crimson clgver is
limited to two seasons’ trials. The first trial was
not successful. No doubt it is a most valuable
Soiling Crops. 165
plant, and that as an autumn soiling crop it is most
desirable. Besides its value to the soiler as a forage
crop, it is a most excellent crop to follow after the
soiling crops up to the middle and end of August,
both to feed and to be plowed under for a crop of
rye. It is safe to say that $10 worth of crimson
clover seed sown in July will, under favorable con-
ditions, grow more fertilizer delivered on the spot
than can be bought in any commercial form for
S100. The soiler soon learns to take advantage of
all these things. It is claimed that in warmer
climates than Western New York, it may be sown
in the autumn for early spring feeding, and wili be
ready to cut earlier than red clover.
Our knowledge of its proper use, and the proper
way of handling it, needs experience, nothing more.
The following is from “The Country Gentleman,”
written by Mr. G. T. Powell, and gives such practi-
cal and valuable information on the subject as fol-
lows:
Crimson CLover—How To Uses Ir.
“There has been much discussion over crimson
clover, and much condemnation and disappointment
in its use in the Northern States. That there is
large value in it is beyond all doubt, but the plant
must be used right and with knowledge of its re-
quirements.
“There are five known varieties of scarlet clover
(Trifolium incarnatum) grown in Europe. These
166 Soiling.
differ largely in their character of growth, the fifth
having a white blossom, and makes but a feeble
growth in our climate. There is an Egyptian
clover, the seed of which closely resembles the scar-
let, and it will not withstand freezing. The seed is
imported and many have doubtless purchased it,
and failure following, crimson clover is condemned.
“It is an annual, grows best in a cool season, and
should be sown only for autumn growth. The ob-
ject in growing this plant should be to improve the
soil by the nitrogen that it will gather from the
atmosphere, to keep the soil covered, especially dur-
ing the winter, save the loss of nitrate, and to add
organic matter or humus so much needed in the soil
of all our older States.
“For two years we have had nearly seventy acres
of crimson clover, with entire success. Ten pounds
of seed per acre will make a heavy covering. The
seed should be put on all cultivated and autumn
gathered crops. We sow with buckwheat freely
first. After the buckwheat is cut it grows until
winter, making an abundance of plant food for oats
the following spring. Inthe last cultivation of corn
and potatoes, about July roth, the seed is applied
and cultivated in. Cultivation in the apple, pear,
and cherry orchards is stopped near July 15th. Seed
is applied upon allthese. Vineyard culture ceases
by July 2oth, when they are seeded. .. .
“Crimson clover should not be sown in the North
with the expectation of its coming through the fol-
lowing spring, while it will o ccasionally, but with
Soiling Crops. 167
continued freezing and thawing it will be largely
killed... ns
The New Jersey Experiment Station has shown
by analysis that ‘a crop of this clover six inches
high has accumulated nitrogen per acre that would
cost $15 to buy; at thirteen inches high, $25.50 to.
buy per acre, while at full maturity it is worth $30
per acre.’
“The following are some of the points to be kept
in mind in sowing crimson clover for the North: Get
home-grown seed, not imported, sow early in July,
and depend upon growth only up to December.
Sow only with the object to improve the soil; sow to
keep down weeds, and for a winter covering to the
soil. The better the previous cultivation, the
greater will be the growth. It is adapted to all
kinds of soil, but especially to sandy soil. If the
soil is rather poor, apply 250 lb. of muriate of pot-
ash per acre to give it a more vigorous start. If
farmers will study this plant, and use it judiciously,
it will be the cheapest way possible to build up run-
down land. Nitrogen, the most expensive plant
food, need not be purchased, only potash and phos-
phoric acid occasionally, thus saving much of the
present heavy outlay for commercial fertilizers.
“The possibilities for improvement by the use of
crimson clover are far greater than farmers realize.
It must not be condemned on one or two trials when
red clover has failed in many places for the past
twenty years,”
168 Soiling.
Delaware Station, Third Annual Report, page 151.
“An analysis to determine its feeding value com-
pared with wheat bran. It took 5.8 tons of crimson
clover green to make one ton air-dry. And one
ton air-dry crimson clover gave:
Crimson Clover. Wheat Bran.
Crude fat x.oce es 20 5 ui renrncceaee one g, $6.06 $6. 16
Crude proteins ..... 0... eee e seer eee cece 5.86 5.48
Carbohydrates ....... cece eee seen reece 8.98 8.41
$20.90 $21.05
“Seed: An average of from nine to ten bushels
per acre is not unusual. Clover two tons per acre
leaves four tons of roots in the ground.”’
Cow PEas.
South of the Mason and Dixon line the cow pea is
becoming one of the most valuable of plants for soil-
ing, and especially for plowing under for green
manure. I have witnessed some of the most mar-
vellous results from plowing under a crop of cow
peas in North Carolina. I feel safe in saying that it
is a saving of hundreds of thousands of dollars in
commercial fertilizers in that State alone; and when
thoroughly understood will be an annual saving of
millions to the Southern farmer.
It grows even as far north as Lake Ontario. My
own experience with it is limited to two trials on very
poor, wornout land; and while I was not able to
Soiling Crops. 169
grow much of a crop, it probably did as well as any-
thing would on that particular ground. Since visit-
ing some enterprising farmers in North Carolina,
who are large growers of the plant, I am thoroughly
convinced that, for the South at least, there is not
at hand another forage crop that can be called its
equal. In order to grow the first crop on exhausted
land, barnyard manure or commercial fertilizer
would be a great assistance. The following extracts
in substance are sifted from the Georgia State Bul-
letin, No. 29, 1894:
“Tt is really not a pea, but a bean. Clover of the
South, king of land renovators. More valuable to
the Southerner than clover to the Northerner.
Draws nitrogen from the atmosphere. Grows on
light soil.
Result: The best disposition of the crop was to
convert the vines into hay or ensilage. There was
little gain in plowing under the whole crop green,
or plowing under the stubble. That it stands to-
day at the head of all soil renovators, at least for the
South, is beyond question.
“Cow peas will grow on land that is so impover-
ished that clover will not grow. It has been proved
to do well in the North, in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana,
and Ohio, and in New York and Connecticut. A
crop of 16,000 lb. of green vines per acre is reported
from Connecticut. It is certainly worthy of trial as
a renovator, even if the seed is yearly obtained from
the South. Best for hay or soiling or ensilage are
the erect varieties, Unknown, Clay, and Whippoor-
170 Soiling.
will. Where a dense mass of vines is wanted to re-
main all winter on the ground, Calico, Gourd, Black,
and Constitution are preferable.
“The roots of these plants penetrate deep into the
soil, like lucern, drawing their food from beyond the
reach of most other plants, keeping the soil porous,
and above all their power to assimilate nitrogen, the
most costly of all plant foods from the atmosphere
(four-fifths of the weight of the air is nitrogen), not
through the leaves of the plant, but through the
bacteria that have their seat in the root tubercles
through which the free, atmospheric nitrogen is as-
similated. Nor is this all. The dense foliage pre-
vents the soil from baking. The roots and stubble
alone of an acre of average cow peas contain 22.6
lb. of nitrogen, 5.9 lb. phosphoric acid, and 14.5 lb.
of potash.”
Two bushels per acre is about the amount of
seed, usually sown. The beauty of this and the
clover crop is that you can take a large crop from
the soil, and still leave the soil in better condition
than before the crop was taken.
Soja BEAN.
Although known in the Southern States for a long
time, it has never been fully appreciated, but prom-
ises to become a great rival of the cow pea. It pro-
duces a great amount of green forage, which seems
to cure easier than cow pea vines, and proves more
productive of peas. The plants grow erect to the
Soiling Crops. eg
height of two and one-half to four feet, compact and
not spreading, but branching freely, producing nu-
merous wooly pods, containing two to three round
yellow beans. It is of as easy culture as our cow
peas, yielding a forage which is gréatly relished by
farm stock, the beans being rich in protein.
PRICKLY COMFREY.
Vermont Report, 1889, page 87.
“Began cutting May 16th. Four cuttings during
the summer. First cutting, May 16th, 15.9 tons per
acre. The other three cuttings averaged a little
over seven tons per cutting. Generally grown by
dividing roots, leaving one-half in the ground, cut-
ting the half taken out into small pieces. A patch
set out in early spring was ready for first cutting
May 25th.”
x
CHAPTER XIV.
SOILING SHEEP.
Tue advantages of soiling sheep are becoming
more apparent in this country every year. “The
flesh and wool of sheep,” says Mr. Stewart, * are but
the products of the soil, and contain nothing but
what has existed in the plants which the sheep have
consumed.” No farmer who has ever bred sheep
for mutton needs to be told of the necessity of sup-
plying an abundance of succulent food for his lambs,
until they have reached maturity. A lamb that has
been stunted for want of proper nourishment or
from sickness can never be fattened as profitably
as one whose growth has never been cnecked. The
English farmers not only know this, but take every
precaution to prevent it, and to this it is mainly due
that they are enabled to export to this country,
yearly, many thousand dollars’ worth of sheep, while
American farmers might breed as good at home if
they would feed as well.
But in regard to sheep we have yet much to learn.
I mean we have to put into practice what we already
know, but for some reason fail to appreciate its im-
portance. There is not a farmer in America who
will not say that it costs no more to keep a good
Soiling Sheep. 173
sheep than a poor one; but not one in a hundred
puts the statement to proof in practice. The Eng-
lish farmer makes no secret of how he produces a
flock of sheep that average 200 lb. each, and shear
from twelve to twenty pounds of beautiful wool.
It is all explained in the oue word, feed. Not
grain so much as a never-ceasing supply of rich,
nutritious forage which keeps the stock growing
constantly throughout the year. Toaccomplish this
they have adopted a regular system of soiling,
known as folding or hurdling.
«As a general thing, the English feed less grain
than we do. Again, it is very important to the wool
grower that his flock should have an abundance of
food throughout the entire year. Whenever the pas-
tures fail, the growth of wool is checked, and if the
sheep be afterward well fed, there will be found at
shearing time a weak place in the wool, correspond-
ing to the tine in its growth when the food was
insufficient. Wool, like milk from our cows, is pro-
duced in proportion to the amount of food consumed
above that required to support life. Therefore, the
want of a proper amceunt of food is first noticed in
the wool, and here is where many farmers are de-
ceived. Their sheep look to be in passable condi-
tion, and they are satisfied; but the sheep are not
growing a profitable amount of wool, as they would
if supplied with all they could eat. Says Mr. Miles,
“The great development in fattening quality and
early maturity has been secured by a liberal supply
of nutritious food during the period of growth.”
174 Soiling.
Mr. Youatt, an English author, says: “It is of the
utmost importance that the ewes should have abun-
dant food, in order to produce a flow of nutritious
milk while they are suckling, and that the lambs
should have plenty of good pasture or other succu-
lent green food when they are weaned.”
Speaking of the Lincoln breed of sheep, Mr.
Stewart says, “In connection with a system of farm-
ing in which heavy crops of roots and green fodder
were the chief production, this improved breed be-
came fixed in its character as the heaviest producers
of wool and mutton in the world.”
During the early part of the season, when vege-
tation is putting forth vigorously, sheep do very
well in pasture, but, by the time they have over-
come the effects of winter, the pasture begins to
fail. The ewe must eat to sustain herself and sup-
port a lamb, often two; at the same time she is also
expected to be growing wool for the farmer. If she
is not well provided with the best of food to produce
milk, wool and flesh, the wool is first affected, then
her offspring comes late to maturity, sometimes
never, then her own body becomes a ready prey to
parasites and disease, and she goes into winter quar-
ters poor. A few years of such life hang her hide
upon the fence, and give her carcass to the crows.
There are many farmers keeping sheep who have
no interest in their improvement, for the reason that
every two or three years the rotation of the fields
shortens the supply of pasture, and the flock goes to
the butcher. They pick up a few culls after a year,
Soiling Sheep. 175
and begin another flock, which in turn follows the
course of the first. The farmer has no objection to
selecting a good sire as a means of improving, be-
cause he doesn’t know but what he will have to dis-
pose of his flock another year, if he should be likely
to lose a seeding, or be short of pasture. _
There is probably no source of easier profit on the
farm than a flock of well-cared-for sheep. Manure
made from them is richer in nitrogen and potash
than from any other animal, not excepting the hog
and the hen. Their wool and lambs are in the
market just when the farmer has the least to sell;
they require little care compared with cows and
horses, and increase more rapidly. In fact, to de-
prive a farm of a flock of good sheep is to rob it of
one of its most pleasing and profitable attractions.
There is a way in which they may be supplied with
food, rich and succulent, when they most require it;
a way in which the lambs may be made to grow con-
tinually from birth, and be early brought to full ma-
turity; a way in which the farmer can produce the
greatest amount of wool superior in quality, manure
unequalled in value, and make himself the possessor
of a beautiful flock of sheep, and that is by soiling.
I never regretted parting with any farm animals
as I did with my flock of sheep. Nothing I ever
grew afforded me the pleasure or profit, nothing I
ever undertook to improve by careful breeding and
feeding responded so quickly and well. My success
as an exhibitor with both horses and cattle is owing
principally to soiling. It is a question if ever a
176 Soiling.
flock was more improved in the same length of
time. In 1875 I made my first exhibit outside of
country fairs, at the New York State Fair, at
Rochester, N. Y., and came home with a second
prize on a ram lamb. Thrée years later the flock
came home with the Sweepstakes Flock medal, won
in competition with the three best flocks of Cotswolds_
in this country. Afterward during five or six years
they never failed to bring home the largest share of
the prize cards.
The Cotswold, like all families of large-bodied,
long and medium wooled sheep were originated in
England, where the climate is cooler, and where
they are soiled on vetches and rape summers, and
turnips during autumn and winter, until rape and
vetches come again. So that they have come up
with habits of idleness in comparison with our
American merino and ordinary grades, which are
content to grub all day on scanty pastures. By
soiling, the English breeders have been able to sup-
ply their sheep daily, from birth to maturity, with
more forage than they could possibly devour.
Americans fail to get the same results from English-
bred sheep, simply because they are not as good
feeders. When we get them to the States, we turn
them to pasture, and they get on fairly well until
June, when they prefer to lie in the shade than to
seeking their food in the hot sun. Cotswolds, Lin-
colns, and Leicesters, and the Downs as well, except-
ing possibly the Southdown, will not work all day
as they must at pasture, to produce the best results.
Soiling Sheep. 177
Therefore, to make them do their best in this coun-
try, or to equal English-grown sheep. that are kept
feeding all the time, some way must be provided to
accomplish the same end. We must remember that
feed is mightier than breed. In fact, feed has been
the making of breeds. Feed is, at least, the founda-
tion of all modern breeds. Select animals from the
choicest prize-winning flocks, the best in England
or America, and neglect to feed them, and they soon
degenerate into an ordinary race from whence they
originally came. , Selecting and coupling help to fix
type, but food makes the breed. When a sheep
breeder in America will make his sheep eat as much
as an English shepherd, then he can grow in Ameri-
ca as good specimens as they grow in England.
After meeting my Waterloo in the show ring at
the State fair, as already referred to, and not being
sufficiently forehanded to buy a lot of imported
sheep, as was the yearly custom of my principal
competitors, I was either obliged to give up show-
ing or take a back seat or reach for the prize in
some other way. Itso happened that my sheep were
pastured the next year in a field adjoining the barn,
and they were allowed the freedom of their winter
quarters, where they were obliged to come and
drink, and, as may be imagined, during the hot
weather they spent the greater part of the day in
this shed or under the shade of a board fence. In
bringing in the soiling crops for the cows, the wagon
passed the sheep shed, and as there was never in my
estimation anything too good for my Cotswold ewes
12
178 Soiling.
(even if they were not good enough to win at the
New York State Fair) there were always a few fork-
fuls thrown into their winter racks in passing. The
sheep were delighted. The lambs grew as I never
had lambs grow before. It was not uncommon to
have them weigh roo lb. at three months old, a gain
of a pound a day for every day they were old. Of
course, they had a lamb creep, as shown on page 183,
where they could run into a separate pen and help
themselves to bran with a little oil-cake meal in it.
Later in the season a little cracked corn was added.
I never had my ewes look as well or give as much
milk; and when we came to shear them and their
lambs the next season, the increase was twenty-five
to thirty-five per cent. Thus I unintentionally
worked into the soiling of my sheep. The second
year soiling was begun earlier and continued later.
My sales of rams increased beyond all expectation,
and the third year a rough board shed was built with
a rough board roof, and soiling crops were put in
especially for the sheep, as hereafter explained; and
that fall, as before stated, the flock won the Gold
Medal Flock prize with American-bred ewes and
lambs against the best flocks in the State, which
this would never have been accomplished except for
soiling. Whenin England in 1890 for the first time,
I saw how sheep were universally soiled, and how it
was that Americans have been obliged to keep going
there for show sheep. It was also apparent how it
had been possible for English breeders to produce
such grand specimens as are found in the several
Soiling Sheep. 179
long and medium wooled families of that celebrated
sheep country. These sheep were by education un-
adapted to our general method of pasturing. They
are too large and too much affected by the sun to
work as most American pastured sheep are obliged
to, and as only an American merino is willing to do
over scanty pasture. There is, I believe, but one
way to treat the English families of sheep to make
them equal to English-bred and English-fed sheep,
and that is to soil them.
REsULTs.
From 1877 to 1883 my Cotswold flock won over
$1,000 in. premiums, besides several gold medals,
flock prizes.
The following table of comparison of the amount
of wool taken from the same sheep following a year
at pasture and after two years of soiling shows the
effect of their having an abundance of food during
the entire year, so that there was no check in the
growth of wool:
1878, thirty head of sheep pastured year before....... 280 pounds.
1879, twenty-eight head of sheep partially soiled year
1880, thirty-seven head of sheep principally soiled year
before..... AASReigR Wile Wate meeR ie oad aa web 550
Those clipped in 1880 were wintered mostly on
silage and bean fodder. In every other respect
they were cared for as in the previous years. It
180 Soiling.
will be noticed that the last clipping for 1885 aver-
aged nearly fifteen pounds per head for the entire
flock; the shearling ewes averaged over sixteen
pounds.
My lambs, during the years 1880 and 1881, were
weaned July ist, and at the average age of four
months, the average weight was a trifle over ninety-
one pounds, many of the single lambs weighing a
pound or nearly so for every day they were old.
As many of them were twins, the average was re-
duced. The above results I have never known to
be equalled by any flock of Cotswolds, or any other
breeds of sheep in America. The secret of my suc-
cess was keeping the sheep eating, and giving them
a shady place to eat in. The extra labor was re-
turned several times over. I give soiling the credit
for these results...
CHAPTER XV.
SOILING CROPS FOR SHEEP.
In selecting crops for sheep, the most prominent
are tares (vetches), rape, turnips, lucern and clover
(early cut), oats and peas. Of these, rape and
vetches are decidedly the best.
VETCHES (TARES).
Spring and winter tares are largely sown in Eng-
land for soiling sheep, cattle, and horses. All stock
are exceedingly fond of them. My experience in
feeding them is very satisfactory. J have never
undertaken to cultivate the winter variety. Spring
tares are usually sown in March or April. They
are very much like the common field pea, except
that the stalks and leaves are finer, a vigorously
growing plant, highly relished by sheep and lambs.
The blossom and pod are similar to those of the pea.
A small quantity of oats, barley, or rye should be
sown with them as a support, otherwise they are apt
to lodge, which materially lessens their value. They
may be sown with a grain drill or broadcast.
An English writer says: “Sheep may be fattened
upon them, the milk of cows is enriched and in-
182 Soiling.
creased by them, and they are extensively employed
in feeding horses. They do not require a rich soil.”
Sow same as field peas, two bushels per acre in a
grain drill with one bushel of oats.
RAPE.
Rape may be called a turnip which has all grown
to leaves. It looks and tastes like turnip tops, but
has roots similar to those of grain and grasses. The
seeds also look like those of the turnip. It grows
from ten tas fifteen inches high. It is a most nutri-
tious forage plant, and is equalled by no other vege-
table, as may be seen by the foregoing tables. Its
culture is similar to that of the turnip, and will sus-
tain about the same number of animals per acre,
and may be sown later in the season. As a food for
young lambs it has no superior. It was my custom
to sow a small patch in the corner of the pasture or
in an adjoining field to the place where the ewes are
confined, with a lamb creep—a hole in the fence
large enough to admit a lamb but to exclude a
sheep, with a roller at the top and sides to prevent
tearing the wool, as shown in the following illustra-
tion.
The lambs will soon learn to run in and feed, as
they are exceedingly fond of the plant. It requires
about two pecks of the seed per acre, which should
be sown in July for fall feeding. If intended to be
fed to grown sheep, it should be cut and fed to them
Soiling Crops for Sheep. 183
in racks: otherwise they destroy much of it. Lambs
may be allowed to pasture upon it, as they are light
in weight, and, if unaccompanied by their dams,
only stay in the enclosure while feeding. The high
feeding value of this plant strongly recommends
it to farmers raising early market lambs. For this
purpose it should be sown earlier.
I began growing rape at the suggestion of Mr.
je
|
|
ot
Lamb Creep.
John Ross, of Jarvis, Ont., a noted Cotswold
breeder in his day, with the result that I never have
found any forage so satisfactory for forcing lambs,
or so good for age ewes and fattening store sheep,
or in putting the finishing touches to the animals
selected to lift the prize cards at the autumn fairs.
I usually obtained the seed from Canada, where
rape is used more extensively than in the States.
The chances for getting good, fresh seed there are
better, therefore, than in the States.
184 Soiling.
The principal requirement is to have a thoroughly
pulverized seed-bed, and to sow in drills with a hand
seeder twenty inches apart, and cultivated two or
three times with a horse hoe between rows; and if
ground is weedy, use a garden hand-wheel hoe once
or twice on the rows.
For a general fall crop, sow broadcast just after
the last cultivating among the ensilage corn, the
same as you would flat turnips, and by the time that
the summer feeding is over, you will have a grand
crop for September and October, either to soil from
or to turn the sheep on.
Rape is the best possible green forage to have on
hand at time of weaning the lambs, so that they will
not go backwards. Lambs may be taken from the
ewes earlier, if rape is at hand, than without it,
giving the ewes more time to recuperate, there-
fore, coming sooner and in better condition to the
coupling season. There is nothing like a field of
rape to put ewes in the finest possible condition for
going into winter quarters, and if grown on the
ensilage ground without cultivating, is most econ-
omical, and will do what would require a very liberal
grain feeding to equal.
As rape is -a crop not generally known in the
States, the following quotations are given, which
confirm all I have said in its favor and more:
United States Bulletin, rr.
“There is still a season after the corn has been
harvested and before the setting in of winter, dur-
ahs ™ ~ al e)
Soiling Crops for Sheep. 185
ing which we must depend solely upon grass as a
source of food for our flocks and herds, otherwise
we must draw on our winter stores to feed them.
“The Dwarf Essex rape is a plant which can be
Rape Plant, showing growth of two months on station farm, July to
August, 1804.
easily grown in many portions of the United States,
and which will furnish abundant supplies of succu-
186 Soiling.
lent, rich and nutritious pasture at a season of the
year when most needed. The rape plant grows
slowly at first, but after a time pushes ahead rapidly.
Where the conditions are suitable, an average crop
grown in drills should furnish not less than ten tons
per acre, and when the conditions are all favorable,
it should be quite possible to produce at least twenty
tons of green fodder per acre. A large percentage
of Canadian lambs shipped during the more recent
years to Buffalo market from Canada have been fin-
ished on rape. Larger crops can be obtained from
rape sown in drills rather than broadcast.
“Salt is a valuable fertilizer for rape on certain
soils. In some seasons a good crop of rape can be
grown after a crop of wintef wheat has been re-
moved. We found that one acre of rape would pas-
ture thirty-six to thirty-seven head of lambs for two
months. It would probably be correct to say that
rape will grow in fine form in any soil that will pro-
duce an abundant crop of turnips or Indian corn.
Rape calls for fine pulverization of surface soil free
from undecayed vegetable matter. Rape responds
vigorously to the application of barnyard manure.
Rape is a gross feeding plant; therefore, has much
power to gather plant food in the soil.
“Rape is unrivalled as a pasture for sheep in
‘autumn. Asa fattening food in the field, it is with-
out a rival in point of cheapness or effectiveness.
It does not detract from the fertility when the sheep
which eat it off are inclosed upon it.”
Soiling Crops for Sheep. 187
TURNIPS,
The turnip in England has become a regular rota-
tion crop, and takes the place of corn in this coun-
try, z.¢., first turnips, second barley, third wheat,
fourth grass or pasture. The varieties mostly used
for feeding stock are the White Norfolk, Yellow
Aberdeen, Swedish, and Dale's Hybrid, ‘“ which
latter is a hardy, succulent vegetable, much relished
by stock, and in no respect injured by the severest
winter.” It is sometimes sown broadcast, but is
found to pay better when sown in drills and culti-
vated. Turnips may be sown from the last of May
till the second week in July,
These are the principal soiling crops for sheep, in
connection with the other forage crops which have
been considered under the general -head of soiling
crops, especially oats and peas, lucern, vetches or
tares.
CHAPTER XVI.
PORTABLE FENCING.
Tue woven galvanized wire fencing, supported by
stakes driven into the ground every ten feet, makes
one of the most convenient and easily handled of all
portable fencing for sheep. Three or three and
one-half feet will be found high enough. One man
can handle a roll of 300 feet. (See cut.)
If it is desirable to have a portable fence, the fol-
lowing can be recommended: The battens at the
ends are nailed on opposite sides of each panel. The
panels are held or locked together by a 38-inch steel
or iron rod, bent as shown. To erect the fence, one
panel is set up end to end of another, the steel rod is
hooked onto the second board from the top of each
panel. Thepanel last set up is then swung to the left
or right, as the case may be, until the iron rod brings
the two ends tight together. The next panel is put up
Portable Fencing. 189
-with the rod on the op-
posite side of the panel,
and is swung in the op-
posite direction. This
makes a slightly zigzag
fence, just enough so
that each panel braces +
the other. Every tenth
panel has six 6-inch
blocks bolted on to it,
two at each end and
two in the middle.
These blocks are to
answer the purpose of
runners to move the
fence. The panel with
the block on is first laid io et ip
upon the ground; on
that the other nine pan-
els are laid. A horse is
hitched to the bottom
one, and the ten panels
are sledded along, and
set up wherever want- of) Lu] be
ed. There is now on
my farm a hundred
such panels that were J| ]
made in 1885. The
hurdles are made twelve
feet long, the three up-
per boards, 1 X 4 inches,
72'-9"
Portable Fence
Igo Soiling.
are from sixteen-foot boards. The six feet sawed
from them makes the two battens. The bottom board
is six inches wide, and bought in twelve-foot lengths.
The end battens are allowed to project three inches
below the bottom board, so that the bottom boards
do not rest on the ground; the panels, therefore,
adapt themselves better to an uneven surface.
FrEeEepInc RACKS.
A movable feeding rack is a most convenient
thing, when it is desirable to feed soiling crops over
the fence. It is equally serviceable as a winter rack.
The roof projects over the sheep, affording some
shade. This is a very essential addition to such a
rack for summer feeding. The roof is made of clap-
boards or novelty siding. There is a ring for a
clevis in either end, to which a horse may be at-
tached, to draw it from place to place, or to move it
along the fence as the cutting of the soiling crop on
the opposite side requires, so that a forkful may be
delivered into the rack from over the fence. These
racks are ten feet long, and cost about S10 to make
with turned slats.
CHAPTER XVII.
MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP.
Lavine Out THE Work.
We will consider briefly the methods adopted for
feeding sheep by the soiling system. If moved
about from field to field by the rotation of crops,.
they may be supplied with any of the soiling crops
just mentioned, by fencing off a portion of the field
in which they are pastured, and devoting that por-
tion to the growth of soiling crops; or a small por-
tion of an adjoining field may be used for that pur-
pose. Ineither case the several crops should be sown
or planted in rows parallel with the division fence,
the crop for the first feeding being nearest the
fence. A movable rack (see cut) in the pasture will
serve to hold the feed as it is cut.
Each seeding is intended to supply food for one
month, beginning about the rst of July on the first
sowing, cutting with scythe or cradle, and throw-
ing the cutting over the fence into the rack. By
the time the first sowing is consumed, the second
should be ready for cutting, which may be done in
a direction opposite to that of the first cutting, fol-
lowing back with the rack. The first crop next to
the dividing fence may be oats and peas (one bushel
192
Soiling.
aq
Portable Sheep Rack.
Manner of Soiling Sheep. 193
of oats, two of peas or vetches), the second, third,
and fourth, rape. After the first and second sow-
ings have been cut, the ground which was occupied
rs
na’
ie,
ri
Ho.
LH 2
ek
by them may be top-dressed and cultivated in, or
plowed shallow, and sown to rape for late fall
feeding.
In estimating the amount of ground necessary to
supply a flock with forage, we apply the same rule
as given tor calculating the amount required to sup-
13
194 Soiling
ply 1,000 lb. (or a full-grown cow). Thus, sheep
averaging 100 lb. would require each one-tenth of
that necessary for a cow, or, of oats and peas, one-
tenth of three-fourths square rod per day. This
estimate for sheep in the plan of feeding above de-
scribed may be reduced to at least half a square rod
per day for every 1,000 lb., as the sheep will obtain
part of their feed from the pasture; but this part
will, of course, depend upon the size of the pasture
and the fertility of the soil. My own experience in
soiling in this manner was in an old orchard con-
taining five acres, one acre of which was fenced
off as above described. This four acres of pasture
and one devoted to soiling crops kept twenty-four
head of large, long-wooled sheep, and twenty-two
lambs (fully equal to five head of 1,000 1b. each)
during the season. This leads to me to say that,
as a rule, for every 1,000 lb. it will require one
acre of land, one-fifth of which should be devoted
to soiling crops. It is safe to say that the five
acres, with one devoted to soiling crops, were equal
to ten pastured, or that one acre soiled is equal to
five pastured. The variety of the feed and the
shade made the sheep contented; and, better still,
they had all they could or would eat.
PERMANENT PASTURE.
Another method of feeding is practised to some
extent in this country, z.¢., soiling the sheep in con-
nection with a permanent pasture. One acre of
Manner of Soiling Sheep. 195
permanent sheep pasture is generally speaking,
worth two or three acres of new seeding.
The plan is to have a field properly located and
laid down to a large variety of grasses, some early,
some medium, and some late in coming to maturity,
some that grow thickly making a compact sward,
others that send down long tap roots to enable them
to withstand drought. The following varieties are
none too many and make a most valuable succession,
and if once well established become a source of much
greater profit than the ordinary seedings that follow
a rotation of crops.
The following-named varieties and date of matur-
ity make a splendid combination. The amount in
pounds are the proportion of seed for one acre:
: Pounds
Varieties of Grass. When Flowering. Pee Actes
Sweet scented vernal .......... April and May... ........ 4
Orchard grass.jossness seeesex April and May's cs<sis<sa% 6
Sheep 'sifescuess ecssaias s 5240 May and June...... ..... 3
Kentucky blue grass........... May and. June... s.0d0 4
Indian rye grass.............. JURE: cnc neecancsite este oad 4
Red tOpisien o5c4 cewulawsnesent Jane and: July ecco. cua. t 4
Timothy........ daiiiaistlste Sage. June and July. ..2..-.--5 4
English rye grass ............. July and August ......... 6
White clover 2.3 s54 sides caus. May to September........ 5
Total number of pounds per acre...........-.....0.. 40
The seeds for an acre will cost $7 to $10, but when
a pasture of this kind is once established, the differ-
ence in the first cost is normally nothing. There
should be a very thorough preparation of the soil,
196 Soiling.
even if it takes three years, as it did in my experi-
ence, to get the field in suitable condition. The
jand should be as rich and free from weeds as pos-
sible, using either green manure or thoroughly rotted
barnyard manure to reduce the introduction of foul
seeds to the least possible amount.
FEEDING.
With such a permanent pasture the method of
growing soiling crops for sheep may be illustrated
as follows:
F, L, R, comprise the permanent pasture or the
feeding shed. L and R show how rams and ewe
zs
lambs may be separated from the floor by portable
fencing, under the enclosure, so that they may also
be fed on green forage in a portion of the shed.
The following illustrates the feeding shed, which,
in my case, was made of rough boards and the roof
was of rough pine.
Manner of Soiling Sheep. 197
This shed stands on ground devoted to soiling
crops fencing the permanent pasture, so that the
shepherd or soiler may drive on the three sides of the
building, putting the feed through into racks from
the wagon, as shown, without disturbing or going
among the sheep. There are no gates to open.
A patch of rape may be sown and fenced off in the
field devoted to soiling crops for the lambs, giving
them access to it by means of a lamb creep, as
already shown, page 183, or in any other fields ad-
joining the permanent pasture that may happen to
be under cultivation.
A portion of the shed may also be partitioned off
for the lambs, where they can help themselves to
bran and crushed oats and.oil cake at will. They
will not injure themselves by over-eating if they
run that way. They also enter this enclosure by the
lamb creep.
This method was adopted at Maple Lane with
great success. This system replaced the movable
rack already referred to. I liked it better because
the sheep liked it better; it afforded better shade.
198 Soiling.
The sheep remained in this enclosure the greater
part of the day, and, of course, ate a great deal
more than in a field where, in warm weather, no
matter how tempting the pasture, they spent most
of their time lying under the fence.
Of course the sheep must be supplied with water
and salt. The idea that sheep do not require water
is only an excuse for not supplying it. A sheep
never cares to drink much at a time, but likes a sip
quite often. I have always found it more profitable
to indulge the wants of my stock than my own.
The feeding racks are filled three times a day,
morning, noon, and night, and this may be done by
a boy. No more should be fed at a time than the
sheep will eat, and, should there be any left in the
tacks, it should be removed before fresh feed is
added. The shepherd will soon learn the wants of
his flock. Another method of feeding is that of
folding the sheep upon the soiling crops instead of
cutting them. Formerly (in England) this was the
practice, but lately they have more generally
adopted the practice of cutting and feeding in racks.
RotTaATION oF Crops.
When a rotation of crops is considered profitable,
the following arrangement might be suggested:
a, Represents the feeding shed; 1, 2, 3, 4, four
fields of enclosure in one field.
Starting with fields No, 1 and 2 as pasture lots,
No. 3 is devoted to soiling crops, and No. 4 to
Manner of Soiling Sheep. 199
roots or rape, No. 3 being seeded to grass with rye
in the fall. The next season plow No. 1 for rape,
having been plowed shallow the fall before. No. 4
~
—
L_
L
is now devoted to soiling crops and No. 2 and 3 to
pasture, and so on in succession around the house.
This plan would possibly require more land than the
other, but it might be found to work to even better
advantage.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SOILING HORSES.
Broop Mares anv COLTs.
Arter leaving the Maple Lane farm in 1883, and
where the operations in soiling and ensilage began,
and were recorded in the first volume of this work,
published in the winter of 1880 and 1881, we moved
to Livingston County, N. Y., where on the “ Murray
Hill” Farm the soiling system summer and winter
was practised, with thirty-six head of Jersey cattle
and forty-two head of Cotswold sheep. To this stock
fourteen brood mares and twelve colts were put on a
strict soiling system, while the five stallions in the
stud came in forno smallshare. Two two-year-olds
were fed on soiling crops almost entirely, while the
three stallions in the stud were put on soiling crops
after the spring breeding season was over, so that
with cattle, horses, brood mares, and colts, and
sheep, to say nothing of the swine, we were soiling
all told at least sixty head of full-grown stock, not
counting in the stallions.
The forage for these sixty head, counting pasture,
hay, silage, and soiling crops, was sixty-nine acres of
land the first year. We remained on the “ Murray
Hill” Farm only three years, when the cattle and
Soiling Horses. 201
sheep were sold, and the horse business was carried
on alone on “Squawkie Hill,” where, at one time,
we had between thirty and forty head of brood mares
and colts that were always supplied, more or less,
with soiling crops during the summer. For brood
mares with foal at foot, oats and peas make a grand
feed. There is nothing, however, that seems better
suited to horses than lucern, where land is adapted
to its growth.
The horses, like the cows, were always fed soiling
crops in their stall daytimes, and turned out nights;
and any one who wishes to raise a thrifty colt, and
keep the mother in reasonably good condition, can
be assured that soiling is the best and most econ-
omical way to accomplish that end. My success in
the show ring with horses as well as cattie was
owing largely to soiling. The following isa clipping
from the “ Live Stock Journal”:
“This class of stock (horses) is thought by many
to be unadapted to the soiling system, especially
colts, as they require exercise to develop the muscu-
lar power, and soiling is thought to require too close
confinement. This arises from misconception of the
flexibility of the system. Soiling does not neces-
sarily require the confinement of animals any more
than pasturing. It is true that pasturing furnishes
larger fields to range in, but nearly every farmer
can devote a lane running to the wood-lot as space
to exercise in. This lane is necessary for the con-
venience of the farm, and generally furnishes a road
to the different parts of the tillable land and
202 Soiling.
meadow. This will furnish the colts abundant
room to make trials of speed, and afford all the ex-
ercise necessary to develop muscle. This run-way
is easily fenced so substantially as to prevent the
colts from jumping, and thus becoming trouble-
some. I have raised a dozen colts in this way, and
found them to develop in every respect as well as
those pastured. We found this plan to work with
brood mares and their foals. Having the food of
the mares wholly under control, their production of
milk will be more uniform, and the growth of their
foals much better, than on pasture. The dam re-
quires full feeding upon appropriate food, and this
may always be given in soiling, as any defect in the
succulence or nutrition of grasses or other soiling
foods may be supplemented with middlings, oil
meal and oats. The foals are also constantly under
the eye of the feeder, easily become accustomed to
handling, and may be taught to take other food at
a younger age. Early familiarity with the attend-
ant and docility are not only favorable to the foal’s
progress in development, but to its easy manage-
ment at the training age. The vigorous, steady, and
healthy growth of colts is most essential to their
future value as serviceable animals, and, therefore,
to the profit of the breeder. Soiling offers the most
complete control over the food and management of
colts; and therefore, under this system, they may be
grown with much more uniform success, and, on
land worthy $50 or more per acre, much cheaper
than by pasturing. The foal responds more quickly
Soiling Horses. 203
to the use of cow’s milk than any other food after
weaning, and this may be skimmed milk, after teach-
ing it first to drink new milk. The colt being under
attention in soiling, this extra food may be given
with little extra labor. From considerable experi-
ence I consider the soiling system as well adapted
to the raising of horses in all stages, from the suck-
ling colt to the mature horse.”
CHAPTER XIX.
WINTER SOILING (ENSILAGE).
HisTory.
In 1875 there first came to this country reports of
experiments made in France, by Monsieur Auguste
Goffart, of preserving green forage. After many
trials and failures, and the expenditure of consider-
able money, his labors were crowned with success,
The same year the French Government awarded to
Mr. Goffart the Cross of the Legion of Honor.
M. Goffart first successfully ensilaged cut maize
in 1873. For years he held to the idea that the
green forage should be partially cured, and that it
should be put in the pit in alternate layers with
straw, until, more by chance than otherwise, he dis-
covered that the curing process and the use of straw
was, more than anything else, defeating the end in
view. Although ancient historians mention pre-
serving grain, and also forage, in pits dug in the
ground, the system had been discarded for hun-
dreds of years, and M. Goffart deserves all the
credit for its rediscovery. He must have been a
most persistent and resolute man, for year after
year he was obliged to cart out the forage he at-
tempted to preserve, as so much manure.
Winter Soiling 205
After adopting a strict soiling system with my
cattle, as already explained, it was found that more
stock could be supported on the farm during the
summer than could be carried through the winter,
which was contrary to the general practice under
>
AUGUSTE GOFFART,
Born at Le Quesnoy, France, April 6, 1511. Ensilaged Cut Maize,
Burtin, 1873.
the pasture system. This naturally attracted to the
reports of M. Goffart’s success in the saving green
forage, for it was apparent that if ensilage was a
success it would enable me to soil my cattle winters
as well as summers.
Francis Morris, of Ellicott City, Md., experi-
mented with whole corn in a trench or pit dug in
the ground and covered with earth; he reported
206 Ensilage.
that he found the corn fairly well preserved, and
that his stock ate it well. To Dr. Bailey, of Boston,
Mass., belongs, however, the credit of building the
‘first silo in America, a successful opening of which
was reported in “The Country Gentleman” in De.
cember, 1879. I hastened to Boston to see for my.
self. The doctor went with me to his farm at Bil-
lerica, Mass., and I saw the cows eating the silage;
and when hay was put into the racks on top of the
silage, they pushed it aside, preferring the silage.
I had to admit “that there was no accounting for
taste,” but also “that the proof of the pudding was
in the eating.”” The cows seemed to relish it, and
have a hearty appetite for it. This settled the ques-
tion forme. The following season we converted an
old cobblestone carriage-house and horse-barn into
a silo by taking out the hay-loft floor, walling up the
doors, and windows, and giving the interior a coat of
waterlime cement. This building was twenty or
thirty rods from the cattle barns, and all the silage
had to be carted there, but no matter. If my cows
could be soiled winters, I was willing to put up with
almost anything to accomplish it.
This stone barn made a silo eighteen by twenty.
four inside and twenty feet deep, which was filled
the following autumn and heavily weighted with
stones (which were thought necessary at that time).
This silo answered the purpose, and was a success
from the first.
I believe this was the first silo in the State of New
“York, and the second in the United States, not count-
Winter Soiling. 207
ing Mr. Morris’s experimental earth silo. I speak
of this with some degree of pride, because I was at
that time subjected to much ridicule. Soiling my
cattle summers was bad enough in the estimation of
my neighbors, but ensilage (sauerkraut as it was
then called by many) was the capsheaf of folly.
However, the cattle liked it, and I liked the cat-
tle. The sheep ate it, and nothing that I could do
was too good for them. The neighbors laughed at
me. Thecattle and sheep also laughed at me when-
ever they saw me coming on a load of sauerkraut.
I was getting 50 cents a pound for butter, and I also
had to laugh.
As to the result it fully met my expectations, but
I have never claimed, as some have, that it takes the
place of soiling, as will be shown under a heading
entitled Soiling vs. Ensilage.
The only thing that can be said of ensilage now,
compared with ensilage in 1879 and 1880, is that the
method of handling the crops is much simplified,
and the construction of wooden silos instead of ma-
sonry, as was then believed necessary, has greatly
reduced the expense of construction. The perfec-
tion of a corn cutter has lessened the labor and ex-
pense of harvesting the corn, until the system has
become quite generally adopted, and is now within
the reach of almost any farmer.
208 Ensilage.
ENsILAGE vs. CURED FODDER.
The same grasses on which a cow feeds and thrives
in summer, and which enabled her to produce an
abundant flow of rich milk, and butter superior in
color, and flavor, and quality, when cured and fed
to her in the winter (or summer either for that mat-
ter) produce far less in quality and quantity, and the
butter is also inferior in color and flavor.
Young cattle thrive during the summer, while
during the winter, if they hold their own or a little
better, they have done as well as most farmers could
expect even when a little grain has been added.
If it were possible, therefore, to supply our stock
in winter with such succulent and nutritious food as
they are able to obtain on grass, the difficulties
above referred to would, in a great measure be over-
come. Ensilage comes the nearest to supplying
these conditions of anything we know of for a win-
ter forage. Our experimental station, by careful
and repeated analysis of cured-corn fodder and en-
silage, sometimes find a result in favor of one, some-
times the other, but generally it has been in favor
of ensilage.
First, the chemist puts both ensilage and cured- -
corn fodder in a dry kiln to note the amount of
moisure (all juices of plants being recorded as so
much water). The kiln-dried product is then sub-
jected to chemical tests, and finally consumed,
Winter Soiling. 209
burned. Asa result they find the feeding and ma-
nurial value of both samples.
Although all juice of the plant is looked upon as
so much water, curing clover hay or cornstalks, and
then adding to them as much water as they lost in
juice, this, while it usually gives better results than
when fed dry, does by no means restore the forage
its full feeding value. You may go a step farther
and cook or stearn the feed, and still you have not
been able to bring back to it what it possessed, or, at
least, what the animals are able to extract from the
same food in its green, succulent state.
That ensilage contains greater feeding value than
cured corn, no one should expect. There is cer-
tainly nothing within the four walls of a silo to
manufacture albuminoids, carbohydrates, or fat;
therefore, whatever difference there may be in the
result of feeding green forage and cured, that differ-
ence should be credited to the juice of the plant as
so much food. Every farmer knows that whole
cornstalks are always fed at a waste. From fifty to
seventy-five per cent. of the stalk goes into the
manure pile, unless absolute hunger induces the
stock to eat more than they otherwise would. Even
when run through the cutter a large proportion is
wasted. The experiment station says that the grain
is forty-five per cent. of the plant, and that forty-five
per cent. of the value of the plant is in the stalk be-
low the ear, and only ten per cent. of the value of
the stalk above the ear.
14
210 Ensilage.
PALATABILITY,
Then comes the question of palatability. A piece
of fat pork may furnish more nutriment to a person
than a whole loaf of bread; but if the person dislikes
the one and enjoys the other, what comfort or bene-
fit is that person to get from a chemical analysis?
When a cow leaves hay to eat ensilage, and hungers
for it, what good is it to the cow, or to the owner
either, to know that the hay contains the greater
feeding value? This is another point that is invari-
ably lost sight of at experimental stations. If a
cow eats cured stalks simply to satisfy hunger, and
has a relish for ensilage in quantities controlled only
by her capacity, it is not a question of albuminoids,
carbohydrates, and fats, but of dollars and cents to
the owner.. “‘ Allowing the cows to eat as much as
they wanted of corn silage and fodder corn with the
same ration of hay, bran, and oats, they were able
to give more milk daily, which contained more fat
on the ensilage than on the fodder corn, while the
quantity of butter produced on the ensilage feed
was more than on the fodder-corn feed.”” At the
same time the cows invariably consumed less dry
matter when on fodder than when on ensilage.
ENSILAGE vs. Hay.
The advantages of winter soiling over the feeding
of cured hay and cornstalks may be summed up un-
der the following heads, but as these points have
Winter Soiling. 211
been discussed largely under similar headings and
under summer soiling, a brief mention of them will
suffice.
First. The increased acreage of the farm. Here
in adopting winter soiling lies the great and unmis-
takable value or profit, and it is passing strange
how for years and years the question hung on the
point of what analysis was able to prove compared
with hay or dried corn fodder. The question is the
same as with summer soiling. What is the use of
discussing whether there is more feeding value ina
ton of grass or a ton of oats and peas? What the
~ soiler wants to know is how many more head of cat-
tle he can support from an acre.
It may take two or even three tons of ensilage to
equal a ton of hay, but if by growing ensilage the
farmer can make one acre produce an equivalent in
feeding value to five, six, and even seven tons of
hay per acre, there is a gain so distinct that he who
runs may read. It matters little whether science
agrees with the cattle or not. There are hundreds
of thousands of farmers who have demonstrated
that ensilage is a goodthing. They have doubled
the number of their dairy, they are getting twice as
much milk a year as formerly, making twice as much
manure, and growing crops that have in many cases
doubled the former yield, and they have done it all
without buying more land.
The following table shows at a glance the real
value and advantage of ensilage over hay. It may
be stated that, as a rule, land that will produce one
212 Ensilage.
ton of hay per acre will produce fifteen tons of en-
silage, and land that will produce two tons of hay
per acre will produce thirty tons of ensilage per
acre. Two tons of ensilage is fully equal to a ton
of hay in feeding results, no matter what the chemist
says as to their comparative analyses.
ENSILAGE vs. Hay.
ENSILAGE. Hay.
Dr. Cr. Dr. Cr.
Value one ton of hay at $12 per ton........-. re bivee -... {$12.00
Seed per acre ..........04- gridaasne ve deaecarals see sift $r.00
Cost of cutting and delivering to barn....... seca awit 2.50
Value fifteen tons ensilage (two tons ensilage
equal to one ton of hay) $6 per ton........ $30.00
Seed, fitting the ground and cultivating...... $5.00
Labor to cut and secure fifteen tons, estimated.| 11.00
Net: feeding Valid 1c cee nieinsinis Meatirete nde sree 1374.00 se $8.50
The use of the land is the same in both cases. I
have not taken the question of manure into account.
My experiences in plowing portions of meadows for
ensilage, at Maple Lane, were as follows: Five
and one-half acres of an eight-acre field of hay was
planted to ensilage without manure. We cut nearly
thirty tons of ensilage per acre, as proved by the
number of cubic feet of ensilage in the silo, when
settled, estimating fifty pounds per cubic foot. Iam
positive that from the remainder of the field there
was not cut more than a ton and a half of cured hay
per acre.
Winter Soiling. 213
On Murray Hill the experiment was repeated on
land that only produced three-fourths of a ton of
clover per acre. From the same field we cut at least
fifteen tons of ensilage per acre without manuring
the piece.
Several times in this work attention has been
called to the saving of land by the soiling system,
as its most distinctive feature, as shown by the
table. The feeding value of an acre of ensilage
or an acre of grass is.ten to one. It is passing
strange that experimental stations, and the pub-
lic in general, have been so slow in compre-
hending this point.
CurepD Corn vs. ENSILAGE.
There is only one answer to the question of cost
between curing corn stalks and ensilaging the same,
allowing there is no difference in feeding value, and
the answer is in favor of silage. It always has been,
especially if the cured fodder is run through the
cutting box or shredder; in both cases the planting
and cutting arethesame. Both have to be delivered
to the barn. In this there is something saved in
hauling the dried stalks over ensilage, but there
comes the expense of shocking the former; therefore
the question of harvesting is in favor of silage. A
cubic foot of ensilage weighs about fifty pounds;
therefore one ton only occupies forty cubic feet. A
ton of hay in mow or stack occupies 525 cubic feet,
or about thirteen times as much room as a ton of
214 Ensilage.
silage, while a ton of cured-corn fodder requires
much more space than hay.
If two tons of ensilage are equal to a ton of hay,
then ensilage will require only one-sixth as much
room as hay. So much for the simple question of
economy in storage between the two methods.
CHAPTER XxX.
THE SILO.
How Larce To Buitp.
A FULL-GROWN cow will consume from one and one-
half to two cubic feet of ensilage per day, but gen-
erally it has been found advisable to make one of
three feedings a day of hay.
At one and one-half cubic feet per day, a cow
would consume in six months (the usual length of
time for feeding winter forage in Western New
York), 270 cubic feet, allowing for waste, say 300
cubic feet. If we multiply 300 cubic feet by the
number of animals we wish to feed, it will give
the size that is required to build, in cubic feet.
The following table gives the capacity in tons of
different-sized silos. It is reckoned at forty cubic
feet per ton, and a ton to last a cow one month.
That is about sixty-six pounds per day, which is a
liberal feeding. The quantity is computed for six
months, estimating fifteen tons per acre.
216 Ensilage.
Size. Capacity,
5 e Cubic Tons Cows Acres
Diameter. | Height. Feet. | Contained.|Numbered.| Required.
= 10 20 14455 30 5 2
2 10 24 1,745 43 ve 3
3 12 20 2,160 54 9 4
4 12 24 2,532 63 11 4%
5 12 3° 35240 80 13 5
6 16 20 3,840 15 6
7 16 24 4,608 115 19 8
8 16 30 5,760 144 24 10
As to height, the modern ensilage cutters have
carriers to almost any length, twenty-five to thirty
feet if necessary. The silo should not be too large
ontop. It is best to uncover the whole at a time,
taking off the entire top each day. This prevents
cutting down with a hay knife.
WHERE TO BUILD.
In locating the silo it should by all means be placed
so as to open into the cow stable, and on a level with
it, but not directly into the stable. The idea is to
keep the odor from the barn except when feeding;
that is, ina barn for dairy cows, as the milk, while
being taken from the cows, absorbs the odor, and
“has been the cause of condemned milk from ensil-
age-fed cows. This contamination comes from the
odor in the barn and not because the animals feed
on ensilage. If the number of cows will warrant
it, the silage can be delivered from a wagon the
same as the summer soiling crops. The silo should
be so placed as not to interfere with drawing through
The Silo. 217
the barn with soiling crops, u...J for getting out with
manure.
How to ButiLp.
There are so many different ways of building a
silo that it will be impossible to mention them all.
I shall only speak of the most general methods.
Of Masonry.—We built two silos of brick, holding
160 tons each, at Murray Hill, and they gave excel-
lent satisfaction. This was in 1883, and they are as
good to-day as ever. Possibly a masonry silo will
be found the cheapest in the end.
Of Concrete.—Six to eight parts gravel to one of
cement. This is built by pouring or dumping the
mixture between planks placed on edge, and sup-
ported by braces and upright timbers to keep the
218 Ensilage.
planks from spreading. This makes a very service-
able wall, and an inexpensive one, especially where
the owner has the gravel at hand. A wall of this
kind should be eighteen inches at the bottom, and
taper to twelve inches on top, and: be built plumb
on the inside.
The Square Wooden Stlo. —Studding, double
boarded on the inside, with building or tarred paper
betweer the boards, is recommended by some. Oth-
ers say they rot out quickly. The space between
the studding should run up and down and should
‘be well ventilated from the outside. If this precau-
tion is taken the boarding will last a number of years.
The outside may be covered with single board or
double, as the owner may think advisable.
The Round Silo.—This seems to be the favorite
plan of late years, and they are constructed in nu-
merous ways. Half-inch boards sprung to fit up-
right studding, put on double thick, breaking joints,
with building or tarred paper between, and clap-
boarded outside.
Others make several circular joists out of inch
boards nailed together, and use matched boards
for the inside, nailed up and down.
Stave Silos.—This seems to be the favorite of the
wooden structures. I have seen many of these stave
silos, and the one I would copy is built as follows, on
a leveled cement wall, built as shown. Set on end
four or six or eight (according to diameter of silo),
2X 4 inch oak scantlings or other hard wood,
planed. Bend the five-eighth inch round steel rods
The Silo.
t
0
8 Section of Round
Silo Showing Doors
Ws
Q
I (=) Scale:-
a ae
# | a 3 L
We
Gy
°
Batten — []| ©
Hoop
Cement>y Cement ~\
=
9 ieee cen
my
a
Kk s26"»
219
220 Ensilage.
that form the hoops to the circle of the silo. Bore
holes through these 2 x 4 scantling for the hoops
to pass through. The scantling is set edgewise
Scale: = i i
and forms a stave of the silo, as shown. When
these are hooped and set up, the setting up of the
staves on the inside will be a very easy task. These
The Silo. 221
y sr
= _—
Round Silo,
222 Ensilage.
.
hoops are made in sections, three or four pieces to
each hoop, and are afterward drawn together by
nuts on each end, not shown in the cut, as they come
through the two by four. The doors or openings
are nailed to a batten, shaped to fit the circle. They
are then sawed out, and an inch board is put on, as
shown, to formajam. The doors are taken down
as the silage is fed out.
There are lumber firms in all parts of the country
that make a specialty of furnishing the staves any
desired length, and the iron hoops for completing
the same. They are nothing more nor less than
stave cisterns built plumb. As to the cost, if the
stave silo is enclosed, there is little difference in the
cost of the three styles. It would be useless to give
figures, as the price of lumber differs, and what
would be a guide for one would not answer for an-
other.
GENERAL PLAN OF BaRN AND STABLE.
The following plan for a barn and silo suitable for
summer soiling is shown on page 223. This barn
shows two concrete silos, and dotted lines for two
stave silos, one on each side of the barn, in case it is
desirable to stand the cattle facing in opposite direc-
tions. If it is thought more advantageous to stand
the cattle facing each other, the two silos may be
built at the end of the barn, as also shown by dotted
lines, in which case the manure-shed will have to
be moved further to the left. The question of
223
The Silo.
Peo -iejeag
i a a a
“uuaeg Jo ueyg
“pao, “PARA
as
@ \
one }
vi
iar
wBacsveg i me
: ~ frag : one
daaug wpSuew !
xog|~ K ,
—s Su Taeig SLU Pau
hemoariq da Es tues] nue
PEAT “Saag ont
f %.
‘daaug ‘ong "ons WSBIST toe
DBxsseg va a
1 a
H ge ~. OT
¥ a
\
- \ ove |
\ ,
ee at
224 Ensilage.
which way the cattle had better stand may be decid-
ed by the method of handling the manure. If the
stables are to be cleaned daily by wheeling the
manure in a barrow to a compost pile, then the cat-
tle better stand facing, so as to be most convenient
for feeding the soiling crops, which, of course,
must be brought in on a wagon. Where the barn is
already built, and there is not room for a drive
through from end to end, the cattle may stand in
rows crossways of the barn, or the soiling crops may
be driven into the barn on the floor above, and fed
down to the cattle in a shoot. With silos at the end
of the barn, the silage may be thrown into a wagon
from either silo through a shoot, and thus carted in
front of thé cows, and fed directly from the wagon
into the mangers, in case the cows stand facing the
floor, which is on a level with the top of manger,
as is the four-foot passage shown on page 223.
Stackinc ENSILAGE.
The method adopted in England has been to stack
the ensilage, but the practice never became gen-
eral, as they do not grow maize or Indian corn, and
only the grasses, clover, oats, vetches, etc., are
treated in this manner when the seasons are un-
favorable for curing them. While any green plant
may be ensilaged, corn is probably the only crop
that will ever find universal favor for that purpose.
The stacking process with hay is a most laborious
process, and, therefore, has not come into general
The Silo. 326
use. The stacks are usually provided with some
sort of an arrangement for pressing the forage.
That it could be done in this country is evident.
Two canning factories in Mount Morris, N. Y.,
stack their pea vines, corn husks and cobs. These
factories ensilage the husks of over a thousand
acres of corn yearly, and winters feed out this
stacked refuse to several hundred bullocks. The
pea vines from nearly as many acres more are
stacked in the same way (whole).
This year one of the factories ran the refuse
through a cutting box into a rough plank silo about
thirty feet in diameter. The planks were rough
just as they came from the saw-mill, set on end,
and hooped with half-inch round iron. No roof was
put on, and when the silage settled, the staves were
taken down, the silage stood, and the whole mass
kept in perfect form. Next year the staves (2 by 6
inch plank) will be set up again. As to its spoiling,
there is six or eight inches on the sides that rots, and
is thrown into the manure heap. As to freezing,
they experience no inconvenience from that. If the,
top freezes a little, it is mixed with the unfrozen;
fermentation sets up, and the-frozen part is thawed
out by its own combustion.
15
CHAPTER XXI.
GROWING ENSILAGE.
Amount or Lanp REQUIRED.
Twenty tons per acre is a good average crop on
land ina good state of cultivation. The yield per
acre varies from twelve to fifty tons. If you have
built a silo with capacity for your herd as above, it
is easy to compute the number of tons it will require
for six months’ feeding at forty cubic feet per ton.
As to how many acres you will require, that all de-
pends upon the fertility of your soil, and the only
way to tell is by trying. Make a liberal estimate,
If you have too much, it is not necessarily wasted.
It can be shocked and husked as field corn.
PREPARING THE GROUND.
If possible, plow in the autumn and sow to rye.
Top dress the rye during the wintér direct from the
stables. Set stakes so as to continue on snow if
necessary. Next spring plow the rye under, and
as described in chapter on green manure, page 18,
this green crop of rye plowed under will be the
cheapest possible fertilizer, accumulating for you
all the fall, winter, and spring. In this manner,
Growing Ensilage. 227
one field, the most convenient to the barn and silos,
may be kept growing ensilage fodder for years in
succession,
Plow deeper in the spring, the deeper the better.
Put on three horses and do the work ‘thoroughly.
Prepare the soil as for field corn, and sow with a
grain drill rigged as described for sowing corn for
soiling crops, only the rows should be three feet
apart. Sixteen quarts of seed per acre, or twelve
quarts if sown three and one-half feet apart.
Roll the ground before and after drilling, and cul-
tivate two or three times with a smoothing harrow,
teeth set slanting back, or a broadcast weeder.
When corn gets too high for these, go through
once or twice with two-horse or single-horse culti-
vator.
VARIETY.
Personally I prefer the common Western Dent
varieties of medium growth, a kind that ears well,
to the larger, coarser, Southern varieties, which may
produce more tons per acre.
HARVESTING.
With fifteen or twenty acres of ensilage fodder,
no one can afford to be without one of the several
corn harvesters, which will be found most handy in
harvesting corn and sorghum for summer soiling as
well.
A low truck wagon or a low rack between the
wheels of a high wagon are quite essential to the
228 Ensilage.
handling of the fodder. A good plan is to use
three wagons and two teams. A load is brought
to the cutting machine, and driven alongside.
Two men are required at the cutter, one to unload,
the other to feed. The driver leaves his wagon
Showing the McCormick corn harvester cutting corn on newly tile-
drained ground in field where the draft trials were made
there, and goes to the field with one that has just
been emptied. The driver loads his own wagon.
This makes four men to deliver the fodder to the
silo, and one man inside to keep it level and thor-
oughly tramped around the edges, the engineer and
the man who runs the harvester. The cutting may
go on for a day or two before the filling begins.
The wilting of the fodder will do no harm (a heavy
Growing Ensilage. 229
rainstorm probably would). Some deliver the fod-
der to the cutter in one-horse dump carts, dumping
the load at the cutter, and returning to the field.
FILLING THE SILO.
A chute should be arranged to receive the silage
as it comes into the top of the silo, and be so set as
to cause the silage to fall in the center of the silo,
for two reasons: if the silage is delivered into the
silo from the carrier direct, the larger and heavier
pieces are thrown out from the rest, and are, there-
fore, more or less separated on landing inside. This
should be avoided. Again, if the silage falls into
the middle, and is allowed to form ‘a stack there,
the man who distributes the silage to the sides has
all downhill work, and no attention need be paid to
tramping except just around the edges.
The tramping of the edges is best accomplished by
a man standing with his back to the silo wall, and
taking short side steps around the silo, then spread-
ing out another layer, say, a foot thick or more, from
what is accumulating in the centre, then treading
again.
The idea of keeping a lot of men in a silo and
sometimes a horse to tread is superfluous. If the silo
is large and the cutting very rapid, before the men
quit at night or before starting next morning, all
hands can go in for a few minutes and help, or when
there are a few minutes to spare between loads, the
cutter, and feeder, and engineer, if there is one, can
2.30 Ensilage.
give ahand. There is invariably a delay some time
during the day that can be worked to advantage in
this way.
Power.
In some sections there are men who go about with
ensilage cutter and a threshing engine, and supply
the extra help the same as for threshing; and as en-
silage harvest comes after most of the grain thresh-
ing is over, there is usually no difficulty in securing
an engine to do this work.
A two-horse tread power will operate a good-sized
cutter, but it seems like too much work, besides the
horses are all wanted in the field at this time. An
eight horse-power engine is best, as it only requires
four to six horse-power to run a very large cutter.
The engine is easily attended to, and the engineer
can often give a hand at feeding, treading, etc.
PRESSING.
It was formerly thought necessary to weight the
silage heavily. At Maple Lane farm, 1880 to 1883,
we had two feet of stone on a plank covering. At
Murray Hill'in 1884, we made concrete blocks about
eighteen inches square, and hoisted them in and out
with a hand derrick.
Nowadays little attention is paid to weighting; a
few inches of cut straw, and a plank covering are
about all that is necessary, and the majority do
without that. Silage is heavy. A good day’s filling
has weight enough in itself to press all below it.
Growing Ensilage. 231
It is the carbonic acid gas which it generates in
the process of fermentation that is relied upon to
preserve the silage. This is heavier than air. The
first stage toward decay is the lactic, then the alco-
holic, then the acetic. At this point, if the air is
replaced by the carbonic acid gas which this stage
of decomposition produces, the air, as before stated,
is expelled and fermentation ceases. The next
stage to the acetic is decay. When the silage is re-
moved from the silo and comes in contact with the
open air, fermentation begins where it left off, as in-
dicated by the heat that is speedily generated.
The only pressing that is necessary, if any at all,
is to put on enough to press together or exclude as
much air as possible from the last two feet of silage.
It is a good plan to leave one or two days’ cutting to
put on top after the silo has settled. Or, where
there are two silos, they can be cut into alternate
days.
As to slow or rapid filling, there is little to be said
in favor of either.
The question of the quality of the silage, I believe,
is not owing at all to whether the silo was filled fast
or slow, but to the condition of the corn itself when
the harvesting begins. J have ensilaged corn in its
greenest possible stage, before there was a sign of a
leaf, when the ears were not yet fit for roasting or
boiling; also when the ears were glazed and the
leaves were dying, and still later when it was fit to
cut and shock, ears ripe, husks ripe, bo:tom leaves
ripe; then again after a severe frost, and again
232 Ensilage.
with sweet corn after all the ears had been plucked
for the canning factory. Some farmers cut and
shock their ensilage, and after standing for a month
or six weeks in the field, they ensilage it, and even
then it makes good silage. I have had as sour ensi-
lage from slow as from rapid filling, but the stalks
were in both cases green. The poorest silage, sour,
bitter, watery stuff, was from the first mentioned,
the second was better in this respect, and the third
best of all.
This leads me to say that corn for ensilage should
be sown from three to three and one-third feet
apart, according to size of variety, so as to allow it
to very nearly, if not quite, ripen as you would for
cutting and shocking. The thoroughly ripe corn
makes better ensilage than the green. There is,
from the moment the ear reaches maturity, a de-
cided loss in feeding value of the stalk, as shown by
the following:
Time TO HARVEST.
New York experiment Station, 8th Annual Report.
“Yield per acre, and the per cent. of water for
each period:
Pounds Dry Per Cent Tons
Per Acre.}| Matter. | Water. Water
Per Acre.
July 30th, full tasseled......... wee] 18,045 1,619 91.0 8.21
August oth, full silked,.. ++] 255745 3.378 88.08 11,33
August 2rst, kernels in milk ., +s] 32,000 4,643 85.76 13.97
September 7th, kernels glazed........ 32,205 71202 77-70 12.5
September 27th, kernels ripe ......... 28,460 7,918 72.18 10,27
Growing Ensilage. 239
*Professor Roberts, of Cornell University, says:
‘Fodder corn sown broadcast does not meet the needs
of milking cows. Fodder corn is mainly a device of
a thoughtless farmer, to fool his cows into believing
that they have been fed when they have only been
filled up.’
“While the tons of water decreased as it neared
‘maturity, the dry matter steadily increased? From
the first date to the last the dry matter increased
4.8 times, 7.¢., 1,619 to 7,916 lb. per acre, while the
digestible albuminoids increased.”
Starch ° Digestible
Per Acre. Albuminoids.
Hilly F0thi ye ccavcrsieineain side Samat aapraginivets We sete 122.23 117-37
ADEUSEOD os ose cv: omrsweaspieiee <o' eves 491.25 205.79
AUgUSE 21SE. oo cancacerce scenes csaseecreacceees 706.74 207 03
September 7th i 1,734.96 315.42
September 27th 2,852.96 326.21
Corn PER ACRE.
Albuminoids.” | Carbohydrates. Fat.
Jily 0th saiws. semase. ater Sate set 230 77 1,168.10 72.20
August oth... 5 436.76 2,272.19 167.75
August 21st .. 478.69 3703-20 228.90
September 7th ‘ 643.86 6,005.67 259.99
September 27th. .........0...0c00s 677.78 6,561.64 314.34
“ Corn in the shock loses thirteen to fifteen per cent.
of dry matter.”
CovERING.-
Bran as a Covering.—Mr. Henry Woods, of Eng-
land, was the first, I believe, to suggest the practice
of covering the ensilage with bran. He says: “I
234 Ensilage.
chose this covering in order to exclude the air by a
cleaner and also a more effectual mantle than soil.
A shrinkage goes on, soil has a tendency to crack,
making openings that admit the air, and some por-
tions of the soil, at least, work down into the ensi-
lage. Moreover, there is the immense advantage of
perfect cleanliness combined with usefulness.” He
wrote this in 1883. In 1884 he says, “ Further ex
perience has confirmed me in this view, z.¢., a layer
of bran over the boards not less than four or five
inches in depth is the best possible covering.”
He adds in substance, by way of caution, that some
have fallen into a great mistake of putting the bran
under the planks instead of over, in which case the
bran was injured for feeding purposes.
The method that seems to have met with most
universal favor in the States is to cut or spread over
the top grass, then boards or planks. Others have
covered with plank and earth, and report most favor-
ably. Others still have put no covering at all over
the silage except boards, while still others claim that
the silage keeps better if planked and weighted.
CHAPTER XXIl.
FEEDING ENSILAGE.
AMOUNT OF RATION,
ENsILAGE is not a perfect food, we are told by the
chemist, and to make it so requires (per cubic foot) a
few pounds of bran, crushed oats, oil-cake meal, or
one feeding a day of cured oats and peas or clover
hay. As tothe amount of grain to be given with
two feedings of ensilage and one of clover hay, that
depends entirely what we are feeding for, the dry
cattle and young things will thrive on ensilage
morning and evening, and ciover hay or oats or
peas at noon. If it is desirable to make winter but-
ter, a ration of the above mixture in the following
proportions will be found about right: three parts
bran, two parts crushed oats, and one part of oil-
cake meal (old process preferred). My experiments
with so-called balanced rations have not been as
satisfactory in practice as in theory. I am quite
satisfied with the above feed. As to the amount of
silage to feed morning and night, give all they will
eat up clean. The feeder will soon learn how much
to give of grain or silage. The best rule is to keep
giving grain as long as a cow responds toit. When
236 Ensilage.
you have reached that point, you have found your
animal’s capacity, and there stop. You will require
a pair of scales to weigh each milking, a Babcock to
make occasional tests. With these at hand, you can
easily find a cow’s capacity. To this she should be
fed to make her most economical. Noone can make
acast-iron feeding ration. Only an intelligent feeder
with scales and test at hand can find a cow’s capac-
ity, and you will be surprised to find that two quarts
of the above mixture a day is one cow’s limit, and
sixteen quarts a day can be taken care of by a cow
standing next to her. Balanced rations are, no
doubt, all right theoretically, but there comes in
capacity of the cow, strength of machinery. A
small cow may be, and they generally are, better
and more economical feeders than large ones. It
takes, we are told, two per cent. of the live weight a
day of hay or its equivalent to sustain life. A cow
weighing 1,000 1b. will require twenty pounds that
goto run the machine. A cow weighing 1,500 lb.
requires thirty pounds a day, ten pounds a day more
to support that extra 500 1b. of carcass. Ten pounds
a day could be put to better use by being fed to the
1,000 lb, cow. Ten pounds a day is 3,500 lb. a year,
or one and three-quarters tons of hay or its equiva-
lent. At $12 a ton this equals $20 a year, just to
support that extra 500 Ib. of carcass that is no earthly
use to the cow or owner until she goes to the block.
A 1,500 lb. cow must yield $20 a year more than a
1,000 lb. cow to pay as well, all other things being
equal. This is no fancy sketch. It is a question
Feeding Ensilage. 297
easily demonstrated, and when a breeder or a dairy-
man begins culling out his cattle to those that pay
the best for the amount of food consumed, he will,
as a rule, discard more cows that weigh over 1,000
Ib. than under. So much for feeding. No rule can
be given. Each cow must answer for herself.
Cost or PRopDUCTION.
On this subject there is a very wide difference in
the estimates sent into the agricultural papers, all
the way from 30 cents to $2.00 per ton. I may give
the following as an approximate estimate of the cost
of growing and harvesting one acre; producing
thirty tons, which is a very good yield, and a very
good day's work to harvest it:
Plowing, seeding, cultivating’. cc.c0s. sea csv@enw rev eeeens $5.00
Seed, twelve quarts, 60 cents per bushel .................. +25
Harvesting, three laborers in the field. ..............46.... 3.00
‘Whree Taborets: ats 3 is-0:5 x -ccsesasdeiwSenee See Bodin wtb area sa ewanene 3.00
One engineer, engine and fuel... 0.6. cceccccece ese reese 5.00
Atsthirty: tons’ per acre sewes oes sss wealaesudiels es geese ee $16.2
This makes a cost of 54 cents per ton, to which
should be added, if you wish to get at the full cost:
Brought forwards) cscs desweweiwss ooo ewersgaaaaaurae ses es $16.25
Wisritiee, 6b a eas cena occ een ae cae cenerenek wee eKa ¥ 5.00
Use of three teams, one cutting, two hauling, say.......... 5.00
Use of grounds: 22.0 ons cases s4s.s A eeeeieies sa5.445 a 5.00
Use of tools and silo........... eee ere eee 5.00
238 Ensilage.
This brings the total cost at about $1.20 per ton-
The above does not signify very much either way.
Some may find my figures too high and others too
low. My ensilage. has never cost me much over 50
cents per ton, as shown in first table.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SOILING VS. ENSILAGE.
CoMPARATIVE VALUE.
Ir has been advocated by some enthusiastic ensilage
men that, instead of soiling cattle in summer, en-
silage should be fed the year round.
This opinion must certainly come from enthusiasm,
for in reality there are small grounds on which to
sustain such an argument. I have already said soil-
ing is as far ahead of ensilaging as ensilage is ahead
of cured fodder. First, there is a loss of feeding
value in silage amounting to about twenty-five per
cent. Second, soiling is more economical in point
of extra labor (that many seem to think isso great).
Soiling crops go direct from the field to the cattle.
Ensilage has to be cut and deposited in the silo,
then taken out again. All this labor is omitted in
case of soiling crops. Again, oats and peas, barley,
rye, the clovers, are more nearly a perfect feed in
the green state than corn, even before it has lost
twenty-five per cent. of its feeding value in the silo.
Again, the change from silage to fresh-cut oats
and peas, for instance, is a very welcome change,
and has never, in my experience, failed to increase
the flow of milk. True, there is a little saving in
240 Ensilage.
securing the ensilage at once, but not as much as is
imagined.
There should always be enough ensilage to more
than last through the season. The new crop can be
put on top of what is left without the slightest in-
jury to either.
CHAPTER XNIV.
CONCLUSION.
SYSTEM.
THERE is one thing especially necessary in con-
ducting the soiling system successfully. It is not
capital as some might suppose, for men without capi-
tal-are usually the first to adopt it. It is also un-
necessary that a man should have a large farm
stocked and equipped, because the system is equally
well adapted to a limited number of acres.
Nor will only those be successful who live near
large cities, where land is high. Whatever may be
the condition of the land, it is safe to say than the
amount of land that will keep one head by pasturing
will keep four or five by soiling. The rule works as
well on cheap land as on high-priced land, the latter
not being necessarily more productive than the
former. Therefore, if from land worth $25 per
acre, a farmer sells as many dollars’ worth of prod-
uce as on land near the city worth $200 per acre,
the soiling system is as profitable to the one as to
the other. The difference in the profit from soiling
will be found from the productiveness of the soil,
and not necessarily in the price of the land. If on
a farm worth $100 per acre a farmer can keep one
16
242 Ensilage.
cow one year from an acre of- land, and another,
whose farm on account of its location, is worth $200
per acre, but is only capable of keeping one cowa
year upon two to five acres, the profit in soiling is
greatly in favor of the farmer with the cheaper land,
so far as keeping cows is concerned.
This is mentioned because it is so often stated that
“it may pay to soil where the land is high-priced,”
and to show that the price of land is not a sure indi-
cation that soiling will be found successful in pro-
portion to its cash value. Wecan imagine, however,
a farmer, under the most favorable circumstances,
failing to obtain satisfactory results from soiling, for
the want of system.
Without system a farmer may soon become dis-
heartened, and pronounce the whole thing impracti-
cable; for instance, by omitting to sow at the
proper time, or the proper amount. Sowing too
much at atime, the stock are unable to consume it
in its most succulent state, continuing to feed until
it becomes tough, when it is only eaten to satisfy in-
tense hunger. By having too little, his cows must
be turned into the field until the next crop is in
condition, thus causing him to become dissatisfied.
Again, we can imagine a man with plenty of feed,
putting, at one feeding, sufficient before his cows to
last them all day; they breathe upon it for a few
hours, and nothing short of severe hunger will in-
duce them to take it, in which case his stock would
shrink in the flow of milk, and increase on turning
them to pasture, which would lead him to say that
Conclusion, 243
the cows did better at pasture, and thus condemn
the system.
Again, by not having properly constructed stables
or stalls, they might become very filthy or unhealthy,
and the cow would long for ‘‘ pleasant fields and pure
air,” and this might lead the farmer to abandon the
system.
Again, his manner of cutting and feeding might
require more labor than the advocates of the system
profess, and he might thus think that the system
might be well enough for a farmer with plenty of
capital, a “fancy farmer,” a “book farmer,” but not
for him.
Again, by his undertaking too much at once, and
getting everything mixed up. The last state of that
man would be worse than the first.
But by so systematizing the work that every want
will be supplied, any farmer can feel sure of success.
He need not necessarily follow the plan in detail that
is laid down in the previous pages, for it is not so
perfect but that it may be improved. If closely
followed, the system will lead to success; therefore,
I may be pardoned for saying that until he learns
by actual experience a better way, the beginner is
advised to adhere to the plan pointed out in all
its essential points. Many things that looked as if
they would result in improvements, when put to the
test, will be found wanting. The principal requis-
ite to success by soiling is system. -
The work of sowing, cutting, and feeding should
all be placed in the charge of one person, who can
244 Ensilage.
be relied upon to do the work as directed; and when
the daily routine is once established, it will be found
much less laborious than it seems to be. The labor
is comparatively light; it may be performed by a
stout boy where the number of cows does not exceed
twenty-five head, but nothing should be left to
chance.
When the proper time comes for sowing, the work
must be done. The cutting must also be attended
to when the crop is ready. The feeding also must
be regular and uniform in quantity.
With a little practice, and if a person is not entirely
destitute of ability to work systematically, he can-
not easily fail of conducting the soiling system with
profit, and also to enjoy the many advantages which
it affords. I have never heard of a man who hay-
ing once thoroughly adopted the system, was not,
ever afterward, decidedly pronounced in its favor.
EDUCATION.
As Mr. Stewart says, in conducting the soiling
system successfully, “the need is more for head
work than for hand work.”
I believe that he might have extended the remark
to every branch of agriculture, especially where the
price of land is necessarily high. The day has gone
by in the older States when a man can follow farm-
ing, because he does not know enough to do any-
thing else. It may be done in the West, where
land may be had for the asking, and so productive
Conclusion. 245
that by “the slightest effort it will produce an
abundant harvest;” but in the East it is not only
essential that the farmer should possess a knowledge
of how to produce a crop from the soil, but how to
leave the soil in as good condition as before the crop
was taken, or better. This, in my opinion, is good
farming; while he who harvests a crop at the expense
of the soil is not a true husbandman.
Farming is an honorable profession, but he who
tries to obtain by it something for nothing is never
a credit to his profession. There seems to be among
some classes of farmers a great antipathy to what
they term book farmers. Why may every other
man learn what pertains to the advancement of
his business from books, and not the farmer? We
point with pride to this man or that man in the
medical profession, and say that he is a well-read
physfcian; to a lawyer, and say that he is a well-
read attorney; to a citizen, and say that he is the
best-read man in the place. These are chosen and
preferred for their learning, and their excellence is
measured by the number of books they have mas-
tered.
Again, why should farmers subscribe for two or
more papers devoted to politics, religion, or science,
and read them diligently, papers devoted to every
subject but one? Why purchase books of fiction,
books pertaining to all subjects but one, and that
-one his own business? Why does he consult his
neighbor as to his methods of growing a certain:
crop, and follow his example, when, if the neighbor
246 Ensilage.
should write out his experience in book form, it
would be denounced as book farming? Whence do
farmers’ sons get the idea that, as Soon as they ob-
tain an education, there is no use for it on the
farm? They are sent to school, taught chemistry,
botany, engineering, and surveying, but from their
fathers’ examples they have learned to think that
such an education may do well enough for a book-
keeper or a dry-goods. clerk, but to apply such
knowledge to an agricultural pursuit is all wrong;
it is book farming, and yet it is knowledge that can
be put to practical use on the farm.
Do farmers mean to acknowledge that their pro-
fession requires less intelligence than others?
What is there in farming that requires a man to
be ignorant? Must a farmer, in getting on in the
world, move backward like a crab, or as Mark Twain
says of the inhabitants of the Azores Islands, among
whom all efforts to introduce new and improved
methods of farming have failed: “The peasants
crossed themselves, and prayed to God to shield
them from all blasphemous desire to know more
than their fathers did before them’?
These questions I will leave the reader to solve.
However, I will venture to suggest as a remedy, a
better education for the future farmer. The great
problem of feeding and clothing the millions de-
pends upon the success of agriculture, and requires
of its followers a knowledge that embraces a wider .........
and more liberal education than any other pursuit.
Said the late President Garfield: “ At the head of
Conclusion. 247
all the sciences and arts, at the head of civilization
and progress, stands; not militarism, the science
that kills, not commerce, the art that accumulates
wealth, but agriculture, the mother of all industry
and the maintainer of human life.”
Farmers’ Sons.
It must be admitted that agriculture at the pres-
ent time has much to discourage the farmers’ sons
and daughters; but the outlook for the near future
is brighter. Soon our government lands will all
be given away. At no distant day, the cities, at the
present rate of increase (compared with agricul-
ture), will consume all our own farm products.
This day is hastening on like a candle burning at
both ends; the Government burning at one end, the
Western immigrant farmers, who are rapidly reduc-
ing the fertility of their land, are hastening the
good time from the other end. There is surely a
good time coming, A day is dawning when agri-
culture will once more take rank, as she deserves,
among the noblest and highest professions.
Let me admonish you to stick to the old farm a
little longer, and try soiling.
FINIS.
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11