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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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SUMMER WINTER,

—OR—

Economy in Feeding Farm Stock.

Relating the experience of the Author, and giving the latest
and most economical methods of Summer and
Winter Feeding by the system
of Soiling.

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FYS*PEER, °
HAST PALMYRA, N. Y.

>"COPYRIGHT 7EGNN
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PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.A A’ 5 1839 ,})

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ROCHESTER, N. Y:: a

HERVEY H. SMITH, PRINTER, 117 AND 119 WEST MAIN STREBT.
——1882. —

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by
FRANK 8. PEER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

|

DEDICATION.

To the farmers’ sons of America this book is dedicated, with
the best wishes of the Author, and in the hope that
they may find within its pages both the
inclination and the encouragement to
® pursue agriculture as a business, instead of leav-

ing the farm for some so-called “ higher” profession.

INTRODUCTION

fled the intelligent farmer, who keeps abreast of the
times by the perusal of one or more good agri-
cultural papers, there is little need of an introduc-
tion to the subject of soiling. He is already fa-
miliar with the subject and requires no formal pre-
sentation of what this book contains. To any
others who may chance to peruse these pages, I
will say that the work is designed to answer the
perplexing questions, how can a farmer enrich his
soil in a sure and economical way; how improve
and increase his farm stock; how supply them
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
or drouths; how increase his acreage without buy-
ing more land. An attempted solution of these
and kindred questions, will be found in the follow-
ing pages.

In relating my own experience in conducting the
soiling system, it is not my purpose to boast of
what / have done, or what / can do. Any other
farmer may practice the system with the same or
even better results; for my knowledge of it is not
perfect, and each year’s experience reveals many
new advantages of the system.

INTRODUCTION. 5

In these days of hurry and push a man of busi-
ness has not time to waste in reading refined and
imaginary theories, but he seeks how he may
shun the failures of others, how he may profit by
the experience which has led the actual worker to
success ; thus avoiding the hard and often discour-
aging teachings of experience. 1 have, therefore,
avoided speculation, and endeavored to present
this subject in the light of.“ vulgar truth,” giving
only what I have found, after repeated trials, fail-
ures and successes, to be the most economical and
the best methods of condcuting the soiling system.
I do not pretend to say that my conclusions will
be found infallible under all circumstances, but I
hope that by showing how the general principles
of the system have been adapted to my circum-
stances, the reader may obtain a clear view of its
workings and be enabled to adapt it with such al-
terations as the different conditions under which
he may operate shall suggest.

[am not farming for pleasure, although I find a
great deal of pleasure in it. I follow farming as a
business, in gaining my daily bread, the acquisition
of which depends upon my own endeavors, and the
blessings of Providence. I am not backed by a
profitable business in the city to aid in carrying
out mere ideas or visionary theories, regardless of
expense. My readers need not fear, then, that they
are about to be entertained by the diversions of a
“fancy farmer.”

[ have no apology to offer for presenting this
subject to the public in book form. I humbly ac-
knowledge that it is not done “at the earnest so-
licitation of numerous friends,’ but because I am
intensely interested in farming as a business or
profession, and would fain see more of our intelli-

6 INTRODUCTION.

gent young men engage in this pursuit. And to
such of my co-laborers as may wish to know them,
I shall explain in detail how I found the answers
to the different questions which confront and per-
plex us in the beginning of our own life work.

As a literary writer, | make no pretensions. If
this work is well received, it must be entirely on
its merits as a record of the personal practical
views and experience of a farmer. And if the
reader finds as much pleasure in perusing these
pages as it has afforded me to write them, I shall
feel that my labor has not been spent for naught,
nor his attention engaged in vain.

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THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD ON THE DEVELOPMENT
OF FARM STOCK.

As the quality and quantity of forage crops de-
pend upon the fertility of the soil, in like manner
does the condition of our domestic animals depend
upon the quality and quantity of the tood which
the soil produces. The cow is but a machine for
the production of milk, butter, cheese or beef; the
sheep is but a maker of wool and mutton; the
horse is but a motive power for draft or speed. In
either case the raw material employed is simply
the food each consumes, and the profit realized by
the owner is produced by the amount of food con-
sumed above that required to supply the demands
of the physical organization, as the profits of a fac-
tory are found in its products after deducting the
cost, and as the profit of a steam engine hes only
in the power it can exert after sustaining its own
motion. ‘I do not mean to say,” says Mr. M.
Allender, in a paper read before the London
Farmers’ Club, “ that a cow is like a steam boiler,
that the more coal (food) you throw into the fur-
nace the better results you obtain, but I do main-

3 SOILING.

tain that the food, both in kind and quantity, has
much to do with the important item of profit and
loss.”

It may be said that forced feeding of farm stock
is not only injurious to the animal, but also defeats
the end in view. True, but no more so than of the
factory or the steam engine. They, also, have lim-
its beyond which they cannot be forced without
great risk of lost to the owner.

Says Mr. Hoxie: “It is generally supposed that
varieties of domestic animals have sprung from
comparatively few families; that all varieties of
the horse, from the draft-horse to the Shetland
pony, have sprung from one family; that all varie-
ties of the cow, trom the little Kerry to the magni-
ficent Short Horn, are from the same original
stock.’ And history informs us that the American
trotter, the English hunter, the Clydesdale of Scot-
land, and the Percheron of France, have a common
ancestor in the Arabian horse. What, we may
naturally inquire, is the cause of the wide differ-
ences between them? If our cows are from the
same family, why is it that the Jersey cannot com-
pete with the Hereford for beef? And in the case
of horses, why can not the Clydesdale compete
with the Hambletonian on the track, or enter the
race for the Derby?

These variations in domestic animals have oc-
curred principally within the memory of man.
Therefore, the oft repeated adage that “like begets °
like,’’.. cannot be; strictly. true. We must; look
further; for, to accept one and not regard the
other, would, to say the least, result in uncertainty ;
but to reject both sends us still further back into
ignorance.

Referring again to history, we read: “ The /er-

THE INFEUENCE OF FOOD. 9

tility of the soi of the rich valley of the Tees orig-
inated the English Shorthorn; the barren mountain
regions of the northwest part of Ireland, the little
Kerry; the fertile plains of western Europe, sever-
al varieties of the great draft horse ; and the bleak,
barren islands off the north coast of Scotland, the
Shetland pony.”

From this we may infer that, while “like begets
like,” the different families of domestic animals may
be so improved that, after a few generations, there
can be found few points of close resemblance to
the original. I shall try to show how this varia-
tion, and the development of new and valuable
characteristics, are largely due to the znfluence of
food, and how a correct knowledge of feeding
places in the hands of the farmer a lever power,
the force of which cannot be estimated.

The principles of feeding and selection in the
process of breeding are no longer experimental, but
have become resolved into a science quite exact.
Prof. Miles, in his valuable work on “ Stock Breed-
ing,’ says: ‘The Kerry cattle are a small and
hardy race. The scarce supply of coarse food
obtained upon their native hills (Ireland) by indus-
trious efforts give a slow growth and a late
development of the organization, so that heifers
doymot, breed. suwntil’ stxii:years ‘old. "| ‘Te “adds,
“Animals of the same breed raised in Massachusetts,
under more favorable conditions for development,
are larger than the original type and mature earlier,
the heifers breeding at the age’of' three years.”
He attributes the change to the influence of better
food and shelter.

‘“Long-wooled sheep,” says Mr. Stewart, “are
properly the natives of the rich lowlands of Eng-
land which are productive of abundant succulent

ite) SOILING.

and nutritious pasture.’’ Asin the animal kingdom
there is a marked difference between the animals
of the samme breed which feed upon the barren hills
and those which graze in the fertile valleys of the
same country, there isa similar variation from a sim-
ilar cause noted in the vegetable world. In the trop-
ics the forest trees and plants never cease to grow,
feeding upon rich plant food during the entire
year, thereby developing grand proportions. But
as we approach the north and the cold increases,
vegetation diminishes, until we reach the Frigid
Zone, where, says Dr. Hall, ‘‘ you can cover a forest
of a thousand trees with your hat.” As already
stated, plants, like animals, live, feed, grow and die,
and the development of each depends upon the
amount and quality of their respective foods. As
vegetation thrives best in the warmer climates, we
should learn the importance of providing warm
and comfortable quarters for our farm stock dur- |
ing the winter. And, again. as plants thrive best
where they obtain their food uniform in quality
and quantity during the entire year, the best results
in our stock can be reached only by a similar pro-
vision for them.

The soiling system, summer and winter, offers the
very best means known, at the present day, of
accomplishing -these results. The field of one
farmer may produce bountifully while that of
his neighbor over the fence may not produce
enough to pay the expense of growing and har-
vesting. Of the former, we may say the land is
rich; of the latter, poor. What we really mean to
say is that the soil of the one has been well supplied
with plant food, while the other has been starved
and is hungry. There are thousands of farm
animals that do not pay the interest on their pur-

THE INFLUENCE, OF FOOD. i

chase price above the cost of their keeping, simply
because they are not fed enough. Says Francis
Morris, in the Agricultural Report of 1863, ‘‘ Take
two Durham calves from cows of equal purity,
sired by the same bull, send one into ‘green fields
and pastures new,’ stable it in cold weather, give it
all ican need for its health and comfort; turn the
other out to pick its own living on a rocky, barren
field, to shiver with cold, to search wearily for
food. At the end of a year, compare them. The
first will be a fat, sturdy, handsome fellow, sleek,
bright, erect of head, courageous and intelligent ;
the other, a miserable, melaneholy runt, without
pluck or beauty, lean, small, and showing scarcely
a trace of beauty.’’ He adds, in substance, “‘ Now
try to fatten them. The one that was well treated
will thrive rapidly; the other, though it may
improve, will never attain its proper size, nor be
anything but a runt; nor will it be fit for breeding
purposes; the probabilities are that the runt qual-
ities acquired by hard usage will be transmitted.”

The influence of food has alsoa marked effect on
the reproductive powers of animals. Says Prof.
Tanner Miles, in his work on “Stock Breeding,”
“When the tall rains have been small, and the herb-
age more than usually parched, we find unusual dif-
ficulty in getting ordinary farm stock to breed. A
dry dietary is very unfavorable for breeding animals
and very much retards successful impregnation.
On the other hand, rich, juicy and succulent vege-
tation is very generally favorable to breeding.”
Taking advantage of this, breeders of long wool
and mutton sheep manage to have a fresh pasture
in which to turn their ewes during the coupling
season, or supply them with other green forage,
such as tares and rape, sometimes adding grain ;

rE EI pe ie oe) E

L2 SOTEING:,

by so doing the ewes are more apt to drop twins.
It is evident that the influence of food has much to
do not only with the improvement and early ma-
turity of our farm stock, but also with the question
of profit and loss while keeping them. The econ-
omy in feeding farm stock in order to attain the
greatest improvement, earliest maturity, and largest
profits, is the result of continued liberal feeding of
the most succulent and nutritious foods abundant
in albumenoids, carbo-hydrates, and fat. The
economy in feeding farm crops, in order to obtain
the greatest growth, the earliest maturity, or the
largest profit, will likewise be found in the most
liberal supply of plant food, abundant in nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, and potash.

He who would practice true economy in feeding
should have lettered upon the walls of his stables,
and distinctly and indelibly stamped upon the
tablets of his memory, the ancient and wise saying,
“Withholding doth not enrich thee nor giving im-
poverish.” ;

The effect of food and selection in breeding,
which has already been noticed, has produced, in
each family of domestic animals, three distinct
characters. Thus, among cattle, are those pecul-
iarly developed for producing beef, milk, or butter;
ot sheep, are those best for fine wool, long wool,
or mutton, and of horses, are those excellent for
draft, road, or speed. We may well consider, for
instance, how the influence of food has produced
in the bovine race one breed excellent for beef, °
another for milk, and another for butter. The
successful plan for improving stock has always
been by the perfection of some one valuable qual-
ity and making all others subordinate. Says Prof.
Mules," Wihen-the’ entire ‘energies ‘of tae system

THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD. 13

are acting in a particular direction, as they must
do to ensure the highest developement of a single
quality, there is no residuum of force for the de-
velopement of other qualities that are not strictly
correlated with the one made dominant.” In these
days of close competition, it is very essential that
the breeder, who would successfully compete with
his neighbor, should select a breed (at least the
sire) whose ancestry excels in the qualities best
adapted to the condition of his farm and the
demands of his nearest market. From such animals
only will he receive the most profitable returns
from his investment. A cow, for instance, which
is a “jack at all trades, is master of none,’ and can
not compete with trained milkers, butter makers,
or beef producers. Every farmer knows that a
combined machine is seldom a perfect one in any
respect. Formerly, machines for reaping and
mowing were combined ; but farmers soon discov-
ered that, although the first cost was a little more,
separate machines were rather to be desired, since
each afforded the advantages for its peculiar use
without being burdened with more or less useless
machinery, and was always ready for immediate
use without changing the “rig.’’ As already stat-
ed, a cow is but a machine for the production of
beef, milk, or butter, and experience teaches that a
cow of various qualities is never as profitable as
one that is bred, fed and cared for with but one aim
inview. Not every farmer is able to buy thorough-
bred stock; but every one should have a definite
object in view, or, as the years go by, he will gain
nothing by way of improvement, and this is not
progressive farming. Nearly a year is required
for a cow to breed, and to allow this length of time

—————————————————

14 SOILING.

to elapse without improvement in the stock is to
lose forever a valuable opportunity.

In considering how the proper management of
food may assist in the improvement of the stock of
a farmer who has not the means to buy stock
already improved, and how such an one may de-
velope in his herd a greater proclivity for convert-
ing their food into beef, milk, or butter, as may be
desired, let us take, for example, the “combined ”’
cow, 2.¢., one which excels in nothing, and see how
sie may be improved. First, ior beet. , (The sire
should be supplied with an abundance of rich and
nutritious food, such as produces the most fat. He
should be well cared for and furnished with com-
fortable quarters, and indulged in laziness, as that
is conducive to flesh. When wanted for service
he should be quite fat, that he may transmit to his
progeny a tendency in that direction. The dam
should be similarly fed, and should be taking on
flesh, especially during the period of gestation, not
so much for benefit to her, for she is already grown
and no amount of feeding will benefit her. The
Object’ is to, create in “her, unborn cal withstne
assistance of the sire’s influence, a greater tendency
to fatten. This tendency thus transmitted 1s
operative only during gestation, so that the oppor-
tunity for improvement in the young virtually
ceases at its birth. For, at whatever stage of
perfection the young of any animal may arrive, the
result is due to the impetus receive from the
parents. Heifers should not be allowed to breed
until at thease of three years, atid “wery little
account should be taken of the quantity and quality
of milk. In fact many breeders allow the calves to
run with their dams for three or four months and
then dry them off. Mr. Price, a noted Hereiord

THE, INFEVENCE OF FOOD. 15

breeder, says: ‘“ Experience has taught me that
no animals possessing form and other requisites
giving them a great disposition to fatten, are cal-
culated to give much milk, nor is it reasonable to
suppose they should,—it is in direct opposition to
the law of nature.”” By applying the above princi-
ples of feeding, we may-reasonably expect to
rapidly improve the tendency to fatten,—not that
it will take less food to make a pound of beef, but
because the growing generations have been better
educated, if I may use the expression, to convert
their food more entirely to the one purpose, z. ¢.,
beef.

If it be desirable to improve on our “combined”
cow, sothat her progeny will be more profitable
milk producers, the food for the sire should be
plentiful, but of the kind which produces in the
cow quantity of milk, rather than flesh, (J/zles on
Stock Breeding, page 90). Although bountifully fed,
it should xever be to the extent of developing fat-
tening proclivities; nor should he be allowed to
exercise to the developement of muscle. His gen-
eral appearance should be feminine. The dam
should be fed on such food as produces the great-
est quantity of milk; and especially during the
period of gestation, her feed must be bountiful.
The milk secreations should be stimulated to their
fullest extent, consistent with health, that the or-
gans of lactation in the unborn calf may be more
fully developed than those found in the normal
condition of thedam. Heiiers should breed early,
—at least, when coming two years old—and trained
to long milking periods, not allowing them to go
dry more than one or two months before the birth
of the second calf.

In breeding for butter, there is no particular dif-

16 SOILING.

ference in feeding from the method last described,
except that the feed should be of a richer kind.
The quality of the milk should be improved, re-
eardless of the quantity: Some of the greatest
milkers, giving forty-five quarts, or ninety pounds,
per day, are, as butter makers, surpassed by one
of the butter producing breeds which may give
only twenty quarts per day. My own experience,
which I think every dairyman and observing farm-
er will endorse, is that the cow which eats the most
and keeps the poorest is the most profitable for
milk or butter; while the cow which eats the least
and takes on the most flesh is the most profitable
for beef.. Paradoxical as this may seem, it is in
perfect harmony with the laws of nature.

Important as it is to understand the art of feed-
ing, our best efforts may be defeated by an improp-
er selection, which the condition of the farm and
the demands of the nearest market, rather than any
individual preference, should determine. Gener-
ally speaking, families of the bovine race may be
divided according to their special advantages, as
follows:

Those producing beef, Herefords and Short
Horns.

Those producing milk, Holsteins and Ayreshires.

5 butter, Jerseys and Guernseys.

eae breeding for beef will tell you that such
a calf gained three pounds of flesh per day fora
year; but there is nothing to say about milk or
butter. Those breeding milkers will show you a
cow which gives from ninety to a hundred pounds
of milk per day ; but they have little, if anything,
to say about the amount or quality of butter. The
breeders of butter makers will show you a cow
which produces three pounds of butter per day,

THE INFLUENCE. OF FOOD. 17

but make no mention of the quantity of milk. Some
one might suggest that it would be a good plan to
couple the beefers with the deepest milkers, and
again with the best butter makers, thus consolida-
ting the desirable qualities of all breeds. The re-
sult would be merely a grade animal, probably
little or no improvement upon our native cattle,
and thus we should again have our “ combined”’
machine. This plan ot breading has often been
tried but has as often failed. Each family has pe-
culiar traits for which it is prized, and to combine
these is, in a great measure, to destroy them. The
laws governing the principles of breeding were
ordained by the author of all creation, and took
eect withthe) first; breath: ot, life.: Ehey, are, as
changeless as the laws of force, gravitation, and
light. How essential is it, therefore, that we
should understand them and work in harmony
with them? To attempt to alter or even modify
them is to work discouragement and failure.

In representing the different breeds of cattle, it
has not been for the purpose of elevating one
breed above another. Each family, if selected for
just what it is, will far surpass, in its peculiar ca-
pacity, all others. It is nothing short of absurdity
to select milkers from a family which, for the last
two or three hundred years, has been breed for
beef, and wzce versa. It would be equally consist-
ent to choose the Clydesdale for the race course,
or the Hambletonian for the dray. In my opinion,
one of the most absurd theories advanced as a
reason for selecting a large breed of cattle, with
inherent beef proclivities, for the dairy, is ‘that
when, we are through with them as milkers, we
can realize more money on disposing of them for
beef.” Acting on this principle, a farmer, on being

2

8 SOILING.

offered the choice of two cows, of goo and_ 1,200
pounds weight, prefers the one heavier than the
other. Now, it has been repeatedly proven by
careful experiments, in England, Germany and
America, that it requires of hav, in pounds, or their
equivalent, two per cent. of the live weight, per
day, to sustain life, without producing milk or flesh.
At this rate, it takes six pounds of hay more per
day to sustain the extra three hundred pounds of
flesh; and the cost of this extra feed, at $15 per
ton, would amonnt to $16.42 for the year. The
average period of usefulness of a cow is ten years.
So that the cost of sustaining the extra three hun-
dred pounds until the cow had outlived her use-
fulness as a milker, would amount to $164.20: but,
at that’ timey ithe .three hundred» pounds obvbset
would be worth only $12.00. Again, it is esti-
mated that it requires three poundsof hay per day
to produce one quart of milk. That is to say, after
the animal has consumed two per cent. of her live
weight, three pounds of hay, or its equivalent, in
addition will be necessary to produce one quart of
milk. Therefore, the six pounds of hay which is
daily consumed to support the extra three hundred
pounds of flesh, would produce in a cow weighing
three hundred pounds less two quarts of milk,
which, for three hundred days, the average milking
season, would amount to six hundred quarts; and
this, at three cents per quart would amount to
$18 per year, or, for the ten years $180. As both
cows originally cost the same, say $40, estimating
the cost of keeping the smaller at $1 per week, and
admitting that the larger cow gives ten quarts of
milk per day, milking 300 days of the year, their
accounts, at the end of ten years would be as
follows:

THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD. 19

LARGE COW. || SMALL COW.

J ope Wea Ox Rhee) aa ag
Poieest 4 = |--1B 4000 | $ 40 |
To cost keeping, - | 684.20) t 520
$724.20, | $560 |
Byamlk, +.) \- $900.00 ‘$1,080
Bywpeci, - “5 =) °- | 48.00 36
$948.00 $1,116
72420 560
/Perotrty )tt '- '$223.80 $556

These figures serve to show the fallacy in sup-
porting three hundred pounds of extra flesh for
ten years for the sake of having that much more to
dispose of at the end of that time. _ It also serves
to show the greater comparative value of the cow
which gives at a milking only one quart more than
another. In ten years we go to a cow about six
thousand times for milk; we can go to her but
once for beef. It might be suggested that the
calves of the larger cow would weigh at least
twenty-five pounds each more than those of the
smaller; but this, at four cents a pound, would
amount to only one dollar per year; and, on the
other hand, if the heifer calves were to be raised
for dairy purposes, any one knowing the dams
would, other things being equal, pay at least twice
as much for the calves of the smaller cow as for
those of the larger.

The reader may ask, what has the influence of
food and the selection of a breed to do with soiling ?
Not so much perhaps as soiling has to do with such
influence and selection,—by placing within the

20 SOILING.

hands of the farmer the means by which he may
best improve his farm stock, 7. ¢., an abundance of
rich, succulent and nutritious foods during the
entire year, which, when fed to stock possessing
the tendency, to convertit' nto; the product de
manded, will return to him handsome profits and
afford the best and most economical means of
enriching the soil for the growing crops. Thus he
may feed his stock more bount ifully, knowi ing that
it will surely return to him ina well filled pail, or
that it is being certainly stored away on the ribs
of his fattening steers. He may feed with a more
liberal hand, knowing that in the compost heap he
is storing treasures, and that these will be com-
mitted to the fields, as to the hands of the faith-
ful steward, which will return them again with
usury. Once started in the right direction, forsak-
ing all others, there will be no limit to the success-
ful application of energy and skill. He may run
with safety where, if his course were doubtful, to
walk would be uncertain; and uncertainty robs a
man of that vim and push which is so essential to
success in any line of business. But, if on the nght
track, though ine may stumble and even fall, he will
yet recover. ‘Be sure you're vzght, then gv ahead.”

THE -COMPARATIVE VALUES OF GRAIN AND
FORAGE CROPS.
Says Lockhardt: ‘‘ Good farming consists 1n tak-

ne lar ge crops from the soil, w ale at the same
time, you leave it better than you found it.’

GRAIN VS. FORAGE CROPS. ea

Good crops make good manure, and good manure
makes good crops. The value of grains and forage
crops for animal food depends, principally, upon the
amount of albumenoids, carbo-hy drates and fat
which they contain; while their value for plant
food (manure) depends chiefly on the amount of ni-
trogen, phosphoric acid and potash contained in
them. Animals, in their consumption of food, re-
tain little if any of those elements of it which con-
stitute plant food; and plants consume little if any
of those which constitute animal food. Thus, if a
ton of feed:should be plowed under for manure, it
would be of no more value to the land than 1f it had
first been fed to the stock, and none of its virtue
had been allowed to waste while in the form of ma-
nure. Some plants and grains are very rich, or val-
uable, as animal food, while others are rich as plant
food, and, again, others are valuable for both pur-
poses.

Important as it is to know the influence of food,
and the necessity of giving it to the proper animal
to obtain the most profitable results, the highest de-
gree of economy cannot be obtained w ithout a
knowledge of the comparative values of the feed
consumed by the stock as animal and as plant food.
The following tables will afford the farmer some
curious and inter esting facts, and some information
which will assist him in making a most economical
selection. The analysis, from which the values of
the different foods are estimated, was taken from
the late work of Dr. Emil Wolff, of the Royal Acad-
emy of Agriculture, Hohenheim, Wurtemberg.
They represent the average result of numerous re-
liable analyses, and are sufficiently accurate for all
practical purposes. The original analysis, repre-
senting the comparative proportions of different

{
i

22 SOILING.

foods, is given in the number of parts found in 100
and 1000. From these I have estimated the num-
ber of parts, or pounds, found in one ton (2000 Ibs.)
Their values for animal food, in dollars and cents,
is computed by estimating albumenoids at $4.00,
carbo-hydrates at .80, and fat at $4.00 per hundred
pounds. This is, doubtless, below their real value.
Waldo Brown, of Ohio, estimates them, respect-
ively, at $4.30, .go, and $4.35 per hundred. As the
price of feed varies in different localities, these fig-
ures cannot be said to be absolutely and universally
correct; but they may serve to show the relative
values of the different kinds of food. If, for in-
stance, my estimate of timothy for feed, at $17.96
per ton is too low, all the others are proportion-
ately too low. In calculating the values of the dif-
ferent grains and forage crops as plant food,
I have taken the average of the prices given by
several different authors, and find them to be about
as follows: nitrogen, 20 cents per pound; phos-
phoric acid and potash, 4 cents per pound. I do
not know where or in what form nitrogen can be
had at 20 cents per pound, but that figure will suf-
fice to give us the comparative values of the differ-
ent farm crops as manure.

Pounds of Animal 4 Pounds of ae

Food per ton. 29 ||Plant Food per|| 8&8

@ ton, 3

GRAINS. Ba. rare aes

Carb, >S ||Nitro/SS| S|) e

Alb. | Hyd. |Fat 2 gen. load! & || >&
Field Beans, 510 910 40 || $29.21 || 81.6 | 17.2/26.2|| $18.04
Field Peas, 448 1046 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 1360 | 140 24.48 || 32.0 111.8] 7.4|| 7.16
Wheat, 260 1352 30 21.51 || 41.6 | 15.8) 10.6 9.36
Rye, 220 1384 40 21.41 || 35.2 |16.8/11.2 8.16
Barley, 190 1332 50 20.25 || 32.0 |15.4| 9.0 7.387
Oats, 240 1218 | 120 24.14 || 39.4 pes 8.8 8.72
Buckwheat, 180 1192 50 18.64 !* 28.8 (11.4| 5,4!! 6.43

GRAIN VS.,FORAGE CROPS. 23
Pounds of Animal 3 Pounds of ag
Food per ton. &g ||Plant Food per|| &&
GROUND FEED AND 22 ton. De
REFUSE. x et oO & =) pe om
=) eo . Dey sS = id)
Albu-| Carb. a™ ||Nitro./9-5 < ae
¢ men.| Hyd. | Fat.|| > gen. |Aa| a || >&
Cotton Seed Meal, 660 352 | 324 || $42.66 || 98.0 | 56.2] 29.2|/$23.00
Linseed Meal. 566 826 | 200 37.24 \| 90.6 | 32.2/24.8]] 20.40
Corn Meal, 200 1360 | 140 24.48 || 32.0 |11.8] 7.4|| 7.16
Malt Sprouts, 460 894 50 27.55 || 73.6 |36.0/41.2|| 17.80
Brewer’s Grains, 98 222 82 6.97 15.6 ; 8.2] 1.0}| 3.48
Wheat Bran, eso | 1000 | 76 || 292.24 || 44.8 |54.6/28.6|| 12.98
Rye Bran, 290 1070 7 22.96 || 46.4 | 68.6/38.6)| 13.56
Rape Cake, 566 67 180 35.20 |! 97.0 |35.4|24.8|| 21.80

c

. 1 .
| Pounds of Animal ie | Pounds of sa
Food per ton. s+ | Plant Food per ES
DRY FORAGE. 2 ton. mie
(Hay and Straw.) l ae leat o >
Carb. | -3 ||Nitro \sz $ = zB
Alb. | Hyd. | Fat © || gen. aq] am || Pa
Red Clover, 268 598 | 64 |! $18.06 || 39.4 |11.2)36.6)/$ 9.78
Timothy, 194 976 | 60 17.96 || 31.0 |14.4/40.8 8.40
Lucern, 394 858 66 25.26 || 46.0 |11.0)30.6]| 10.86
Tares, cut in blossom, | 284 706 50 19.00 || 45.4 |21.4|56.6]| 12.20
Peas, cut in blossom, 286 736 52 19.40 || 45.8 |13.6]46.4}} 11.56
Orchard Grass, 232 814 54 17.95 || 31.0 | 8.2/26.4 7.58
Wheat Straw, 40 604 30 7.68 9.6 | 4.4]12.6 2,60
Rye Straw, 30 540 26 6.56 8.0 } 4.2|15.6]| 2.39
Barley Straw, 60 656 28 8.75 || 12.8 | 3.8)18.8]} 3.46
Oat Straw, 50 764 40 9.71 11,2 3.8|17-8 3.10
Pea Straw, 130 704 | 40 12.42 || 20.8 | 7.0)20.2|| 5,24
Bean Straw, 204 730 | 20 | 14.80 | 32.6 | 6.4/37.0|| 8.24
Cornstalks, 60 720 22 | 8.98 9.6 |10.6 {19.2 3.01

ee

24 SOILING.

| | 1

| Pounds of Animal a Poundsof || S&8

| Food per ton, 2S ||Plant Food per| ES

o 5 ton. Z S
GREEN FODDER. | i =e joxeioa al seus

| Bay A Lr! « So

| Carb. SZ ||Nitro|83] 2 || Sf

| Alb.) Hyd. | Fat. s gen. adi a, |) ae
Grass, | 60 | 258 16 || $ 5.10 |) 10.8 | 3.0] 9.2|| $2.64
Clover (red). 1 66g 54) fa 4.43 |) 10.2 | 8.8| 2.8/) 2.50
Lucern, 90 156 12 5.32 || 14.4 | 3.2) 9.6)™ 3.38
Tares (vetches), 62 152 12 4.22 |) 21.2 | 4.6)12.2)' 2.90
Peas, 64 164 12 4.25 || 10.2 |10.2| 3.0]; 2.56
Oats, 46 176 10 4.14 (e 3.4115.0|| 2.21
Rye, 66 298 18 5.74 || 10.6 | 4.81126)! 2.81
Corn. 22 218 10 3.02 3.8 | 2.61 8.6 1.20
Hungarian Millet, 118 300 30 8.32 |) 20.0 | 2.5/17.0]| 4.78
Sorghum, 50 306 28 5.56 8.0 | 1.6) 7.2|) 1.95

Cabbage, 30 126 8 iSO Miele is ines | oat 332
Rape (leaves), 400 950 40 25.20 9,2 | 2.81 8.0 2.26
Pounds of Animal a Pounds of Sa
Food per ton. 22 |/Plaat Food per|| 4 s
os ton. oe

= j=} —

ROOTS, ETC. moe w a 2 =
Carb. >3 ||Nitro-|2°5| = ae
Alb. | Hyd. | Fat. A gen. || a | Ss
Potatoes, 40 420 6 || $5.20 6.8 | 3.8 (11.4}| $1.96
Turnips, 64 340 | 12 5.74 || 3.6 | 1.8) 6.6) 1.05
Field Beets, 22 182 2 2.31 : ms see
Sugar Beets, 20 308 2 3.43 Sorelle Omiages 1.01
Carrots, 30 216 4 3,08 44 |2.0) 5.6]| 1.18
Pumpkins, 26 56 > 1.56 : ie

The compost heap is the farmer’s bank, on
which his drafts will be honored in proportion to
the amount deposited therein. It isa mistaken no-
tion that manure is manure, whatever it may be
made of. The foregoing tables show a ton of clov-
er hay to be worth $9.78 for manure, and a ton of
corn meal only $7.16; but, as feed, the meal is worth
about $6.42 more than the hay. The manure from
a ton of wheat straw is worth about $2.60, while

i <a

GRAIN VS. FORAGE CROPS. 25

that from the same amount of cotton seed meal is
worth $23.00. Clover hay is worth more than tim-
othy, both as feed and as manure. The peculiar

value of timothy for horses 1s that it contains a very
ae per cent. of carbo-hydrates (muscle forming
food) and not so much fat. We alsosce that lucern
and peas cut in blossom, make very valuable hay.
There are very many interesting facts to be found
in the tables which we have not the space to no-
tice particularly. The relative value of each of the
green forage crops is apparent ata glance. By a

careful study of the. tables, the farmer may alee
such selection of food as will be most economical
and best adapted to the wants of his stock and his
land. For instance, the price of corn meal is about
the same as that of malt sprouts, but the latter is
worth about $3.00 per ton more for feed and about
$10.00 per ton more for manure. Last season I
sold corn at the rate of $25.00 per ton, and bought
cotton seed meal for $3.00, including freight from
New York City; but the latter was worth nearly
twice as much for feed, and three times as much
for manure.

GREEN CROPS AS *MANURE.

“Ordinary barnyard manure,” says Mr. Harlan,
in his work on Farming with Green Manure, ‘“‘con-
tains 10 lbs. of nitrogen, 5 lbs. of phosphoric acid,

and §12%- lbs. ol potash.” . By reference to the
tables, we notice that a ton of green rye is worth
just about as much. Millet and lucern show

much larger values. Clover, also, is a valuable

26 SOILING.

crop asa green manure. Its entire value is not
shown in the analysis, as its roots, which are very
numerous, are not taken into the account. The
same is true of lucern. The advantage of plough-
ing under green manure is that it saves drawing
and spreading. Rye, for this purpose, doubtless
stands ahead of all other green crops, not on ac-
count of its superior value, but because it occupies
the ground at a time when no other crop, except
wheat, will grow. In ordinary land, there will be
growing by the first of May, from 15 to 20 tons per
acre. Asa summercrop, cow peas are doubtless
the most valuable. They are extensively grown
for green manure on exhausted cotton and tobacco
fields in the southern states.

LIQUID MANURE.

There is, perhaps, no branch in farm economy
which receives so little attention as the saving of
this most valuable fertilizer. Many farmers have
brooks running through their yards, or have their
yards on side hills or on gravelly soil. Thus stores
of the most valuable plant food is lost.

The following table shows the number of pounds
of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash found in
one ton of fresh dung or urine, and their compara-
tive values:

GRAIN VS:.e FORAGE CROPS. 27

—S——— — ~ =

|

DUNG. | URINE.
ik oy. ies sits
Nitro- Phos. !Potash|| Value.|| Nitro-| Phos. |Potash||Value.
| gem. | Acid. | | gen. | Acid.
cf: eee Me on otek a AE? baie |e A el
Sheep, | 110} 62 | 3.0 || $2.56 |} 39.0] 02 | 45.2 || go.61
Horse, 8.5 7.0 (Ue 2230 | ool 30.0 7.40
Cow, ® 5.8 | 3.4 2:0 | L3G ji 1426 9.8 2.71
Swine, 12.0 8.2 5.2 2.93 |i 8.6 1.4 16.6 2.44
: |

The analysis in this table is from Prof. Wolff, to
which I have added the values, estimated accord-
ing to the previous tables.

The two methods usually employed to save liq-
uid manure are by absorbents, such as dry muck,
sand, road dust, sod, shavings, saw-dust, forest
leaves, cobs, etc., and by drainage from the stables
into a cistern. The drainage from the yards may
be pumped into portable tanks similar to street
sprinklers, and thus distributed over the fields.
Some farmers have hollow places in their barn-
yards, filled with absorbents, but they are usually
great nuisances in open yards, and they should be
under the stack or where the rain cannot fall
directly into them. It is estimated by some that
“the number of pounds of urine is at least double
that of solid manure.” [am inclined to think the
proportion more nearly equal. In the case of
horse manure, there is no attempt to save the liq-
uid portion, and for every ton of dung, worth $2.30,
saved, there is wasted $7.40 worth of urine. In
saving this most valuable fertilizer, the soiling sys-
tem affords the very best means, and I have no
doubt that the saving of manure, in this direction
alone, will more than pay the cost of the extra la-
bor. The manner of saving by absorbents will be
explained under the head of stables and their con-
struction.

ee IS

28 SOILING.

Liquid manure is used to quite an extent in Eng-
land, where the soiling system has been adopted,
asa top dressing, and enables the farmer to get
from five to seven cuttings of feed from the same
ground during the season. These dressings are
put on immediately after each cutting., The urine
is pumped from the reservoir into a tank or hogs-
head ona two-wheeled cart which is drawn by one
horse. It is then distributed through a sprinkler
or rubber hose attached to the tank. The liquid .
is never applied except after being greatly diluted
with water. It is claimed that a man with cart and
horse “ will top-dress one acre per day, within a
quarter of a mile from the barn.” I doubt if the
same force could draw out and top-dress, with sol-
id manure, more than one quarter of that amount
of ground per day. The German proprietor of
eight acres, referred to by Morris in “‘’Fen Acreés
Enough,” who transformed the neglected and ex-
hausted soil into a garden of immense productive-
ness and great profit, started with a capital of $3.-
oo and four pigs. The manure of his small stock,
with the refuse of the family, was collected in a
buried hogshead, there reduced to liquid manure
and applied by means of a wheel-barrow. The re-
sults from this small beginning in the right way
were so remarkable, that he soon added more stock,
sinking a brick cistern in the barnyard into which
the liquid manure from 6 cows and 2 horses was
conducted, together with the wash from his pig-
pen and yard. The manure heap, always under
cover, was thoroughly saturated by means of a
pump in the cistern, which was also used for filling
a hogshead on wheels with the fertilizing liquid
for application.

GRAIN VS. FORAGE CROPS. 29
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.

All known plants are composed of fitteen ele-
ments only. As, by the use of twenty-six letters
of our alphabet, we are enabled to write them so
as tO express many thousand different words, so
vatious combinations of these fifteen elements or
letters in the alphabet of vegetation, produce many
thousand different plants.

Most of our artificial manures are only special
fertilizers, and supply the soil with only part of the
plant food generally required. Let ‘us suppose,
for example, that we wish a certain field to pro-
duce a crop of wheat, and that, in order to grow
the crop will require 5 of the 15 elements or letters
in our vegetable alphabet. Let us represent these
letters;as W,Hem.A‘T. /1f but one of the letters is
missing, the word is incomplete, and the soil fails
to spell the word we require; in other words, the
crop is a failure. How isa farmer to know what
one of the letters is missing? He must seek his
answer in the ground by analyzing it. Can the far-
mer analyze each kind of seed and the soil in which
he is to sow it to determine their fitness for each
other? And must he repeat the experiment with
other seeds for succeeding crops, or with other
soils forthe same crop? You say that this is im-
possible. Then is it also impossible for him to
apply special fertilizers intelligently or profitably ;
for, while such may do well in one field for a cer.
tain crop, and show a good return for the money
expended, the same in an adjoining field may
amount to nothing.

The application of complete fertilizers is, at
least,.a step in advance, because, if the soil
is supplied with all the elements necessary

SS ae

30 SOILING. :

to produce a crop, one is more certain that the
missing letter is supplied. We willsay, in the case
of wheat, that all the letters, but T, are present,
and that the missing letter represents potash,
worth four cents a pound. The soil being supplied
with the other four elements, a farmer will pay
$40.00 to $60.00 per ton for a complete fertilizer
whose potash is worth $4.00 or $5.00. Thus it oft-
en occurs that the application of a little lime, salt,
ashes or plaster, side by side with fertilizers cost-
ing $60.00 per ton, produces equally good results,
and not because, as some farmers suppose, the fer-
tilizer was worthless, but because the soil was al-
ready possessed of all the elements afforded by the
fertilizer, except that simple one which a much
cheaper substance could as well afford. It is the
testimony of many farmers that the use of fertiliz-
ers sometimes weakens, rather than strengthens
the soil, by stimulating the available stores of plant
food to an unusual degree, and producing an effect
similar to that of stimulating drink upon a person
who is, by its influence, able to perform an unusual
amount of work, but, when the influence is with-
drawn, is ina weaker condition than when he be-
gan. Many of these fertilizers are, In my opinion,
too expensive, considering their values as manures.
| find, in applying the same rates for valuation as
were used to compute the values of the different
crops for manures, in the preceeding tables, that a
brand selling for $40.00 per ton is worth but $12.-
27: another selling for $35.00 is worth only $9.00;
and one selling for $60.00 is worth but $33.40. If
these estimates are too low, then the values set to
the different grain and forage crops, also, are too
low. If analysis is worth anything, a ton of wheat
bran, fed and made into manure, 1s worth ($12.28)

STRAWS. cP!

as much, ton for ton, as the fertilizer above referred
to as costing $40.00; and a ton of clover hay
(worth $9.78) is as good as the brand selling for $35.-
00; a ton anda half of cotton seed meal is worth
after feeding, $34.00.—about the same as the brand
selling for $60.00 per ton. I must not neglect to
say that there are some brands which do much
above their full and actual values as manures; but,
even in those cases, the same amount produced by
feeding would be far more economical, because
thus the farmer receives a double profit,—first, by
the production of beef, milk, or butter, and again,
by the production of manure. I do not wish to
be understood as utterly condemning commercial
fertilizers, but 1 do mean that the proper applica-
tion of barn-yard manure is the surest and most
economical way of enriching our soil. Says Prof.
W. O. Atwater, “Stable manure contains all the
ingredients of plant food. It is a complete fertil-
izer. Nor is this 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.” As a means of
attaining large quantities of manure at “a cheap
and easy rate,” the soiling system affords the
greatest advantages.

STRAWS, WHICH SHOW WHICH WAY THE WIND IS
BLOWING.

\ : Ae
England bas been obliged to adopt the soiling
system in order to increase the number of farm

32 SOILING.
stock per acre,—in other words, that she may
grow larger crops of grain. In France and Ger-
many, soiling is the rule, pasturing the exception ;
and the number of their live stock has been greatly
increased since the introduction of the sugar beet
industry. It is hardly necessary to add that the
productiveness of their soil has increased corres-
pondingly. The people of these countries have no
uncle rich enough to give them each a farm, and,
therefore, to supply the demands of their increas-
ing population, they have been obliged to increase
the yield of their .present possessions by doubling
and tripling the productiveness of their soil. As
in a crowded city they add tothe capacity of their
houses and factories by buildiug up story above
story, so the farmers of these older countries have
been obliged to build up their soil, until they have
farms two, three, or four stories high; that is to
say, they have increased the productiveness of the
soil until one acre is made to produce what former-
ly required two, three, or feur acres.’ Uhere ts) +1
venture to say, scarcely a farmer east of the Mis-
sissippi who would not be glad to know how this
is done. The secret is an open one, 7. ¢; by grow-
ing enormous crops of roots, clover and artificial
grasses, and by keeping the greatest possible num-
ber of farm stock to consume them, thus making
large quantities of manure which, in their turn,
produce large crops of grain. In fact, by adopting
a regular system of soiling, the majority of Eng-
lish farmers rent their farms and pay, says Hon.
H. F. French, “an average of $10.00 per acre (year-
ly) for the entire farm, on land which has been un-
der the plow for centuries.” That he is able to
pay this rent, and $10.00 per acre for manure, and
. $10.00 more for expense of cultivation, support -

STRAWS. 33

himself and family comfortably and add something
to his income, shows what the system has done to-
wards attaining and maintaining a high state of
fertility in the soil. How many farmers in this
country, with one, two, or three hundred acres of
land, could, under the present system of growing
crops and feeding stock, pay a rent of $10.00 per
acre and live? I will not attempt toanswer. Ido
believe, however, that, if we were obliged to do so,
we could, and perhaps even more easily than our
English neighbors, for our land is certainly natural-
ly as productive as theirs. The following figures
show that the advantage is in the fertility of the
soil. The United States’ census report for 1850
shows that the average yield of wheat in this coun-
try 1s 9% bushels per acre, while in England it is
28, and in Scotland 294%. There is another item in
the comparison with the English farmer which I
cannot pass without mention, z. ¢., his whole time,
attention and capital are devoted to his farm; he
has no other source of income. A large number
of American farmers, | am ashamed to say, devote
the greater part of their time, but only half of their
attention and little or none of their capital, to
their basiness. I refer now to farmers with capi-
tal, with a few hundred dollars, which they have
saved out of their farms in prosperous times, but,
instead if keeping it employed in their business as
they should, have invested it in uncertain stocks,
promises to pay, etc.

Money, as a concentrated force, is the lever which
moves the commercial world. It sendsthe railroad
puffing and blowing into every hamlet which beck-
ons it, Over a Niagara, through a mountain tunnel,
under an English Channel,—anywhere. It cob-
webs the land with electric wires, until New York,

3

34 SOILING.

Boston and Philadelphia are our next door neigh-
bors, while England, France’and Germany are
just across the way. But money, as a divided |
force, falters before a streamlet, stumbles at a mole-
hill, and comes to a dead halt at a stagnant pool.
To have a business out of which the capital is tak-
en to run another man’s trade, 1s to rob that busi-
ness of its lever power. A seductive speculation
is a “ Will o’ the Wisp” to the farmer who follows
it. Thus his attention is divided between cultivat-
ing the roots of evil and those of bis growing
crops.

But to return to our subject. We were consid-
ering the condition of the older countries and the
manner of improving their soil. We need scarcely
reflect to discover that our own country 1s fast ap-
proaching the same conditions. Land is increas-
ing in value. ‘Out west’ is no longer out west,
and farmers are beginning to realize, as never be-
fore, that the productiveness of our soil must be
increased, or we “ be driven-to the wall.” Let us,
then, learn the lesson indicated by the straws
which point to a system of farming by which the
productiveness of our soil will be increased instead
of diminished. This means to increase the fumber
of farm stock, which means to have more manure,
which means an increase of power in the soil,
which means ability to grow more profitable crops,
which means a larger income, which means better
books, better education, warmer houses, a better
seatiin the cans; at the lecture, and in the church,
which means zzdependence. All these good things
are the results of better farming, which is itself the
result of

15 and qo Bushels of Wheat per acre.

STRAWS. 35

SOILING

What induced me to adopt the system? When
I was a lad, the farm on which I now reside was
known as one of the best inthe county. The deep
gravelly loam of the valley never gave so bounti-
ful harvests of spring crops, and the side hills fac-
ing the rising sun, yielded, of wheat, 35 to 40 bush-
els per acre. Thc pastures afforded the most nu-
tritious grasses for flock and herd. On taking
possession of the place years later, I was surprised
at the change. The number of cattle had been
decreased by half and the flock of sheep had disap-
peared entirely. My first wheat crop from the
field once considered the best, and over which, as
a boy, | had driven the reaper, cutting 40 bushels
perracre: measured "but 15 ‘hushels. per /acre,’'T
acknowledge a sad disappointment at the time, and
I made the following calculations, from which the
difference will be more apparent.

Statement showing the Cost. and the Profit and Loss of growing

I5 BUSHELS. || 40 BUSHELS.
Dr: Cr Dr. Cr
To Fitting the ground, $5.00 $ 5.00
To 2 bushels seed, at $1.10 per bu.,| 2.20 2.20
lownterest, at 7, per cent. on I acre,| 8-75 8.75
To harvesting and drawing to barn, | 1.75) 2.00
To threshing, &c., at 6cts. per bush. gO 2.40
To marketing, 1% cts. per bush., . 22 I}: 69)
By cash for wheat at $1.10 per bush. $16.50 : $44.00
Total, 4 L $18 .82\$16.50 20 95|$44.00
Balance, : -. | 16.50 Lo 20.95
Loss per acre,: - Pigs ad | 28 a foe
Gain per acre, Fhe ‘$23. 05

36 SOILING.

For the 16 acres, the total loss on a product of
only 15 bushels would be $27.12, while with a
product of 40 bushels there would be a profit of
368.80. The difference, per acre, in cost was only
$2.13,. but the. difference. in) income was $27.56:
What had become of the farm? The land was all
here, but the farm,—where was it? I soon discov-
ered. It had gone to New York and Boston,—
been sold by the bushel. The railroad was little
by little, stealing it away; the canal was peddling
it out along the wharves of the metropolis. Nor
was this all. The food had been taken out of the
mouths of the stock, their number yearly growing
less, and the few remaining, not receiving a proper
supply of food, failed to make a profitable return.
In fact, the whole superstructure of the farm was
undermined. Thus it is that many broad acres,
once productive, are to-day as deceptive as the ap-
ples of Sodom. In taking a general survey of the
subject, I came to the conclusion that the only
way of redeeming the fertility of my soil would be
by the proper application of barnyard manure.
In conversing with the most prosperous farmers, [|
found invariably that their success was owing to
their faith in manure. There was already more
stock on the place than could be properly fed, but
not enough to keep the farm even in the condition
in which I found it. And this, I said to myself,
they call farming,—*‘the most independent life that
aman can lead!’’ It seemed to me then the most
dependent; and it all depended ona single ques-
tion,—if the soil is productive you may depend up-
on a good crop; if not, you may depend upon a
poor one. A ten-acre clearing, full of stumps,
which will raise wheat at a profit, affords more in-
dependence than a hundred-acre farm, where. it

A

STRAWS. 37

costs more to produce a crop than it does to bring
it to market. About this time I chanced to reada
work on “Soiling,” by the Hon. Josiah Quincy, in
which he stated how the farmer, by adopting the
system, would be enabled to keep four head of
stock where, by pasturing, he could keep but one.
This seemed to be the key by which I might un-
lock the storehouse of the farm’s capabilities, and
thus [ might again see these fields yield profitable
harvests.

38 SOILING.
ADVANTAGES.

By soiling is meant a system of feeding farm
stock with grass, or other green forage, cut and
brought to them from the field. The advantages
which it offers to the farmer are numerous, but the
principal reasons why it should be adopted may be
enumerated, as follows:

ist—Saving of land.

2d.—Saving of fences.

3d.—Saving of food. _- ;

4th.—The better condition and comfort of farm
stock. es

5th.—The greater production of milk, beef, or
butter. i

6th.—The increased quantity and quality of ma-
nure. :
7th.—The increased productiveness of the soil.

The disadvantages of the system as compared
with pasturing are, as follows ;

ist.__It requires extra labor.

2d.—It keeps the stock in close confinement.

That we may satisfy ourselves of the truth or
falsity of the above assertions, fro and con, let us
consider them severally in their order.

SAVING OF LABOR.

Says the Hon. Josiah Quincy, whose experience
in soiling covered a period of eighteen years,
“One acre soiled from will produce at least as
much as three acres pastured in the usual way,
and there is no proposition in nature more true
than that any good farmer may maintain, upon 30
acres of good arable land, 20 head of cattle the

ADVANTAGES. 39

year round;”’ he adds, ‘“‘My own experience has
always been less than this,—never having exceed-
edsi7vaeres:tori2o heads “i b have;kept the
same amount of stock, by soiling, on 17 acres, that
previously required 50.’ Says Mr. H. Stewart, of
New Jersey, in 7he Country Gentleman, “ By soil-
ing, J. D. Powell, of Winchester Co., keeps 100
cows;on 100 acres,’ and;adds,, “ with complete
soiling, [ have my self kept 14 cows on {1acres the
year round, with the help of a few loads of brew-
ers’ grains and some branand meal.” Where land
is in a high state of cultivation, some farmers claim
to keep as many as seven or eight head by soiling,
where they could keep but one by pasturing. |
think, as a rule, it is safe to say that land in an or-
dinary state of cultivation will support four head

by soiling to every one pastured. My own expe-

rience in soiling, most of the time, is that, for every
head tormerly pastured, I was able to keep three
by soiling , and, at the same time, tor every acre
formerly “plowed to crops, | was enabled to plow
two. My farm contains too acres of arable land
inside the fences. Previous to adopting the soil-
ing system, it was our custom to cultivate, on the
average, forty acres, leaving sixty acres for pasture
and hay. The average number of live stock (1,000
lbs. each) that was supported from the sixty acres,
including the coarse fodder from the cultivated
portion, was twelve. By soiling, during the last
two seasons, I have been able to keep, on the aver-
age, the equivalent of 36 head weighing 1,000
pounds each, as follows; 13 cows, 5 yearlings, 4
calves, 4 horses, 2 colts, and 70 long- wooled sheep,
—a total of 98 head. During the same time, we
have had under cultivation (exclusive of land devot-
ed to soiling crops) 70 acres. The remaining 30

40 SOILING.

acres, therefore, supported yearly the equivalent of
36 head weighing 1,000 pounds each. Some of the
coarse fodder,—barley straw and stalks, was con-
sumed during the winter, and, in addition, I have
bought a few tons of cotton seed meal and bran to
keep up a good flow of milk during the winter. |
feed no grain while soiling during the summer.
Thus, where, by pasturing, it required 60 acres to
support 12 head, by soiling, | was able to keep, in
better condition, three times the number on just
half the amount of ground. It will also be seen
that, where, by pasturing, [ could cultivate but 40
acres a year for crops, by soiling I harvested ‘70
acres, nearly doubling my acreage without buying
zt. It may be asked, how could a farm maintain
such a heavy cropping? I would reply that by soil-
ing, we were producing and saving three times the
amount of manure, the value of which certainly
was double that made while pasturing, and thus,
while we were cultivating nearly twice as many
acres as formerly, there was produced nearly six
times as much manure.

Where the system is practiced, nearly or quite
all of the inside fences may be removed, and the
land before occupied by them may thus be devoted
to crops. About May Ist, 1880, we turned twelve
head of milch cows to pasture in a field containing
4y% acres. At the end of the fourth week, I was
obliged to take them out as they were shrinking
greatly in flow of milk and the pasture exhausted.
They were turned into the sheep pasture until June
7th, when we began soiling, keeping the same 12
head upon 4 acres during the next four months,
making 1 acre soiled from, fully equal to 4 acres
pastured from. From the 41 acres pastured, I
obtained, at 50c. per week for each head, a feeding

—— eS ae

—_— EEE

———_

ADVANTAGES. AY

value of $24.00,—from the 4 acres soiled, at the
same rate, a feeding value of $96.00,—a difference
in favor of soiling over pasturing, on 4 acres, of
$72.00, leaving the increased value of manure to
pay the expense of growing and feeding the crops.
This establishes no rule, but is sufficient to illus-
trate the great saving of land and the economy of
feed.

SAVING OF FENCES.

In some sections of the old countries where the
soiling system is generally practiced, the farmers
have done away with interior and boundary fences,
setting land marks to indicate lines, and thereby
working every foot of land. Says Mr. A. W.
Cheever, in Zhe Country Gentleman, “ Another
great advantage I find in soiling over pasturing is
the saving of fences. None of my mowing or cul-
tivated fields are pastured at all, so I have been ena-
bled 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 separatéd by a fence, we must stop and turn
about as we approach the fence from either side in
in plowing, harrowing, cultivating, rolling, drilling,
reaping 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

—_—

42, SOILING.

this wastes time, besides trampling down the ground
and crops. As Mr. Quincy says, “ The whole farm
may be divided and cultivated with precise refer-
ence to the state of the soil, when the plow runs
the length of the furrow determined by the judg-
ment of the proprietor.” His farm at one time
had 5 miles of interior fence, (equal to 1,600 rods),
of which he says, “ [ have now not one rod of inte-
rior fence; of course, the saving 1s great, distinct
and undeniable.’ My own farm was at one time
divided into 17 fields, which required over 1,000
rods of interior fence, the interest on the cost: of
which would pay the taxes on the entire property,
or pay for all extra labor of soiling 12 or 14 head
of stock, to say nothing of the cost of yearly re-
pairs.. I built some 300 rods of fence soon after
coming on the farm. It hardly made a showing
compared with what was needed. [t would have
required an outlay of at least $1,000 to put all the
fences in proper shape, and for what? Simply to
keep 12 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 sys-
tem a fair trial and find it a failure. My farm has
now but 7 fields, and [ am yearly reducing the
number. Says D. S. Curtis,on the cost of fencing,
in the Agricultural Report of 1859, “The most or-
dinary plain board fences cost from 8 to Io shillings
per rod, and more in many places, while rail fences
are often still more costly. But, taking the lowest
estimate, $1,00 per rod, the expense of enclosing
an eighty-acre lot would be $480.00; two cross
fences, one each way, throwing the lot into four
2o-acre fields would cost $240.00 more, a larger

ADVANTAGES. 43

sum than the value of the land, in many localities.”
As Mr. E. W. Stewart says, “ Soiling effectually
settles the fence question.”

HE SAVING OF FOOD:

There are several ways in which farm stock de-
stroy their feed while at pasture,—by tramping it
under foot, by their dung and urine, and by lying
on it. The more productive the pasture, the great-
er the loss. Just how much is wasted by these
means, | do not: know. Some estimate it at one-
third, others at a half. Another item of more or
less importance is that it is not so exhaustive of
the soil to grow a crop of hay from it as to use it
as a pasture, especially if the grass of the pasture
be closely cropped, thus having the soil more ex-
posed to the sun. All these objections are over-
come by soiling. The food may be cut at just the
proper time, when the leaves and blossoms have
reached their full development. It is often noticed
that, here and there in a field, patches of distaste-
ful grasses or noxious weeds are left untouched
by the stock, except in case of great hunger, and
allowed to ripen and 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 cut-
ting adopted. Mr. Youatt,an English author, says,
in his valuable work, The Complete Grazier, “ Ifa
close consumption of plants is the object principal-
ly to be regarded, it is evident that the benefit to
be derived from soiling will be very great; for ex-
perience has clearly proved that cattle will eat

Ad SOILING.

many plants with avidity, zf cut and given to them
in the barn, which they would never touch while
growing in the field.”

What may be lett by the horses when soiled, is
eaten with relish by the cows; and, if any is left in
the mangers of the cows, it may be given to the
pigs ; and thus, by soiling, not a particle oi feed
need be wasted.

THE BETTER CONDITION AND GREATER CoOM-
FORT OF FARM STOCK.

_ The difference in the condition of animals soiled
and those pastured shows a decided advantage in
favor of soiling. During the heat of the day, they
may be kept in cool stables, darkened to exclude the
flies which, during the greater portion of the sea-
son, torment them and drive them into a state little
short of frenzy. Here they are also protected and
sheltered from driving storms and the burning sun,
and are secure from jumping into fields of grow-
ing grain or fruit orchards, and from injuring
themselves or causing their own death by over-
eating. They are also protected against eating
noxious weeds, which often injures the quality of
milk and butter, against drinking muddy and im-
pure water, against worry and annoyance from
dogs, and, above all, against unger and tharst.
These, and all other evils incident to pasturing,
are reomved by proper management and well con-
structed stables and sheds, and reveal the strong
points in favor of the soiling system.

Mr. E. W. Stewart, in relating an experiment to
satisfy himself in regard to the comparative condi-

a

ADVANTAGES. 45

tions of cattle soiled and pastured, says, in sub-
stance, that he put five steers and heifers into a
good pasture for three months during the best part
of the pasturing season, while others of the same
age and condition were soiled, and that on compari-
son, at the end of the three months, those soiled
were found to be in decidedly the better condition.
The same cows, pastured one season and soiled
the next, proved that their condition was better
when soiled. His cows, soiled for five successive
years, kept in good condition and uniform health.

It must be observed that all varieties of ruminat-
ing animals are naturally averse to any great
amount of exercise to obtain their food, but, if it be
supplied with abundance, fill themselves quickly
and lie down to enjoy chewing their cud, and it is
then, properly, that the animal 1s feeding.

On this subject, I cannot do better than to quote
from H. A Willard, A. M., in his valuable work on
“Dairy Husbandry” (p. 48); “It is not necessary
that cows should be continually feeding, for we
can see from the peculiar structure of their stom-
achs that nature intended a considerable portion
of time to be spent at rest, that the process of ru-
mination and digestion be perfected. -The first
stomach seems to be simply a receptacle for stor-
ing up a quantity of food to be used and enjoyed
at leisure. The food, as it goes into the first stom-
ach is very imperfectly masticated. After having
filled this receptacle, the animal rests from her la-
bors and is now prepared to enjoy her food, which
is thrown back, in small quantities, into the mouth,
where it is chewed and then goes into the third
and fourth stomachs to be properly assimilated
and digested. Hence, rest is required, and to de-
prive the animal of a comfortable resting place, or

AO: SOILING.

to drive her out in the hot sun while in the act of
rumination or masticating her food, is not only
ere but aprece ol mtolerable Stupidity. “a7
The principle is true, whether acknowledged or
not, that:the more comfortable we make our milk
stock, the better will be the results. If, during the
heat of the day, cattle seek shade and lie down to
rest, their quietness, comfort and enjoyment will
add more to the milk pail than food taken in dis-
comfort and excessive exercise.”

It is also essential that the stock should be sup-
plied with water, pure, plentiful and near at hand;
for, if obliged to travel some distance to get it,
they will “go dry,” or wait until severe thirst com-
pels them to seek it, which is not only a source of
annoyance to the stock, but, in the case of dairy
cows, a loss to the owner. Milk cannot be made
without water, and when it is secreted largely, a
large amount of water is absolutely required.
Milk contains at least 75 to 80 per cent. of water.
Here again the soiling system shows its superiority,
since it affords the easiest and most economical
way of supplying stock with water. Instead of
having to furnish it in every field where rotation
of crops and pasture is practiced, one good never-
failing well or cistern at the barn is all that is
required. On many farms, this is indeed a most
valuable consideration. It has been my practice
during the past three years to stable my cows dur-
ing the day, letting them have the run of the barn-
yard during the night to enjoy the cool air and
exercise as much as they please, and take generous
drafts of cool water from a large tub supplied by
a living spring. The yard is kept well littered
with straw. The stables are in the basement of a ..
barn 30:-by gorféet.. The windows ‘are ‘darkened

ADVANTAGES. 47

during the season when flies are troublesome.
The cows are provided with comfortable bedding
of shavings, or straw, or both. They seem to take
solid comfort eating and chewing their cud. Ob-
serve those in the field wearily seeking their food,
parched by the oppressively hot and dry air, and
fi¢hting flies until nearly wild; and then step into
a cool, dark stable from which the flies have been
excluded, and you will see a picture of comfort
that | could not describe were | to devote a whole
chapter to the attempt. Some are quietly feeding,
some fast asleep, while others are diligently chew-
ing their cuds, rolling them about in their mouths
like some delicious morsels exuding nectar. In the
expressions of their faces and in their clear bright
eyes, you may read the unmistakable signs of con-
tentment, comfort and health.

If you wish to thoroughly test this question,
turn half of your cows to pasture and soil the rest.
Any time during July, August, September or Oc-
tober, notice the cows coming from the field at
milking time. They look. tired and hungry, as if
coming from a hard day’s work, guant and thirsty,
with languid step and melancholy look. Now
open the stable door and let out the the cows that
are soiled. They act more like “school boys from
their books,’ each 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
to fully represent the great contrast as | have wit-
nessed itin my own yard. lI feel safe in saying
that I think no candid farmer, however predjudic-
ed he may be against stabling bis cows in summer,
would need further proof to convince him that, so
far as the healthful condition and greater comfort

of the stock are concerned, the soiling system al- -

48 SOILING.

fords the most gratifying results, and adds mate-
rially to the

GREATER PRODUCTION OF BEEF, MILK AND BUTTER.

On this question, there can be but one opinion,
7. ¢., that to produce either beef, milk or butter,
the result will depend upon the amount of food
consumed, and the profit will largely depend upon
furnishing our stock with an abundance of succulent
food during the entire year. Yo accomplish this
independently of parched pastures, and drouth, 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, (1877, Pp. 42.) :

‘‘We shall find the same reasons apply, in still
greater force, in the growth of beef or mutton.
Animals intended for slaughter should have differ-
ent treatment from those whose value depends up-
on the development of muscle. Those reared for
labor need much exercise, as well as appropriate
food, for strengthening the bony and muscular sys-
tem; but those intended for human food, need only
so much exercise as promotes health and a vigor-
ous appetite. And as we have seen soiling give a
greater command over the supply of food at all
times, so when properly 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
pounds at 10 months old. We have uniformly
found this system more favorable to the growth of
young animals than pasturing—that less grain or
milk in addition is required to produce equal

A

ADVANTAGES. 49

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 tor exercise. Animals for beef or
milk are not grown for muscular strength, and
require only a moderate amount of exercise. They

- need most full feeding, fresh air and kind attention.

The skillful feeder has here an opportunity to ob-
serve 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 75 per cent. of the food is required to
make the same gain asin winter. We tested the
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 pounds, into
a good pasture, while five, of the same age and
condition, weighing 4,450 pounds, were soiled,
with exercise in a small yard, and at the end of
four months, those in pasture had gained 625
pounds, and the five soiled had gained 750 pounds,
with nothing but green soiling food, making the
two lots equal in kind of food. The pasture al-
though good and abundant when the experiment
began, did not continue throughout 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 fatten-

4

50 SOILING.

7
ing 48 steers, equally divided. The 24 soiled
brought 4377, and the 24 pastured 4 342,—a differ-
ence in favor of soiling of £35, or a profit of over
$7.00 per head, to say nothing of the saving 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.
lt was conducted through seven years of pasturing
and then 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 40 to 70 cows were pastur-
ed each year, and a separate account kept with
each cow. The lowest average per cow is 1385
quarts in 1855, when seventy cows were kept, and
the highest 1941 quarts in 1859, when forty cows
were pastured, and the greatest quantity given by
one cow was 2988 quarts. The average increased
during the last four years from 1400 to 1941 quarts.
The average per cow for the whole seven years of
pasturing was 1583 quarts. In the soiling experi-
ment twenty-nine to thirty-eight cows were kept,
and the lowest average per cow was 2930 quarts
in 1862, and the highest per cow 4000 quarts in
1866. The highest quantity given by one cow
was 5110 quarts in 1866. The average per cow for
the whole seven years of soiling was 3442 quarts.
The yield of the same cow is compared for differ-
ent years. Cow No. 4 gave in 1860, 3636 quarts ;
in 1863, 4570 quarts: in 1866, 4960 quarts. Cow
No. 24 gave in 1860, 3293 quarts; in 1863, 4483;
in 1866, 4800 quarts.

Many of these cows were the same in both ex-
periments; and it will be seen that the same cow

ADVANTAGES. 51

increased from year to year, showing what full
feeding will do, and also another important fact,
that this full feeding was conducive to the 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, m 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
imto-the field.’

I have made repeated experiments which satisfy
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. There is, doubt-
less, no system of feeding (with forage alone,) that
will excel in the production of milk and butter,
that of a bountiful pasture of nutritious grasses
during the months of May and June. But, from
this time on, the soiling system has a decided ad-
vantage since, as soon as the pasture begins to fail,
there is a corresponding failure in the flow of
milk.

The author.ot “Ogden Farm Papers,” in the
American Agriculturist, has a very interesting art-
icle on the subject of soiling, in which he says,
‘The product of the cows will be more in the case
of soiling than in the other. In June, I was mak-
ing a very satisfactory amountof butter. So were
the pasture men all around me. Now that the
drouth has (in spite of passing rains) begun to affect
the pastures, their product is falling off and by
September, will be materially lessened. My prod-

52 SOILING.

4
uct is increasing week by week, until, from the
same number of cows, it is now over ten per cent.
more than in June, and, an experience of previous
years has shown, it will be fully ten per cent. more
in September than it is now.

INCREASE IN QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF MANURE.

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 other
one thing connected with farming, makes thous-
ands of farmers and their families slaves to unre-
mitting toil, drudging through life, selling away
annually the fertility of their soil,—their birth-right,
when, if one quarter of the. labor that is spent in
trying to subsist by cultivating exhausted soils,
were turned to accumulating a restorative, inde-
_ pendence would take the place of dependence, and
the farmer enjoy all the comforts implied by well-
filled barns and granaries, and, instead of dropping
into a premature grave, live to enjoy a green old
age, with energies and faculties unimpaired.

Manure is the very life and soul of husbandry.
It is the basis of vegetable production,—the sub-
structure on which alone the farmer can hope to
build successfully. The attainment of manure by
the soiling system is one of the greatest and most
characteristic benefits to be derived from its prac-
tice, and the amount which thus naturally accumu-
lates far exceeds all anticipation. All who have
had practical experience agree, so far as I have
been able to learn, that the value of the manure
' made under this system, when properly conduct-

ADVANTAGES. 53

ed, is worth, at the very least estimate, twice as
much as that made while pasturing where it de-
stroys as much feed as its virtue enriches the soil.
A great part is lost by falling upon rocks, among
bushes and in water courses. It 1s evaporated by
the sun. It is washed away by the rains. Insects
destroy a part. The residue (a dry hard cake) hes
sometimes a year upon the ground, often impeding
vegetation and never enriching the earth in any-
thing like the proportion it would doif it had been
deposited under cover. My own experience in
keeping 12 cows, allowing them the run of the
barnyard at night, is that they produced, while in
the stable, one ton of manure every three days.
Sufficient shavings are used to absorb the hquid
portion. We will say that what was made in the
yard during the night was no better than it would
have been if dropped in the field, but that made in
the stable and kept under cover was worth twice
as much. The one ton would be worth at least
$2.00, but, if made in pasture, only $1.00. The in-
creased value of stable manure would therefore be
33 cents per day. I have found that it requires
2% hours extra labor per day to soil 12 head of
milch cows, and during the last three seasons this
labor has cost me 6 cents per hour, or 15 cents per
day; which affords a profit in the manure alone of
18 cents per day. This profit is sufficient to pay
all other expenses. Therefore, I do not hesitate to
say that the increase in quantity and quality of
manure is ample to pay the expense of all extra
labor incurred by soiling over pasturing.

But the saving of land, of fences, of food, the
better condition and greater comfort ‘of farm stock,
the increase in the production of beef, milk and
butter, and the attainment of manure, are all sub-

54 SOILING.

servient and subordinate to the one prime object
and benefit to be derived from the system, z. ¢. ;

°

THE INCREASED PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE SOIL.

I think no farmer could, within the last few
years, travel through the southern states and see
the deserted, fenceless farms, once the abodes of
farmers whose soil and wealth were unparalelled,
—but now the haunts of the emancipated slaves,—
without recognizing at once that it is not on ac-
count of the political condition of affairs (as the
politician views it), not so much on account of the
ignorance of the black (as the learned men inform
us), but for the want of fertility in their sotl.
Where is there a fertile country in any civilized
land, which is not prosperous and peaceful and
desirable to dwell in? ‘There is probably no sec-
tion of land in the world that nature has made
more desirable to live in and has better fitted for
the highest development of agriculture, than these
southern states,—a climate unequaled, navigable
rivers, innumber and length unsurpassed, open to
the traffic of the world,—in fact, a better site for
the location of a Garden of Eden could scarcely be
found. The unfortunate sons of sires whose curse
it was to have the means to destroy without the
knowledge to save the soil, decline to accept these
exhausted fields, and push on to the west, leaving
the negro, without the means to improve or the
knowledge to restore it, to lounge about the prem-
ises in shiftless and melancholy despondency.

There are many sections in the north where the
condition of farms is but little better. Sons are re-

‘

ADVANTAGES. 55

fusing to follow their father’s vocation. Why?
Because there is no money init. The fields have
been robbed of their fertility,—sold by the bushel
in the markets of.a selfish and greedy world, and
washed into the sea. It is no wonder that farmers’
sons decline to become slaves to the drudgery that
is required to obtain a living from their worn out,
exhausted soils. The land is therefore left to the
emmigrant who, coming from a land of want, may
be willing to live half fed, half clothed, without
educating his children, and whose wife and daught-
ers constitute the “help” of the house and farm.
Such may manage to live, and, if hard physical la-
bor will do it, manage to pull through. But an
American, educated at the present day in our com-
mon schools, caznot and well not follow farming
unless he can see money ‘in it. He must have
books, papers, recreation, and distinction. He is
willing to toil night and day to secure these, but,
if it is not to be found in the soil, he will seek it
elsewhere.

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 I have already given
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 increasing the fertility of his soil, should lead him
to give the systema fair and thorough trial. And,
again, to the farmer who wishes to add more acres
to those he eae owns, the soiling system affords
a certain means of doing so without buying more
land. In my own experience, as already shown,
soiling has doubled the acreage of my cultivated

56 SOILING.

land, it has increased the quantity of manure three
times, and the quality of it five orsixtimes. I find,
in looking about, that we have about as many head
of stock as are cenerally found on a farm of 300
acres, and that we cultivate as many acres for
crops as are cultivated on the average farm of 200
acres. My farm is by no means ina high state of
cultivation, but perhaps a little higher than the
the average. The system has done no more for
me than it may do for any other farmer who will
conform to its requirements, which are simple but
exacting.

OBJECTIONS. Ber

OBJECTIONS, TO SOILING.

“EXTRA LABOR.

The extra labor of soiling over pasturing 1s
greatly magnified by most farmers. There is no
excuse for its costing OVEF TWO CENtS per day for
each thead: A. small number may cost more: a
large number, less. [In my own case, after the first
season, it has never required more than 3 hours
per day of extra labor, and, for the last two sea-
sons, not over 2% hours, for 12 head. This includes
all the hand labor except plowing the ground.
We have shown how the increased value of ma-
nure fully compensated for the extra labor, leaving
for the profit the saving of land, fences and food,
the better condition of the stock and the increase
oi beet, milk or butter. Infact, | am not able to
deny that any one of these seven advantages will,
in itself, be sufficient to offset the cost of all extra
labor involved.

“Soiling,” says Mr. H. Stewart, “is a little more
laborious than pasturing, but one dollar spent in
extra labor is replaced ten times over in saving of
feed, saving of land, and saving of manure. | have
found labor very much cheaper than feed.” Again
he says, ‘ Besides 15 cows, there were 3 horses, 7
heifers, 1 bull (26 head) and some pigs. All the
cleaning, feeding and attendance on these animals
was done by a boy of 14 years for one year, and
the pas had considerable time to spend in field
work. + => Phe extra labor involved is well
repaid by the extra manure made, and the gain
from the cattle and the increased fertility of the

58 SOILING.

soil will be clear profit. The dug-dcar 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 put half of his time cutting,
hauling to the barn, and feading 48 cows, at $1.00
per day.” (a trifle over one 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, black-
smith, shoemaker, or other mechanic who ever
becomes well-to-do must owe his prosperity some-
what 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 /rofit. But, as
it does not always return to the farmer directly in
cash, and sometimes only after an interval of
years, he is inclined to apply himself to such work
only as puts the “almighty dollar” directly in his
pocket. This, I think, is the chief reason why the
soiling system is not more generally practised.
Many do not like to see a crop of green rye, oats
or peas cut down and fed to stock, when, by wait-
ing a few weeks longer, they could harvest it and
deliver the grain to market for cash. It has often
been remarked to me by visitors at my place, who
have witnessed the cutting of a splendid crop of
oats or rye as they were just heading out, ‘“‘ What
apity!” Itisa greater pity in my estimation, to
see a man so short-sighted as to become ‘“ penny-
wise and pound foolish.” Such men try to see
how little they can feed and keep their stock alive,
begrudging even the insufficient fodder. They go
on year after year, plowing wheat after wheat, year-

OBJECTIONS. 59

ly reducing their stock and the fertility of their soil,
and grumbling because “farming don’t pay.” I
have no sympathy with such men. They are un-
worthy af the name of farmer.

LACK OF EXERCISE.

In regard to feeding stock for profit, Mr. Wil-
lard says; ‘“‘ The quantity of milk may be increased
if certain circumstances and conditions are ob-
served. And first among these conditions is quiet-
ness and freedom from anything like labor or extra
exertion on the part of the cow. A certain amount
ot exercise may be needed for health, but all exer-
cise produces a waste of the animal structure,
which must be repaired by food. The first office
of food is to support respiration and repair the
natural waste of the body, and, if the waste is ex-
cessive by reason of excessive labor, the food will
go first to supply this waste and, alter that, for the
production of milk. Hence, those who study to
get large results from milch cows are careful to
keep the animals as quiet as possible, avoiding exces-
sive travel or labor, taking care that there be no
disturbing cause for excitement, such as fear,
anxiety, or solicitude, for these waste food and
check the secretion of milk to a much greater ex-
tent than most people imagine.”

As to keeping the cows confined, however, the
soiling system does not require it any more than
pasturing. Stock soiled may be fed in large racks
in the barnyard, or a small enclosure, where they
may have the same liberty as in the field without
destroying their food by tramping onit, &c. My

60 SOILING.

first experience was to feed in racks about the
yard, but I scon abandoned it, for various reasons:

ist—The master cows would occupy 10 or 12
feet of a rack, and, all others had to keep off.

2d.—T he timid and weak ones did not get their
share.

3d.—There was more danger of their hooking
Each Other.

Ath -—'t required more teed:

5th.—The animals were unprotected from flies
and storms.

6th.—The manure was not so good.

All these objections were to be overcome by
stabling. The extra labor of cleaning the stables
and supplying them with bedding was amply com-
pensated for, because the cows were much more
easily and quickly milked, and no chasing about
the yard nor clubbing with milk stools, &c.
Stabled, the cows could be milked as they should
be, at regular intervals, at six o’clock, morning and
evening, instead of before sunrise and after sun-
down, as farmers are obliged to do in fly time, or
endanger their sight and tempers. My plan has
been to allow them the run of a well littered
yard during the night, so that they may enjoy as
much exercise in the cool night air as they require.

Mr. Volney Lacy, of Caledonia, N. Y., soils
from 40 to 60 head of grade Durhams, which, dur-
ing the winter, are never allowed to leave their
stables, except long enough to drink, and, during
the summer, never leave his barnyard. He has
cows in the herd 8 and to years old, that were
raised on the place and have never been out of the
barnyard. A thriftier, healthier or more uniform
looking herd of cows I never saw. He has a farm
of over 200 acres without a rod of interior fence

SOILING CROPS. 61

upon it. He has practiced soiling for the last 14
vears. | shall always remember my visit to his
place with pleasure. He vs a farmer.

SOILING CROPS.

In regard to the different forage crops that may
be used for soiling, as they are numerous and
various, they must be selected by the soiler with
reference to the nature of his soil, and the condi.
tion of his farm and stock. We will notice only
those that have come into general use for this
purpose. |

RYE.

This, by reference to the foregoing tables of the
relative value of crops, will be seen to be, for more
than one reason, very valuable. We see that, as a
green food, it ranks second in the list. 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 far less sensi-
tive 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 exhaustive tothe soil. It will produce a
fair yield where wheat will not pay the expense of
growing. For these reasons it is also one of the
best crops to grow.as a green manure, as it is
equal, ton for ton, to ordinary barnyard manure.

ee
- nn eS

62 SOILING.

In the soiling system, this is no small item for con:
sideration, as, in the fall of the year, neariy all the
ground that will be required for soiling the com-
ing season may be sown to rye and what remains
unconsumed in the spring may be plowed under
for manure, thus saving drawing, piling and spread-
ing.

Dr. Hamlin, in his valuable work on “ Farming
with Green Manure,” 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, $2.00, and interest on the value of the land
from October until May (8 months) $4.00, or a
total cost of only $6.00 for 15 tons of green manure.
The same amount of barnyard manure could not
be bought, drawn to the field and spread for less
than $20.00. Rye should be fed during the younger
stages of its growth. After the heads are formed
it soon becomes tough and stock reject it, If cut
before heading, on very rich soil it willsprout and
grow again, some claim to obtain two or three
cuttings, allowing the last one to ripen for seed.

BARLEY.

This is a valuable crop for early spring and late
fall sowing, and is quite indispensable to farmers
living ina latitude north of the southern boundary
line of New York, especially if no preparation has
been made the previous fall by sowing rye, or
where farmers may wish to pasture during the

SOILING CROPS. 63

months of May and June, and soil the remainder of
the season. * [n this latitude (Western New York),
it may be sown earlier in the season than any other
crop, as it will sprout and grow at a lower tem-
perature. It will also withstand late and early
frosts. Mr. A. W. Che@ver, of the Mew England
Farmer, says, “ Two year’s 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 (1879)
even after the ground was frozen.” For this pur-
pose, the six-rowed barley is said to better with-
stand the cold than the two-rowed variety. Says
Mr. Flint (Grasses and Forage Plants, p. 164), “it
has passed into a six regular rowed variety, which
is a winter grain and endures more severe cold.”

—_

CORN.

There is doubtless no other forage crop that will
produce more tons of fodder per acre than corn,
and this quality strongly recommends it to'‘persons
living in a thickly populated district and whose
acreage is therefore limited.

On good land, half a square rod of corn, in drills
two feet apart, will be found sufficient to support
one cow a day (24 hours); and, on ldnd in a high
state of cultivation, a quarter of a square rod has
been found sufficient. In the first instance, we
have, from an acre, 320 days feeding for one cow,
and, in the second, enough to support three full-
grown cows 200 days. In selecting a variety, the
kind that is found to be the most leafy and, at the

64 SOILING.

‘**SOU * FODDER CORN.

same time, not too coarse in the stalk, is generally
considered to be the best adapted to the soiling
system. Stowell’s Evergreen, Blunt’s Prolific,
Western Dent, and the common field varieties are
largely used. Sorghum (sugar cane) is highly
prized by some.

ce

»

SOILING CROPS. 65

It should be sown in drills wide enough to culti-
vate. When sown broadcast, the leaves, which are
the most important part of the plant, stop short of
full development, the stalk is weak, and lable to be
thrown down by storms and has not the strength to
right itself. Sow 2 to 2ybushels per acre, in drills
2 to 2y feet apart. Itis hardly necessary to add
that the ground should be well manured and culti-
vated. Mr. Harris Lewis says he has found Stow-
ell’s “ Evergreen” sweet corn makes the richest
milk of all the plants he has tried.

A variety known as the ‘* Sou” Fodder Corn—
represented by the accompanying illustration—is
very highly recommended by those who have tried
it. Possessing as it does, all the requirements
most desirable either for soiling or ensilage, it
must soon rank as a very valuable variety as its
leaves are very wide and very numerous. The stalk
is small, growing upon rich soil, from “12 to 14
feet high,” and it is said to contain a large per
cent. of saccharine matter. I shall give ita trial.

OATS, OR OATS AND PEAS.

For the production of milk, oats, or oats and
,peas (4% peas,—common field variety), make a val-
uable crop. As far as my experience goes, I may
say, that this is my favorite crop for milch cows.

Sow in the spring, as early as the ground will
permit, and begin to cut when the oats are head-
ing out,—the peas will then be leaving blossom
and forming pods. It is also an excellent soiling
crop for sheep, especially when suckling lambs,
also for mares suckling colts. I also feed it quite

5

SS

66 ; SOILING.

extensively to work horses, in which case | prefer
the plant to be somewhat further advanced in
growth. Ina recent letter from Mr. Crozier, of
Long Island, after mentioning several of the lead-
ing 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 [can grow.” Mr. T. Brown,
in the Country Gentleman, gives it as his experience
that oats cut and fed green will produce the most
milk of all green crops and will be the greatest
profit to the cheese dairy.

CLOVER.

The value of this most nutritious food, 1s too
well known to need any description here. It is
one of the easiest crops with which to begin the
practice of soiling. If cut just before blossoming,
it will furnish three cuttings in a season. I have
not used it much in soiling, except for horses and
hogs. For them I know of nothing better except
tares, or, perhaps, lucern (with the latter | have
had no experience). The principal reason why
clover is not 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 yetare not so-
valuable tor hay. Itis much cheaper to cut the
feed for 12 or 14 cows from 5 or 6 rods (per day)
than fo.,cut it; fromil1o;.200n<30 rods) #4ne sacre
of clover,’ says Mr. H. Lewis, “ will feed a dairy
of 45 cows 15 days,” and he adds that 3 acres fur-
nishes his herd of 38 cows by soiling 5 weeks. As
a green manure, doubtless it has no equal, except

SOILING CROPS. 67

perhaps in the cow pea. The action of its roots,
which are very numerous, are both mechanical
and chemical, loosening the soil and admitting the
air, and the decaying roots furnish considerable
plant food for the following crop. But one of its
most valuable qualities is that, when allowed to
grow for soiling crops or hay, it so shades the sur-
face of the soil that it incredses its fertility rather
than exhausting it, which would not be the case
were the land used for pasture. Mr. E. W. Stew-
art says, ‘“‘ Desiring to know the feeding capacity
Gian acre ol! clover’ *' *' * ~[ measured ‘ofl 40
square rods and began feeding it to seven cows
and five horses. To my surprise, it fed them 15
days,—equal to feeding one cow 180 days. The
two succeeding years | tried the same experiment,
feeding only cows, one of which proved equal to
feeding one cow 170 days, the other 165 days.

LUCERN.

Where it has a favorable soil, lucern is, in some
respects, superior to clover. They grow very
much alike, except the lucern grows taller and is
a more leafy plant. It lasts much longer than clo-
ver, remaining in the soil ten to fifteen years with-
out re-seeding. Those having soil to which it is
adapted are loud in its praise as a forage plant.
Says Mr. Flint (‘Grasses and Forage Plants,” p.
193), “But, notwithstanding the great amount of
succulent and nutritious forage it produces, its ef-
fect is to ameliorate and improve the soil rather
than to exhaust it. * * When properly man-
aged, the number of cattle which can be kept in

68 SOILING.

good condition on an acre of lucern during the
whole season exceeds belief. It is no sooner mown
than it bushes out fresh shoots, and, wonderful as
the growth of cloversometimes is in a field that
has been lately mown, that of lucern is far more
rapid. Lucern will last for many years, shooting
its roots, tough and fibrous, downward for nourish-
ment till it is out of the reach of drouth. In the
dryestand most sultry weather, when every blade of
grass droops for want of moisture, lucern holds up
its stem, fresh and green as in the genial spring.”

The following is from Mr. John Bruce, from the
“Ontario Experimental Farm,” Hamilton, Ontario:

‘“We have had most marked success in growing
lucern, in all kinds of weather (hard winters and
dry summers) giving 20 tons per acre from four or
five cuttings per season.—Broadcast seeding ina
free deep soil, clean and in good heart; 16 pounds
per acre sown in spring,—plants last from 6 to 8
years. Give a good top-dressing of well rotted
barnyard manure every second year.—It is a good
soiling crop; in great favor with cattle and sheep,
—is very fattening.”

From the late N. Bethel, Thorold: “A portion
of my first piece has been down ten years and the
other part six years. I cut three tons of hay to
the acre last week in June and allowed the second
crop to stand for seed. I sold 39 bushels clean
seed. This field has never had any kind of ma-
nure since it was sown. The other field contains
4% acres and this is the first year it has been cut.
I got about 2% tons per acre, but it wasa very dry
season, and on hard clay soil, The second crop
produced 25 bushels of seed. I used the cut hay
unmixed with bran or other teed for lambing ewes
and they gave more milk on it than any feed I

SOILING CROPS. 69

have used in my experience of 20 years; it is also
very good for milking cows, either as green fodder
or hay. The seed can be saved from either the
first or second crop. I consider it the best todder
crop I have ever seen, as it stands drouth better
than anything I know. I cultivate the same as
red clover.”

HUNGARIAN GRASS (MILLET).

This is doubtless the most nutritious green for-
age that is used in soiling cattle, as may be seen by
reference to the foregoing tables. Asa green ma-
nure it also ranks first, containing 20 lbs. of nitro-
gen and 17 lbs. of potashtotheton. It germinates
and grows very rapidly and is said to enured
drouth remarkably well, “ remaining green even
where other vegetation is parched, and if its devel-
opment is arrested by dry weather, the least rain

' will restore it.” It isa very leafy plant and fur-

nishes 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 attains its greatest luxuriance in soil
of medium constancy and well manured. It is
usually sown broadcast, requiring one bushel of
seed ‘per acre.

COMMON MILLET.

This is similar to Hungarian grass in regard to
cultivation and growth. They are both annual
grasses. Of millet, Mr. Flint says: “ It is one of

70 SOILING.

the best crops we have for cutting and feeding for
soiling purposes, since its yield is large. Its luxu-
riant leaves are much relished by milch cows and
other stock. It requires good soil and is rather an
exhaustive crop, but yields a product valuable in
proportion to the richness of the soil.”

ROOTS. 71
ROOTS.

For late fall feeding, some kind of forage should
be provided that will resist early frosts. As be-
fore stated, barley or rye may be grown later with-
out injury from frosts, than any other cereals
except wheat, but, as in this latitude we sometimes
have early falls of snow before winter fully sets in,
which would beat down a crop of rye or barley,
thus destroying its use as a food, it is best to be
provided with some kind of a root crop, such as
Beets, Cabbage, Kohl Rabi, &c., for milch cows,
and Turnips for fattening animals and sheep. I
speak in this way of Turnips, not because they are
superior to any of the other roots, but because
they cannot be fed to milch cows without injuring
the flavor of the milk and butter. Of the turnip,
I shall have somewhat to say, under the head of
soiling crops for sheep.

BEETS.

As far as my experience extends in growing roots
for milch cows and feeding them to obtain butter
I have found the“ Yellow Ovoid ’’variety superior
to all others. They are easily cultivated and
easily harvested, as the principal growth is above
ground, as represented in the accompanying illus-
tration. In regard to the method or culture, I
need only say, that I have obtained the best results
by top-dressing with stable manure after the beets
were up, and following immediately with cultiva-
tion, working the manure towards and on the rows.
The seeding is done with a common field grain

Sete

72 SOILING.

YELLOW OVOID.

drill, in rows 24 inches apart, by closing all the
drills except Nos. 2, 5 and 8. In estimating the
amount, the drill may be operated upon the barn
floor and so rigged as to drop the seed in any
desired quantity.

73

TREE CABBAGE.

CABBAGE.

Besides the ordinary variety of field cabbage
used for soiling, the “Tree” cabbage, where it is
known, is generally preferred, as its leaves may be
picked off several times during the season, growing
out again after each picking. Its cultivation in
this country is very limited, but an English author
speaks very highly of it as a soiling crop. Its cul-
tivation is similar to cabbage, but it doubtless will
require more labor to grow it than most American
farmers are willing to devote, especially if there 1s
any other forage that will answer the same pur-

pose and require less cultivation. In this respect
the Kohl Rabi

74 SOILING.

ON
BEVIN
RWS,
ues
KOHL RABI

will be better received. This vegetable as yet is
little known in this country. It comes very highly
recommended from the German and English far-
mers, and it is thought by some that it will soon
be more extensively cultivated there than the tur-
nip, that is to say, that it will supercede it as a
vegetable. It partakes of the nature both of the
cabbage and of the turnip. Its cultivation is simi-
lar to that of the turnip. It is equally as produc-
tive, and may be fed to milch cows, as it gives no
unpleasant flavor to the milk as in the case of tur-
nips. It is also said that it will endure very severe
frosts.

|
|

ROTATION. 75

ROTATION OF SOILING CROPS.

The rotation of soiling crops is very easily fol-
lowed. The manner of conducting the system of
growing and feeding is shown by the following plan,
which I have arranged in six steps of growth, one
for each of the six months feeding, beginning about
the 1st of May, each growth or crop furnishing
feed for one month:

ist—Winter rye sown in the fall, for the next
May feeding.

2d.—Barley, Oats, or Oats and Peas for the first
spring sowing, (for June feeding).

3d.—Corn fodder, millet, or Hungarian grass,
(for July feeding).

4th.—Corn fodder grown on the ground that was
occupied by the winter rye, (for August feeding).

5th.—Corn fodder grown on the ground that was
occupied by the 2d crop, (for September feeding).

6th.—Barley, rye, or cabbage roots (for fall feed-
ing) grown on the ground that was occupied by
the 3d crop, (for October feeding).

If any of the prominent grasses (lucern, clover,
&c.) are cultivated, they may take the place of the
2d growth. The ground on which is grown the
Ist, 2d and 3d crops, if well manured after each
cutting, or ina high state of fertility, will be all
the land required for the season, except, perhaps,
it may be found in a lower latitude that the 3d crop
will be insufficient to carry the stock through until
winter ; in which case, other land should be pro-
vided. The 4th and 5th crops will be off in time to
sow to winter rye for the next year’s feeding.

76 SOILING.
HOW TO BEGIN.

In laying out the work, it is simply necessary to
know how many head of stock (1,000 pounds each)
you desire to soil. Onmy own farm, I[ have adopt-
ed the following estimate z. ¢. ; that a full grown cow
will consume per day:

Of lucern, clover, or other grasses, I square rod.

Of rye, barley, oats and peas, % square rod.

Of corn fodder, % square rod.

Land in a high state of cultivation will require
less, poor land more. I would, however, advise a
beginner to make a liberal allowance, especially in
his first attempt, or until he has become acquainted
with his soil and the system. There is no waste in
having too much for immediate use, since it may
be cut for winter feed, or, better yet, plowed under
as a green manure. That the reader may fully
understand my meaning, let us suppose that we
wish to soil, during the coming season, 12 head of
cows. We will begin with the proper spring work,
supposing we have sown sufficient rye the previous
fall to sustain our herd through the month of May
(1st crop).

SECOND (JUNE) CROPS.

The plowing should be done as soon as the
ground will permit. The land should first have a
heavy dressing of manure, and, after plowing, it
may be also top-dressed. All the land that may be
required for the 2d and 3d crops (June and July
feedings) may be plowed at once.

As already described, the succeeding crops (Au-

patie palin

ROTATION. 77

gust, September and October) may be grown on
the same ground as the first three. The next thing
in order is to ascertain how much land will be
required. At % square rod per day for each cow,
we shall need for the second (June) crop (barley,
oats and peas), 270 square rods; to which we will
add 10 square rods for waste, &c., making 280
square rods. In plowing for both June and July
crops, we plow, of course, double this area. The
4th (August) crop will come, as before stated, on
the ground now occupied by the first crop (winter
Lye).
oe that the ground is all plowed, the man who
has charge of the cutting and feeding proceeds as
follows: every Saturday afternoon, with two horses
he fits the ground, and with the grain drill, sows,
only the amount of ground necessary to keep the
12 head one week. This makes four sowings, of 70
square rods each, for each month’s crops, and thus
each sowing in rotation comes to maturity one
week later than the previous one. One week is
about as long as most forage crops are at a proper
stage to cut. If, for instance, two or three week’s
feeding is sown at a time, the soiler must begin
cutting before it has reached its best state (2 ¢., in
blossom), or else it will not all be consumed until
some of it has passed its most succulent state and
become so tough as to be rejected by the stock,
the soiler may thus be disappointed and led to con-
demn the system. For the lack of knowing this, I
have no doubt that more than one faint hearted
man has been discouraged in attempting to soil his
stock.

It has been my practice to sow barley for the
first week’s sowing and to follow it with three
weekly sowings of oats and peas. This constitutes

1

78 SOILING.

the second month’s crop. The rye will last until

about the 1st of June when the first cutting of bar-
ley will be ready, after which, each week’s sowing
follows in succession. The sowing must therefore
be continued every week until each month’s crop
is provided, and will require, for 12 head, about
two or three hours of one day in each week.

THIRD (JULY) CROP:

If the grasses are used, provide at least 1 square
rod per day for each head ; 1f corn fodder, % square
rod. Say we use the latter, and that we use 200
square rods for the whole month’s crop. Four
sowings would therefore require the fitting and
seed for 50 square rods each week. For reasons
already given, the seed should be put in with drills
and cultivated. The seeding may be done with a
common grain drill. With a nine-tooth drill, let
the cups of teeth Nos. 1 and 3 discharge into No. 2;
4 and 6, intos; and 7ando,into8. This will make
the rows 24 inches apart, the wheel tracks serving
as a guide on return bouts.

FOURTH (AUGUST) CROP.

This crop is usually corn fodder, which thrives
well in hot weather. It may follow on the land
lately cleared of the winter rye, after manuring ;
but, if the land is not in condition, it must be
grown elsewhere.

ROTATION. 79
FIFTH (SEPTEMBER) CROP.

This follows on the land where we sowed barley
and oats for the June feeding.

SIXTH (OCTOBER) CROP.

This should consist largely of barley or rye, or
both, sown, in the manner above described, where
we had the third (July) crop.

Cabbage and roots for November should have
been sown early, on ground especially fitted for
them. But many farmers allow their cows to run
out during the latter part of the season (November)
on corn stubble or such land as they have suitable
for such uses. In September, there should be the
usual number of sowings of rye forthe first month’s
feeding in the following spring, which should be
top-dressed during the winter, when the ground is
frozen, with fine stable manure.

This completes the season. It seems as if I had
used a great many words in describing the rota-
tion of the crops and the manner of growing them.
It I am at fault in this respect, I hope the reader
will attribute it to my desire to be clearly under-
stood.

In this connection, [ add the following extracts
from a letter from Mr. Charles W. Wolcott:

Blue Hill Farm, Canton, Mass., June rith, 1881.
FP. O.b EER, Esq.

DEAR SIR :—I have yours of the 4th, and note
the inquiries. Our practice has been to feed on
winter rye first then oats,—next, spring rye,—
next, millet (the golden) grown on the winter rye

—_ $$$ $$ -

. 80 SOILING.

land. Sweet fodder corn (Stowell’s evergreen)
grown on oat land, southern white fodder corn
sown in drills on oat land and spring rye land, and
lastly, dar/ey grown on the land formerly occupied
by winter rye and lastly by golden millet. This
gives a good rotation for feeding, and with us al-
ways has worked well. * * * * Respecting
the value of manure saved by soiling, my judgment
is that a// that is made is saved, for I do not believe
that the manure dropped in pasture enriches the
soil at all, it being mostly dried up into an almost
insoluble cake.

The care of my stock (now 48 head of milch cows)
devolves on one man who feeds, cleans and waters
them in the barn—two men help him milk. One
man and one horse draw the green fodder in less
than half a day. We feed three times a day in the
stanchions, where the cows stay except when they
are turned out in the yard once a week for an hour
if it is cool, but never if itis very hot. They much
prefer the barn to the yard. Their health is al-
ways good and they are thrifty. The quality of
milk is about the same with me the year round.
The quantity is larger with me in the soiling sea-
son 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 ready to throw itaway. _

Yours, Respectfully,
CHAS. W. WOLCOTT.

{

CUTTING AND FEEDING. 81
CUTTING AND FEEDING.

CURLING:

Where the farmer has but a few head to soil, a
large wheelbarrow, scythe, cradle, rake, fork and
corn cutter will constitute the necessary outfit to
conduct the system, so far as cutting and feeding
are concerned. My own experience in soiling 12
to 14 head of milch cows and 4 horses may be
briefly stated as follows: The cutting is all done
with a stoutly built self-rake reaper. We began
by using a scythe. The second year we cut witha
mowing machine, but this had some disadvantages
over the scythe, for the crop had to be raked to-
gether either by hand or by horse rake. I tried
the latter, but it was not stout enough to rake the
heavy green fodder in any better shape than it was
left by the scythe. It required considerable hand
raking, either way. This I found to be the great-
est objection to the whole system. Not that it re-
quired so much time, but that to go back to gath-
ering crops with hand rake and fork, after a few
years with mowing machines and hay rakes, didn’t
seem like progressing. We used the scythe until
the new reaper (D. M. Osborne’s No. 3, manu-
factured at Auburn, N. Y.) made its appearance
on the farm, taking the place of scythe, mowing
machine, hand rake and horse rake; in fact, for
ease and economy of labor, this machine proved to
be just the thing. Monday morning, for instance,
the farm team is attached and cuts, in twenty or
thirty minutes, enough feed to supply my entire
stock for two or three days, leaving it in the very

6 .

82 SOILING.

best possible shape to gather, where it may wilt
without drying out, and the least exposed to sun
and weather. I cannot recommend too highly or
encourage too strongly this mode of cutting over
every other. This is the third season that I have
used this machine, cutting very heavy crops of
oats and peas, and last season, besides all our soil-
ing crops, 5% acres of Western Dent corn, 7 to 9
feet tall, and producing 30 tons of ensilage fodder
per acre. Of this subject, I shall have somewhat
to say under “ Winter Soiling.” The only break
that has ever happened to the reaper while cutting
green feed was a casting on the “grain wheel”
outside of the table. I speak of this because, at
first, one might be timid about using a reaper for
such work. :

DRAWING.

A one-horse lumber wagon with wide tire (2%
inch) and low wheels (half truck) will be found of
great service for drawing in the green fodder,
drawing out manure on plowed ground for top-
dressing, and drawing out muck, &c. It should
have a double box, the upper part projecting on a
bevel so as to cover the wheels as here represented.

villi) HA
ae |
t itt)

~-

uy

CUTTING AND FEEDING. 83
FEEDING.

There are two methods of feeding stock under
the soiling system, viz: By allowing the stock to
run ina small enclosure or barnyard, where they
may be fed in racks; and by feeding them in their
stalls, allowing them such exercise as the owner
may deem necessary to promote and maintain
their health.

The latter method has many advantages over
the former, some of which have been mentioned
under the head of Advantages, z. ¢.; the saving of
feed and manure, and the greater comfort of the
stock. Lastly, but not least, may be mentioned
the advantage of having the cows in their stalls at
milking time, instead of being scattered about the
yard, driving each other about, which is very an-
noying and often results in a clubbing of the cow
and the loss of a pail of milk.

CAUTION IN FEEDING.

There is much more danger of a beginner’s
feeding too much than not enough. A cow, with
more fodder placed before her than she can eat up
clean, breathes upon it and then will go hungry
before she will eat it. This, of course, causes
shrinkage in milk and flesh, and I have no doubt
that for this reason the soiling system has been
condemned by some, who supposed that a cow
could not be hungry with a whole rack full of feed
before her which she refused to touch.

84 SOILING.
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, and each time only the
amount which they will consume before the next
feeding. Mr. Quincy recommends six feedings;
but five, in my experience, have given equally
good results and are more convenient. To think
of feeding five times a day may seem like a great
task, but, by systematizing the work, it will be
found not nearly as bad as one may imagine. .

Let us begin in the morning and go through the
entire day’s work of soiling 14 head of cows, feed-
ing them five times, twice in the morning, once at
noon, and twice at night, as follows; at 5 and 8
o'clock A. M., 12 M., and at 4and 7 P.M. We have
enough feed brought in the night before to supply
us with the first, or 5 o'clock, feeding, which 1s, at
time of feeding, placed in the mangers and the
cows let in from the yard where they have spent
the night. The farm team is then cared for. By
this time breakfast is ready, after which (6 o’clock)
milking begins. In the meantime, the calves and
pigs are attended to, the farm team has been at-
tached to the reaper, and, having cut. sufficient
fodder for two or three day’s feeding, has gone
to the regular field work. After the feeding of
the calves and pigs just referred to, the man, with
the wagon, draws from the field, in one load, feed
for the 8 o’clock, noon, and 4 o’clock feedings,

After all other chores are done, which takes him
till about half-past seven, the cows are given their
8 o’clock feeding, and the man is at liberty until
noon. Just before going to dinner he gives the
cows their noon feeding, which takes him about

CUTTING AND FEEDING. 85

five minutes. After dinner he is at liberty until
half-past four when the cows are again fed (what
we call the four o’clock feeding). Supper at five,
after which another load of fodderis drawn from
the field, sufficient for the 7 o’clock feeding and the
5 o'clock morning feeding. At 6 o’clock the cows
are milked, and the calves and pigs fed, which
brings us to the 7 o'clock feeding. Thisis quickly
done, and ends the day with the exception of turn-
ing out the cows at 8 o'clock. During the time
we have given to feeding the 14 cows, 4 horses
and 2 colts have been provided with feed.

In relating, as I have, my own experience in
conducting the soiling system, I am well aware
that it establishes no rule. I[t might not suit an-
other’s case in every respect. I hope, however,
that it will give my readers a correct knowledge
of the general principles of soiling, so that those
who wish to adopt it may have at least a guide, if
not an absolute rule.

rs6) SOILING.

SOILING CATTLE.

In the construction of cow stables, there are two
points which should be well understood, and the
first one of these is the necessity of good and per-
fect ventilation. This is very easily secured and
should in no wise be neglected, especially if stock
are to be stall-fed. Either in summer or in winter,
pure air is indispensable to health. A stable con-
structed so as to be warm in winter, will be cool
in summer. The following diagram illustrates
the principle of ventilation:

Dt"
114i SSN

Peet aoa)

As the warmer and impure air from the breath-
ing cows and the odors of the stable rise to the
ceiling of the basement stable B, it finds an easy
exit upward and through the roof of the building
by the air duct represented. At the same time,
the circuit is completed by the introduction of
cooler and purer air from the floor of the upper

SOILING CATTER:. 87

apartment, A A, through the conduits represented,
to the floor of the basement stables.

The second item of importance is the saving of
liquid manure, the value of which has been already
discussed. Figure 2 gives a sectional view of a
double row of stalls facing each other, in a base-
ment 30 feet wide.

Mer ain | Fr. Gin. Zrr.l8in. “Fr. Sin.2er. Yet.Gin. rain. SFT.

The space in the center, marked P, is the alley
through which the feed is carried and deposited in
the mangers M M. F F are the floors on which
the cows stand. The drops (D D) behind the cows
are made water tight and may be partly filled with
absorbents. The spaces P P, at the extreme ends
of the diagram are passage ways behind the cows.

I prefer a deep drop behind the cows, to a shal-
low wide one, for these reasons. It takes up less
room ; acow can more easily step across and is
less liable to slip in passing; it is more easily
cleaned out, being but the width of a large scoop
shovel; and, being deeper, the manure drops be-
low the surface of the floor on which the cows
stand, and, if cleaned out daily, there will not
enough accumulate to touch the body of the cow
when she lies down. I have hada solid white cow
in my stable, summer and winter, for the last three
years, and [ never remember seeing a manure stain
on her flank, legs or udder. The same is true of
all the cows. I use fine shavings for bedding and
as an absorbent. The cows work enough back in-
to the drop or trench with their feet to absorb the

88 SOILING.

urine. When straw is used for bedding, a little
dry muck, sand, cobs, etc., should be sprinkled in
the bottom of the trench, as straw itself is not a
very good absorbent. If cut cornstalks are fed,
the butts left by the cows may be thrown under
them ; they make a good absorbent, but should, of
course, be cut. Muck and sand are, perhaps, the
best absorbents, on account of being of greater
value before being used than the others I have
named ; but, where it is the practice to furnish
cows with bedding, something that will answer for
both bedding and absorbent will doubtless be the
most desirable.

FASTENINGS.

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Saat
Tanti ell
ia i

SOILING CATTLE. 89

There are many styles of cattle fastenings, the
ones in most general use, being ropes, chains, and
stanchions. These are too well known to need
description. The foregoing illustrates the latest
improved method of fastening by stanchions.

For some reasons stanchions are the best meth-
od of fastening. The objections generally made to
them are that the animal has not sufficient liberty
with her head. The accompanying illustration
shows how this objection is obviated. This style
of stanchion is manufactured and sold by the
patentees, M. H. Barnard & Co., Forestville, Conn.

go SOILING.

SOILING HORSES.

My own experience being limited to the soiling
of the farm team only, and not extending to the
soiling of breeding mares, I quote in full the follow-
ing article on the subject from the pen of a well-
known author and practical farmer, as it appeared
in the Live Stock Fournal :

“This class of stock is thought by many to be
quite unadapted to the soiling system, especially
colts, as they require exercise to develop the mus-
cular power, and soiling is thought to require too
close confinement. This arises from a misconcep-
tion of the flexibility of this system. Soiling does
not necessarily require the confinement of animals
any more than pasturing. Itis true that pasturing
furnishes larger fields to range in; but nearly every
farm can devote a lane running to the wood lot as
space to exercise in. This lane is necessary for
the convenience of the farm, and generally fur-
nishes a road to the different parts of the tillable
land and meadow. This will furnish the colts
abundant room to make trials of speed, and afford
all the exercise required to develop muscle. This
run-way is easily fenced so substantially as wholly
to prevent the colts from jumping, and thus be-
coming troublesome. I have raised a dozen colts
in this way, and found them to develop in every
respect as well as those pastured. That colts may
be as little confined as possible, racks may be ar-
ranged under a shed, into which the soiling food
may be placed, and the colts have access to it at all
times. We found this plan to work well with
brood mares and their foals. Having the food of
the mares wholly under control, their production

SOILING HORESS. gI

of milk will be more uniform, and the growth of
the foals much better, than on pasture. The dam
requires full feeding upon appropriate food, and
this may always be given in soiling, as any defect
in the succulence and nutrition of the grasses or
other soiling food may be supplemented with mid-
dlings, oil-meal and oats. The foals are also con-
stantly 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 attendant and docility are not only favor-
able to the foal’s progress in development, but to
its easy management 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, un-
der this system they may be grown with much
more uniform success, and, on land worth'fifty or
more dollars per acre, much cheaper than by pas-
turing. As | have shown in other articles, the
foal responds more quickly to the use of cow’s
milk than any other food after weaning, and this
may be skimmed milk, after teaching it first to
drink new milk. Thecolt being under attention in
soiling, this extra food may be given with very
little labor. From considerable experience, I con-
sider the soiling system as well adapted to the
raising of horses in all stages, from the suckling
colt to the mature horse.”

92 SOILING.

SOILING SHEEP.

The advantages of soiling sheep in this country
are becoming more apparent 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 the necessity of
supplying an abundance of succulent food for his
lambs until they have reached maturity. A lamb
that has been stinted by want of proper nourish-
ment or from sickness can never be fattened as
profitably as one whose growth has never been
checked. 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 ex-
port'to this country, yearly, many thousand dol-
lars worth-of sheep, while American farmers might
breed as good at home, if they would. For many
years we sent to them for stock animals to improve
our herds, until Americans learned the art of feed-
ing, and now we are breeding cattle as fine as
theirs, and, during the last few years, have sent
some valuable sires to England.

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 ap-
preciate its importance. There is not a farmer in
America who will not say that “it costs no more
to keep a good sheep than a poor one”’; but not
one ina hundred puts the statement to proof by
practice. The English farmer makes no secret of
how he produces a flock of sheep that average 200
lbs. each, and from 12 to 20 lbs. of beautiful wool.

|
|
|

SOILING SHEEP. 93

It is all explained in one word,—/feed. Not grain
so much as a never-ceasing supply of rich, nutritious
forage which keeps their stock growing constantly,
throughout the entire year. To accomplish this,
they have adopted a regular system of soiling,
there known as folding or hurdling.

I am told by an importer of English stock that,
as a general thing, the English feed less grain than
we do. Again, itis very important to the wool
grower that his flock should have an abundance of
food throughout the entire year. Whenever the
pastures fail, the growth of wool is checked, and,
if the sheep be afterwards well fed, there will be
found at shearing time a weak place in the wool
corresponding to the time in its growth when the
feed was insufficient. Wool, like milk from our
cows, is produced in proportion to the amount of
food consumed above that required to support life.
Therefore, the want of a proper amount of food is
first noticed in the wool, and here is where many
farmers are deceived. Their sheep look to be in
passable condition 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 fatten-
merquality and early maturity . *,. ~))*.)-* has
been secured by a liberal supply of nutritious food
during the period of growth.”

Mr. Youatt, an English author, says: “It is of
the utmost zmportance that the ewes should have
abundant food in order to produce a flow of nu-
tritious milk while they are suckling, and that the
lambs should have plenty of good pasture or other
succulent green food when they are weaned.”

Speaking of the Lincoln .breed of sheep, Mr.
Stewart says, “In connection with a system of

94 SOILING.

farming in which heavy crops of roots and green
fodder were the chief production, this improved
breed became fixed in its character as the heaviest
producers of mutton and wool in the world.”

During the early part of the season, when vege-
tation is putting forth vigorously, they do very
well in pasture, but, by the time they have over-
come the effects of winter, the pasture begins to
fail,—just when the lambs are requiring the great-
est amount of milk. Then it is that the dams
should have better feed than at any other time in
in the year. There is no other time when extra
food is so much needed. The system of the dam
herself must be kept up, a large lamb, often two,
derive sustenance through her, and the farmer also
expects her, at the same time, to be growing wool.
If she is ill provided with the best of food to pro-
duce milk, wool and flesh, the wool is first affected,
then her off-spring—reaching maturity late, some-
times never; her own body becomes a ready prey
to disease, and she goes into winter quarters poor.
A few years of such a life hangs her hide upon the
fence and gives her carcass to the crows.

There are many farmers keeping sheep who
have no interest in their improvement for the rea-
son that every two or three yeare the rotation of
the fields shortens the supply of pasture and the
flock goes tothe butcher. They pickup a few culls
after a year and begin another flock which in turn
follows the course of the first. The farmer has no
object in selecting a good sire as a means of im-
proving, because he doesn’t know but what he will
have to dispose of his flock another year, if he
should be likely to loose a feeding or be short of
pasture.

There is probably no source of easier profit on

SOILING SHEEP. 95

the farm thana flock of well cared for sheep. Ma-
nure made from them is richer in nitrogen and
potash than that from any other animal,—not ex-
cepting 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 deprive a farm of a flock of good sheep is
to rob it of one of its most pleasing and profitable
attractions. There isa 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 continually from birth and be early
brought to full maturity, a way in which the
farmer can produce the greatest amount of wool
superior in quality, manure unequaled in value,
and make himself the sole possessor of a beautiful
flock of sheep,—and that is by soz/ing.

96 SOILING.
SOILING CROPS FOR SHEEP.

In selecting crops for sheep, we must remember
that the forage should be finer than for cattle or
horses. The most prominent are tares (vetches),
rape, turnips, lucern and clover (early cut), oats
and peas, and some of the small varieties of corn
fodder.

TARES.

Spring and winter tares are largely sown in
England for soiling sheep, cattle and horses. All
stock are exceedingly fond of them. My experi-
ence in feeding them is very satisfactory. I 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, ex-
cept that the stalks and leaves are finer,—a very
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, after the manner of peas,
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-
creased by them, and they are extensively em-
ployed in teeding horses. They do not require a
rich soil.”

i

SOILING CROPS FOR SHEEP. 97
RAPE.

Rape looks and tastes like turnip tops, but has
roots similar to those of grain and grasses ; it is,
however, of much finer growth. The seeds look
like those of the turnip. It grows from Io to 15
inches high. Although it does not produce as
much food to the acre, it is the most nutritious for-
age plant and is equaled by no other vegetable, as
may be seen by the foregoing tables. Its culture
is similar to that of the turnip and will sustain
about the same number of animals per acre, and
may be sown later in the season. It is said to “ re-
quire rich ground where cultivated for seed, but
large quantities are grown with advantage, for feed
only, on very poor land.” As a food for young
lambs, it has no superior. A small patch may be
grown in one corner of the pasture, or adjoining it
or the place where the ewes are confined, with a
lamb creep,—a hole in the fence large enough to
admit the lambs and exclude the sheep, with a
roller at the top and sides to’ preveut tearing the
wool, as shown in the following illustration.

a

98 | SOILING.

The lambs will soon learn to run in and feed,
as they are exceedingly fond of the plant. It re-
quires about two pecks of seed per acre, which
should be sown in July for fall feeding. [ in-
tended to be fed to grown sheep, it should be cut
and fed to them in racks; otherwise, they destroy
much of it. Lambs may be allowed to pasture up-
on it, as they are hght in weight, and, if unaccom-
panied 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. In this case it should be sown
earlier.

TURNIPS.

The turnip in England has become a regular
rotation crop, and takes the place of corn in this
country, 2. ¢.,; Ist, turnips, 2d, barley, 3d, wheat,
4th, grass or pasture. The varieties most used for
feeding stock are the White Norfolk, Yellow
Aberdeen, Swedish, and Dale’s Hybrid, ‘“ which
latter is a hardy, succulent vegetable, much relish-
ed by stock, and in no respect injured by the se-
verest winter.” It is sometimes sown broadcast,
but is found to pay better when sown in drills and
cultivated. Mr. Youatt says, ‘“‘ There is no vege-
table within the range of agricultural produce
that yields so valuable a portion of nutritious food
as the Swedish turnip.” 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 fo

SOILING CROPS FOR SHEEP.

WHITE NORFOLK.

soiling crops, especially “ Kohl Rabi’ and
Cabbage,”

og

“Tree

a cen

100 SOILING.

MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP.

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
portion to the growth of soiling crops; or a small
portion of an adjoining field may be used for that
purpose. In either case, the several crops should
be sown or planted in four rows parallei with the
division fence, the crop for the first feeding being
nearest the fence. A movable rack, just in the
pasture, will serve to hold the feed as it is cut.

Each row is intended to supply food for one
month, beginning about the first of July on the
first row, Cutting with scythe or cradle and throw-
ing the cutting over the fence into the rack, which
may be moved along the line of the fence as the
cutting progresses. By the time the first row is
consumed, the second should be ready for cutting,
which may be done in a direction opposite that of
the first, following back with the rack. The first
crop next to the dividing’ fence may be oats and
peas; the second, a small variety of sweet corn;
third, the same, or tares ; fourth, tares. After the
first and second rows have been cut, the ground
which was occupied by them may be top-dressed
and cultivated in, or plowed shallow, and sown to
turnips.

In estimating the amount of ground necessary
to supply a flock with forage, we apply the same
rule as given for calculating the amount required
to supply 1000 lbs. (or a full grown cow). Thus,

MANNER OF -SOILING SHEEP. Iol

sheep averaging 100 lbs., would require, each, one-
tenth of that necessary for a cow, or, of oats and
peas, one-tenth of %# square rod per day. This es-
timate for sheep in the plan of feeding above de-
scribed may be reduced to at least % square rod
per day for every 1000 lbs., 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 its soil. My ownexperience by
soiling in this manner, was in an old orchard con-
taining 5 acres, one of which was fenced off as
above described. With this four acres of pasture,
‘ and one devoted to soiling crops, I have kept 24
head of large. long-wooled sheep, and 22 lambs,
(fully equal to 5 head of 1000 Ibs. each) during the
season. This leads me to say that, as a rule, tor
every 1000 lbs., it will require one acre of land,
one-fifth of which should be devoted to soiling
crops. I feel safe in saying 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.

The following comparison of the amount of wool
taken from the same sheep after a year of pasturing
and after a year of soiling, shows the effect of their
having an abundance of food during the entire sea-
son, that there may be no check in the growth of
the wool:

1878, 30 head pastured, sheared in 1879, 280 lbs.
1879,026° ° “* Soiled, is ~NESSO,. QaOrt
1880, 27 (<3 79 ¢ «¢ 1881, 550 ce

Those clipped in 1880 were wintered on ensilage
and bean straw, as | had no hay. In every other
respect they were cared for as in the years previous.

102 SOILING.

I do not attribute the increase entirely to soil-
ing. When fed in the orchard referred to, the
sheep were protected by its shade from the heat of
the sun, and such protection has, in my opinion,
far more to do with the results of feeding than
most people are inclined to admit. The lamb
creep should also come in for no small share of
credit. My lambs, during the years ’80 and ’81,
weaned and weighed July ist, have averaged 91
lbs., at an average age of 4 months, many of the
single lambs weighing as many pounds as they
were days old; a large majority, however, being
twin lambs, reduced the average. And, lastly, but
not least, the difference should, in some degree, be
attributed to improvement, of the stock by sires
superior in the quality and quantity of their wool.
Nevertheless, I believe, that to the zzjflwence of food
(forage) should be credited far the largest part of
the result.

FEEDING.

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 racks, 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 (@n England) this was the
custom, but lately they have more generally
adopted the practice of cutting and feeding in
racks.

MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP. 103

The best plan of feeding by portable hurdles, is
illustrated as follows :

= Se a = - =

Te \ SY A yk ————— >

= Ais Wy NN !
j

ee 4 Al /

These are made by driving sticks 6 or 7 feet long
through a piece of wood 4 ‘inches square and 12
feet long, so that each row will be at right angles
to the other and the sticks 7 or 8 inches apart, so
as to admit the head and neck of the sheep only.

These racks may be rolled over and over across
the field. The sheep are thus provided with fresh
food daily, without trampling it down. The inclo-
sure must necessarily change with the movement of
of the hurdles, and, therefore, a few panels of port-
able fence, light and durable are indispensable.

A fence made of cocoanut or hempen cord is
often used, which is made in various lengths.
Stakes are driven into the ground, on which are
hooks for the support of the netting. The netting
costs (in England) $9.00 per hundred yards. Mr.

104 SOILING.

Stewart says of it, “ At this price, it could be im-
ported with profit, and probably cheaper than it
could be manufactured here.”

The following is an extract from a letter lately
received from Mr. Charles Barton, Fyfield, Eng-
land, January 18th, 1882; “I use two kinds of port-
able fencing, one made of boards, in length 7 feet.
The other is a galvanized wire netting, and is made
in fifty-yard lengths, which one man can roll up
and handle with ease. The cost varies from six
pence to ten pence per yard. This [| find very
handy for summer folding. I keep from 1,200 to
1,400; sheep. ™ * .* \ The feeding sheep, have
their roots cut for them and put in troughs with
hay and a portion of cake and corn, % to 1 pound
per head, per day, until fit for the butcher. The
ewes with lambs are folded in the amount that we
think will be sufficient for them tor a day, and
their lambs allowed to run forward through the
hurdles which are wide enough to let the lambs
through, but not the ewes. This is followed until
vetches (tares), rape and turnips are fit.”

Mr. Barton isa noted breeder of Cotswold sheep
and exports yearly some of the finest specimens of
that breed coming to Canada and the United
States. The following figure represents a steel
wire netting which may be used asa portable fence
as above described.

he
mutt}

i
hl
i
it
Nu
|

al

MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP. 105

It is furnished either painted or galvanized, in
any desired length, for from $1.00 to $2.00 per rod,
according to the width, which varies from 3 to 6
feet. It is manufactured and sold by Sedgwick
Bros., Richmond, Ind. The illustration represents
the meshes of the netting. They are made in two
sizes, 4 by 7 inches and 5 by 8 inches.

Another method of feeding is practiced to some
extent in this country, where the farmer is'so for-
tunate as to have a permanent pasture on that por-
tion of his farm best adapted to sheep, the size of
the field depending on the number of sheep, allow-
ing one acre for every 1000 lbs. A permanent
pasture is an excellent feature on any farm. One
acre, generally speaking, is worth two or three of
newly seeded, by having a field, properly located,
seeded with a large variety of grasses, some com-
ing early to maturity, some late, some that thrive
best in hot weather, others that do well when
cooler, some that grow thickly, to make a heavy
sward, and others that send their roots far down
beyond the effect of drouth. The following vari-
eties are none too many to make a good pasture.
The proportion given is that for one acre.

Sweet-scented Vernal, flowering in April and May, -

4
Orchard grass, os Be a ear Re z = 6
Sheep’s Fescue, rs ‘© May and June, - 3
Kentucky Blue Grass, ue SU tina o _ BY 4
Italian Rye Grass, = lunes = = = Pa
Red Top, i ‘* June and July, - = 4
Timothy, a CME RC are a my!
Fiaglish Rye Grass, BS Se hula, ait a as 6
White Clover, He from May to September, :

40

106 SOILING.

These varieties, flowering as they do, at differ-
ent times during the season, make them very desira-
ble, besides they are all highly relished by sheep.
The seed for an acre will cost from $6.00 to $8.00,
which is a trifle more than timothy and clover, and
when a pasture of this kind is once established, it
becomes very valuable, repaying many times the
extra cost of the seed. All of the above varieties
may be obtained of Messrs. John Bruce & Co., of
Hamilton, Ont., a reliable house.

With such a permanent pasture, the method of
growing and feeding the crops above referred to
may be illustrated as follows ;

F, L, and R comprise the permanent pasture ;
A is the feeding shed.. The dotted lines at the leit
show where the soiling crops are grown. R and
L are enclosures by which the rams and lambs
may be respectively separated from the rest of the
flock and confined by portable fences within the
pasture, so that they can yet be fed on green fod-
der in the shed.

MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP. 107

The following shows the elevation of the shed:

ry a ck

It stands on the ground devoted to soiling crops.
The front opens to the pasture with the other
three sides within the enclosure devoted to soiling
crops, so that the shepherd or soiler may drive on
the three sides of the building, putting the teed
through into the racks from ‘the wagon without
disturbing the sheep by going or driving among
them. There are no gates to open and shut, nor
sheep in the way to bother about feeding.

I have been experimenting by feeding in a small
shed of rough boards during the past season, in-
stead of the movable rack first mentioned, and am
so well pleased with it that | propose to enlarge it
during the coming season. I like it better because
the sheep like it better. They remain inside the
greater part of the day and eat considerably more
than if in the field, where they lie under the fence
most of the time, enriching @ ground that cannot be
cultivated.

This plan requires no more labor on the part of
the soiler than when the sheep are fed with the
movable racks, and I find that less food is wasted.
The value of the manure thus made is also in its
favor. There may be a small pen with a lamb

108 SOILING.

creep, where they may help themselves to bran or
ground oats as soon as weaned. They may be fed
separately on tares, rape, cabbage or turnips, and
the rams and ewes fed on coarse feed. In fact the
shepherd has perfect control over the feeding and
can mete it out as his judgment dictates,

Where a rotation of crops is considered prefera-
ble, the building or shed may be situated at the
adjoining corners of four fields, as follows:

To illustrate: the first year 1 and 2 may be pas-
tured, 3 devoted to soiling crops, and seeded, and
4 for roots. The second year, pasture 2 and 3, de-
vote 4 to soiling crops and seed, and use | for
roots, andso on around. This plan would doubt-
less require more land than the other. The choice
should depend on the nature and condition of the

MANNER OF SOILING SHEEP. 109g

soil. JI have never tried this plan, and so do not
speak from experience. I must not neglect to say
that the sheep should be supplied with fresh water
daily. The idea that a sheep does not require
water is simply an excuse for not supplying it.
Whey doneed it arid should have it.” A. sheep
never cares to drink much at a time, but likes to
take a sip quite often. I have found it more profit-
able to indulge the wants of my stock than my own.
They should have. salt always before them, in
boxes where they can help themselves. 1 have no
doubt that many sheep are injured by eating too
much when they are not regularly fed. This may
seem to some farmers hike ‘“ puttering work,” but
it is strict attention to the details of business that
brings success. One of Wellington’s friends said
to him, on reading the records of his India cam-
paign, “It seems to me, Duke, that your chzef bu-
siness in India was to procure rice and bullocks.”
fraud. soltiwas, he (replied, “tor, ity had! rice
and bullocks, [ had men, and if I had men, I knew
I could conquer the enemy.” The same principle
is illustrated in the soiling system. First secure
plenty of food, and you may be sure of stock to
eat it. If you supply good food, you may expect
good stock; if a large. quantity, a large number ;
if a large number, you may have a rich soil; if a
rich soil, you may become a rich man.

I1O SOILING.

EXPERIENCE OF MR. CHARLES FRANCIS.

Middleport, N. Y.
Mry Bis, PEER, Eso, EK. PalniyrapN. Y..

My DEAR S1r:—In reply to your request as to
the ‘“ methods I have adopted in growing, hand-
ling and feeding soiling crops,” I willreply by say-
ing that during the present season, I am soiling
eighteen head of milch cows, and must say, that
every year’s experience with -the soiling system,
leads to a firmer conviction that it is the most eco-
nomical and profitable way of feeding farm stock.

My farm fences were in very bad condition
when | bought it. [took possession in the spring
of 1878. I spent considerable money and all the
time we had the first season in building fences.
But one cannot fence a farm of two hundred and
forty acres all at once. An early spring soon
drove us to the fields, with the amount of fencing
that | had intended to build, not half complete.

The result was that we were obliged to take our
cows to the barn and cut their feed and draw it to
them there. I had read a number of articles in
my agricultural papers, on the subject of soiling,
and, as an alternative, I accepted that mode of
feeding, though [| must acknowledge that it was
with grave misgivings. It seemed to me that the
amount of Jabor necessary to cut and bring to the
cows their daily food, would require at least an
extra hand. As I think of it now, it seemed like
labor thrown away. That was before I had given
it atrial. But now I am heartily glad, for it has
saved me at least three thousand dollars, which I
should have had to expend in fencing, had I not
been compelled to change my course. For, since

EXPERIENCE IN SOILING. III

my first attempt at soiling, I have not built a rod
of fence, and am taking down that which I had
built. As I have before mentioned, my farm con-
tains two hundred and forty acres. [ have now
but three fields that are fenced, and I intend re-
moving some of them another year.

The plan | have adopted in growing and feeding
soiling crops, may be stated as follows: Beginning
in the fall, sow two or three sowings of rye,—
enough to last until clover and grass is fit to cut
in June. I find that an acre of rye or oats will
feed my eighteen cows little more than a week. I
have also three sowings of oats, two acres each
time of sowing, two weeks apart. Following the
oats, I have eighty acres of sweet corn, planted at
different times, which I use for soiling, after
plucking the ears fora canning factory, at eight
dollars per ton, putting the surplus in shocks for
winter feeding. We have in our barnyard a large
feed rack*which is filled every morning, fresh from
the field, the cows running to it at will in the yard.
The extra labor required to cut and feed the entire
eighteen head, I have found to take from 1% to 2
hours per day. The cutting is done with a scythe
or corn cutter, as the case requires, by aman, with
a boy to assist in loading and driving the team.

From May ist until October ist (twenty-two
weeks) my entire herd has been kept from what
has grown on seventeen acres. I feel safe to say
that forty acres of pasture would not have sus-
tained them in as good condition and flow of milk.
My cows are all healthy and, considering that they
are all milch cows, are in excellent condition.

As to soiling sheep, my experience is limited to
one season’s trial, which was, however, very satis
factory,—so much so that I am inclined to adopt

112 SOILING.

it altogether as soon as [ can get my farm in
proper shape. I had, at the time referred to (sum-
mer df 1880), 90 ewes and 75 or 80 lambs. They
were turned in the field to pasture during the fore
part of the season, where it was intended to plant
corn. On removing them to another field poorly
fenced, they became so troublesome, and at that
busy season of the year when there is no time to
devote to rebuilding fences, I finally had them
shut up in the yard adjoining their winter quarters,
intending only to keep them there for a short
time, until we could rebuild or repair the fence.
We were at that time feeding our horses from
grass mown daily from the orchard near by, con-
veying it to the barn in a wheelbarrow. In the
same way, the sheep were fed in their winter
feeding racks, allowing them the run of the yard
referred to, two barrow loads a day, morning and
night. Three pecks of poor beans and one peck of
corn, mixed, was fed at noon. They kept in fine
condition. In fact, I never had sheep do. better.
I was keeping them fora mere nothing. Sold all
the lambs and forty ewes to the butcher. Could
not say how much land was cut over per day to
feed them, as the farm teams were fed from the
same cutting.

Now, sir, | have given as you requested, my ex-
perience in soiling cattle and sheep. I should not
consent to have you publish my doings, as I am
but a beginner myself, were it not that I enter-
tain the hope that it may lead and encourage
others totry. If whatI have said shall accomplish
that much, I shall feel amply paid for my effort.

Yours, Respectfully,
C. H.. FRANCIS:

EXPERIENCE. 113

I had the pleasure of visiting Mr. Francis’ farm
early in June last and suggested to him that he
might like it better and find it more economical to
feed his cows in their stalls where they would
waste less and could be protected from the sun and
the flies. Some time after my return, I received
the following letter :

Middleport, Oct. 29th, 1881.
Fi2S. PEER,

DEAR SIR ;—A few days after you were here I
commenced feeding the cows in their stalls. I am
fully satisfied that the two acres of oats, referred to
in my letter on soiling cattle, would have fed the
eighteen head three weeks in their stalls. I am
fully satisfied that fourteen acres of rye or oats
would keep the herd the twenty-two weeks, and,
such a season as this has been, they would not do
as well on fifty acres ot pasture. I shall remove
the tack.in,the yard and feed: all in ‘the stalls. I
am surprised at the amount of feed that was
wasted in feeding in the rack.

Respectfully Yours,
Cy. Hi PRANCIS.

i14 SOILING.

WINTER SOILING.

ENSILAGE.

“France, Germany, and other portions of Eu-
rope have practised summer soiling for centuries.”
For winter feedingy however, they have been
obliged to cure sufficient fodder to keep their stock
through the winter. There were numerous ob-
jections tothis kind of food. The same grasses on
which a cow would give an abundance of milk,
from which rich, golden butter, of a very superior
quality was made during the summer, if taken
from the same field, if you please, cured and fed to
her in the winter, produced a far smaller quantity
of milk, and butter without coloror flavor. Again,
their young cattle would thrive and grow rapidly
during the summer, while the same feed, cured for
winter use, barely kept them from going back, to
say nothing of improvement. Indeed, the farmer
feels quite satisfied if his stock “hold their own”
during the winter, even with the assistance of
grains. If it were possible to supply stock in win-
ter with such succulent and nutritions food as they
obtain during the summer, on which they thrive
and even fatten, the difficulties referred to would,
in a great measure, beovercome. The advantages
derived from securing a crop of grass or forage
when in its most succulent state, and thus preserv-
ing it for winter consumption, are

ist.—That the farmer is enabled to continue the
soiling system throughout the entire year.

2d.—More stock can be kept on the same num-
ber of acres, or the same on a less number.

WINTER SOILING. I15

3d.— The accumulation of manure.

4th.—The greater production of milk, butter,
beef, wool or mutton.

5th— The more thriving condition of young stock.

6th.—Less money must be invested in barns, in
which to store winter food.

With all these advantages to be gained, it is no
wonder that Mother Necessity gave birth to an
invention that would overcome nearly all obstacles
and make attainable the benefits sought.

As we have already considered most of the ad-
vantages to be found by adopting the system of
ensilage under similar heads on the subject of soil-
ing, we will take only a passing notice of them,
considering them only as far as their effects pro-
duce further proof of the practicability of con-
ducting the soiling system throughout the entire
year.

1st.—All animals prefer their food green. Analy-
sis makes no account of the juice of plants; but
calls it so many pounds of water. Why is it then,
when it is fed with the water in it, that it pro-
duces far better results in the attainment of beef,
milk, butter, mutton and wool, than when cured,
which is simply the taking out of what the chem-
ist calls water, by the process of evaporation ?

Again, if none of the value of forage crops is lost
by curing, it must be locked up in the woody fiber
of the plants and cannot be assimilated until
thoroughly cooked (steamed) or soaked. [am in-
clined to the latter opinion, but, nevertheless, the
water, or juice, though it may possess no value of
nourishment more than well or rainwater, yet, if it
is the means of holding the properties of plant-food
in the condition that renders them capable of be-
ing easily and entirely assimilated by the animal

116 SOILING.

which consumes them, it should be credited with
performing all that it is necessary for man to do by
cooking, &c., in order to obtain the full benefits of
it. And, even when we have been to the expense
of steaning, soaking, &c., which no doubt places
all cured feed in a better condition for the animal
to extract its feeding value, yet no advocate of
cooked food ever pretends to say that it is thus
fully restored to the condition that produces the
same results as when fed in its green state. In re-
gard to the value of water as food for farm stock,
Dr. M. Miles, (American Agriculturist, p. 53, 1882)
says: ‘“ It will also be readily seen that the supply
of water should be constant, or at least frequently
repeated, to secure uniformity in the fluidity of the
blood and the various secretions. Water must be
recognized as a food, and it should be given with
the same regularity as other food. Magendie
found that dogs, supplied with water alone, lived
from six to ten days longer than those that were
deprived of both food and water; so that water
has undoubtedly an important function to perform
in the system, aside from the dilution of other nu-
tritious substances. The addition of green food
in some form, to the winter rations of our farm
animals, will be found advantageous for many rea-
sons, and the amount of water required by them
as drink will by this means be diminished.”

It always seemed to me, when walking over a
field of newly mown hay, the air loaded with its
delicate perfume, that there was a loss going on
which I had no power to restrain. Then there is
a great difficulty in securing the crop, (especially
clover) waiting sometimes for better weather, the
crops rapidly passing from its most nutritious con-
dition to a riper one of less value, or when in the

WINTER SOILING. 117

process of curing a heavy shower robs it of alarge
per cent. of its value, sometimes leaving it little bet-
ter than so much straw. To all of this the farmer
must submit. But, if the crop is to be ensilaged,
the farmer is master of the situation,—no waiting
until the dew is off, no need of stopping for a pass-
ing shower, so far as its being a damage to the feed
is concerned. In fact, a heavy dew or a light
shower, unless a hindrance to the work, is more to
be thankful for than otherwise.
The cutting may be begun and completed when
the forage is in its best and most perfect condition
and, as we shall presently show, at a less expense
than if cured as hay.
2d and 3d.—In regard to keeping more stock
and the attainment of manure. All that might be
said here on this subject, has been mentioned under
“Summer Soiling.”
4th.—In regard to the greater production of
milk, butter, beef, wool and mutton, there can be
but one opinion. Ifstock are provided with com-
fortable quarters, there is no reason why the man-
-ufacturing of butter may not be carried on as suc-
| ; :
cessfully and as profitably, if not more so, during
| the winter, as in the summer months. Good, fresh
|winter butter is worth from Io to 15 cents per

pound more than that of the same quality, made
| during the summer. The necessary labor may be
/had for from one-half to three-quarters less. It
ty reduces the profit on butter where farmers
|are obliged to hire their help, especially during the
1 busy season, when the help in the field is worth
| $2.00 per day.

Again, there is no annoyance from flies, and all

, the unpleasant incidents to butter making, that oc-
cur in hot weather. There is also no necessity for

|

4

118 SOILING.

ice, &c. My own plan since adopting the system
of winter soiling (with ro or 14 milch cows) is to
have (as near as possible) one coming fresh in milk
every month in the year. Thus I am able to sup-
ply my customers with butter, fresh every week
or two, uniform in quantity and quality, during the
entire year.

In regard to the production of beet, I have no
personal experience, but from all reports it is high-
ly recommended. For sheep, I think very highly
of it, especially where it is desirable to have early
lambs. The ewes giving more milk, and it being
a food that young lambs will learn to eat, when
but a few days old.

5th—In regard to a more thriving condition of
young stock when fed ensilage, in comparison
with dry fodder, | am also very much pleased at
the results. I never had young stock do as well
as last winter, 1880-1 (which was my first year’s
experience) although confined to their winter
quarters for over 9 months.

6th—Less money invested in barn room in
which to store winter feed.

A cubic foot of ensilage, if cut at the proper
time, and well pressed, will weigh about 50 lbs.
Therefore one ton would occupy only 40 cubic
feet. A ton of hay in mow or stack, is estimated
to occupy 525 cubic feet, or 13 times as much
space as a ton of ensilage; but, as it requires
about two tons of ensilage to equal in teeding value
a ton of hay, the ensilage would require less than
one-sixth as much space. In other words, if a
farmer were to build for the storage of hay, or a
building in which to ensilage the same, the former

i — — ——Oee eo -~:—=le™"™EN

ed

a_i

WINTER SOILING. 119

(of the same material)would cost about 6 times as
much.

THE "DISCOVERY.

The discovery of the method of preserving fod-
der green, is attributed to Monsieur Goffart, of
France. After many experiments, and the ex-
penditure of considerable money, his achievments
were crowned with success and honor. For years
he held to the idea that the fodder should be at
least partly cured, and that it should be put in the
building in alternate layers with straw, until, more
by chance than otherwise, he discovered that the
curing process and the use of straw, were the very
causes, more than anything else, that held back the
discovery, and that perfect preservation was only
attained when the forage was brought directly
from the field as fast as cut, passing it through a
feed cutter, which, making it finer, admitted of
closer packing.

The principle is to exclude the air. The forage
should, therefore, not only be very closely packed,
but all the cells containing the juice should be kept
full. These cells or pores are emptied by evapora-
tion ,or curing, and air takes thei place. . Ihe, or-
dinary pressure is not sufficient to expel it. The
plant, therefore, contains within itself sufficient air
(oxygen) to destroy it.

120 SOILING.

THE SILO.

“Silo” is a French word and means “a pit” (ex
stlo, in a pit), and this is the origin of the word,
‘“ensilage,” the manner of storing green fodder in
a pit, or “in an air-tight manner.” The material
used in this country at present is generally mason-
ry, or concrete with cement floors, and walls plas-
tered with the same or water-lime. The inner sur-
face of the walls should be perpendicular and
smooth, so that they will offer no resistance to the
settling of the forage. Some report very satis-
factory results from silos built entirely of wood
(matched boards or planks), others, where the soil
is such as to exclude water (rock or clay) preserved
forage successfully by digging pits or trenches,
afterwards covering with earth.

HOW LARGE TO BUILD.

In estimating the size of the building necessary
to supply your herd and flock, 1 head (1000 lbs.)
will consume in a day 2to2% cubic feet of ensilage.
This is a full ration. If other feed, such as hay or
coarse fodder, is to constitute part, it may be ta-
ken into consideration. It is also well enough to
have room so that the number of your stock may
be enlarged... At‘ 27cubic feet: per day; 1head
will consume in 6 months (180 days), which is
about the length of our winters in this section) 450
cubic feet, to which add, say 50 cubic feet for set-
tling, or 500 cubic feet. Multiplying this by the
number of head, will give the size of the building
required, in cubic feet.

WINTER SOILING. T21
WHERE AND HOW TO BUILD.

The silo, if possible, should be so built that a
door from it will open directly into the cow-sta-
ble, and the bottom, or floor of the silo should not
be more than one or two steps below that of the
stable. They may be built either above or below
ground, or partly above and partly below. The
position of the stables should determine. It is all
useless to dig, as some have, -ten to. fifteen. feet
below the surface, making it necessary to lift 200
or 300 tons up and out. Others think that, as it is
necessary to fill the building by attaching a carrier
to the feed cutter, and elevating it over the top of
the wall, it must necessarily be taken out over this
wall, and they are obliged to rig derricks or be to
great task to get the feed out.

Now this is a mistaken idea. It is all right to fill
the silo by elevating the cut forage over the top of
the wall, but it may be taken out through a door
anywhere in the wall where most convenient and
with the least labor. In which case, the door must
of course be sealed air-tight, which I have found
no trouble in doing, by simply closing the door,
which is hung on the outside of the casings (walls
20 inches thick), boarding up on the inside of the
door casings with matched boards, even with the
plastered surface of the wall, thus leaving a space
the thickness of the wall, which [ fill with sawdust,
packing it tight; nothing more. The bottom of
the silo is about 18 inches below the top of the
ground. The walls on the inside are 15 feet high,
and one end of the building stands against a side
hill, where the top of the ground is about 8 feet
above the bottom of the silo. The filling is done
at this end by attaching a 12-foot carrier to the

122 SOILING.

cutter, the cutter standing ona raised platform 3
feet above the ground, If the silo is not near the
barn, or if desirous to draw the ensilage to a dis-
tance, the floor should be on a level with the
ground outside, and the door wide enough to back
a wagon or cart inside and fill it. I know ofa silo
30 “or 4o“teet. trom the “stablesy six eet ‘under
ground and six above, where the ensilage is all ele-
vated over the top of the wall, and carried, a
bushel at!) atime, to) the 'steck."l/ repeat, vith is: ‘a
mistaken and useless practice, that may be easily
avoided by having the door through which the
feed is to. be taken out on a level, or nearly so,
with the stables, and if possible, open directly into
them. The deeper the silo, the better, as it costs
no more to roof it, and the planks and weights re-
quired to press five feet deep, would answer as
well for fifteen or twenty.

My own silo was formerly an old stone carriage
house. When I became convinced that ensilage
was not a humbug, that by its adoption my stock
would be supplied with green food during the en-
tire year, and that it would be to a great degree a
continuation of the soiling system, (the advantages
of which | was already familiar with), I was not
long in making up my mind, and therefore needed
little, if any,encouragement to undertake it, and
soon set to work remodeling the old barn, taking
out the hay loft, floor and stalls below, walling up
the doors and windows, except the door already
referred to. It has a storage capacity when filled,
sufficient for 25 head of full-grown stock for six
months.

WINTER SOILING. 123

NUMBER OF TONS PER ACRE.

Last season we estimated by weight of a cubic
foot (50 lbs.) that we had 160 tons of ensilage
which grew on 5% acres. It was the greatest
growth of fodder I ever saw. The seed was the
Western Dent variety, growing from 7 to g feet
high. Some claim as high aS 40 to 60 tons per
acre, but | must say it was a mystery to me and
many others how an acre of land could produce
twice the amount that was grown upon the 5%
acres referred to.

CROPS FOR ENSILAGE.

Any green forage may be ensilaged, if cut at the
proper time,'z.¢.; when in blossom, or ‘several
kinds mixed, providing they flower about the
same time, but corn fodder, on account of its ex-
uberant growth, is usually preferred to other
grasses. It will yield from 3 to 5 times as much
feed per acre, and is not particularly exhausting
to the soil, as shown by the analysis in respect to
its nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, as com-
pared with other green crops. | have grown corn
fodder year after year on the same ground with
equally good results.

Says Goffart, (Brown’s translation, p. 15), “Some
of my finest maize occupies a field which, during
the past eighteen years, has borne fourteen har-
vests of that plant, without giving any signs of
weariness ; on the contrary, the latter yield is bet-
ter than the former.”

Some advocate following corn with rye in the

124 SOILING.

fall, ensilaging the rye in the spring for summer
feeding, and sowing the ground again to corn, thus
securing two crops from the same land in one
year. This may easily be accomplished, so far as
the rotation is concerned, but will doubtless re-
quire heavy manuring. A better plan would be to
sow the field to rye after the corn is cut in the fall,
and plow it under as a manure, the following
spring in time for corn. If analysis is worth any-
thing, the rye would supply the field with nearly
enough plant food to grow the corn.

METHODS OF CULTURE.

The corn should be sewn in drills from 2 to 3
feet apart. If desirable to fertilize with barn-yard
manure in the hill, the rows should be furrowed
out with a shovel plow, the manure sprinkled in
the track and covered lightly with soil before put-
ting in the seed. Or an easier and less laborious
way of attaining the same results, is to top-dress
after the cornis up. On some soils it may be ad-
visable to. plow the manure under, especially if
very coarse; but experience has taught me, that
upon my farm, top-dressing produces far better
results. The corn may be put in with a common
(nine tooth) field grain drill, by altering the tubes
or spouts that conduct the grain from the hopper
to the drill teeth, as follows: closing No. 1, and
letting 2 and 4 discharge into 3; closing No. 5,
and letting 6 and 8 discharge into 7. If the drills
are 8 inches apart, this will make the rows of corn
32 inches apart, putting in two rows at a time, the
wheels serving as a guide on return bouts. The

—

——_

WINTER SOILING. 125

ground should be rolled. As soon as the corn be-
gins to prick through the soil sufficicntly to show
the rows, it may have a dressing of plaster (gyp-
sum) with good results. If composted with ashes,
fine manure and muck, so much the better. In se-
lecting a variety of corn forensilage fodder, the
kind that produces the most leaves should have
the preference. Principal among the varieties used
for this purpose, may be mentioned the Southern
White, Western Dent, and Blunt’s Prolific.

Last season I sowed at the rate of 2, 2% and 3
bushels per acre, “in drills 32 inches apart. I am
satisfied that 2 bushels per acre is sufficient. The
corn should be cultivated with the horse-hoe until
the ground is completely shaded. If the soil 1s not
stony, the cultivating may be done until the corn
is 4or 5 inches high, with a smoothing harrow,
such as the “ Thomas,” manufactured at Geneva,
N. Y. Corn, either for soiling or ensilage, should
never be sown broad-cast, for reasons already
given.

CUTTING AND STORING.

The cutting may be done with a stoutly built
self-raking reaper, which has already been reterred
to,—two men to bind the fodder, assisted occasion-
ally by the one who reaps. Two men, each with a
one-horse lumber wagon, draw the fodder to the
silo alternately, so that while one is loading at the
field, the other is unloading at the platform, where
stands a powerful feed cutter, through which the
fodder is passed, cutting it % of an inch in length,
as fast as two men could feed it. The carrier (12

126 SOILING.

feet) attachment elevated it into the silo, where
one man is employed spreading and treading it
down. Some recommend using a horse or mule
for this purpose, but think it 1s unnecessary.

Dr. Baily draws the fodder from the field in
dump carts without binding, unloading at the silo
by dumping. Others have ropes underneath
the load, to which a horse is attached and the
whole load pulled off at once. My plan for the
coming season, is to load on to a flat rack with
stakes before and behind, without binding, using
12 or more slings (ropes) which, with the aid of a
derrick or horse could be lifted upon the table of
the feed cutter with ease. It would save at least
the labor of two men and much heavy lifting.

PRESSING.

After the ensilage is all in, or the building filled,
there is generally spread evenly over the surface, —
from I to 2 feet of uncut straw, after which a floor
of 1% or 2 inch plank (rough) is laid upon the
straw. It was formerly thought that it was neces-
sary to have the planks matched, the object being
to press the ensilage so hard and close that there
is no room for air, more than to attempt to exclude
it by having an air-tight cover. This plank cover-
ing should be weighted with at least 100 lbs. to the
square foot, which may be obtained by using stone,
bags of sand, or earth. Dr. Baily saws kerosene
barrels through the middle, fastening to each half
an iron bail. He fills the tubs with sand or stones
and, by means of a derrick, places them on the
plank. The same derrick is used to unload when

WINTER SOILING. 127

the ensilage is required for feeding. Others use
screws, some from above the ensilage, others by
means of inch iron rods passing up through the
ensilage and through a timber passing length-
wise of the building and on top of the plank, by
means of a nut on the end of rods, which is tight-
ened three times a day, for two or three weeks.

Care should be taken not to press too hard, or
the juice of the fodder may be extracted. For
some reasons the weighting process is the best.
When once applied, it needs no further attention;
its pressure 1s continued day and night; it holds
all it gains, and there is no danger of pressing too
hard. On the whole, I am inclined to think
Dr. Baily’s plan the best and most economical.

OPENING THE ‘SILO.

Six or eight weeks should elapse after filling, be-
fore the silo is opened, to allow sufficient time for
the ensilage to become thoroughly packed. The
sealed door reierred to may now be_ opened,
taking out the filing and boards on the inside,
using only the outer door, taking up two or more
plank the whole width of the silo. With a hay
knife cut down, leaving a perpendicular wall of
ensilage. This cutting should extend to the floor
isirmay be needed: to teed... There will be no
difficulty arising from leaving the ensilage exposed,
providing another cutting follows within a week
or two.

128 SOILING.
FEEDING.

It is generally considered that two tons of en-
silage are worth one ton’of hay. Every kind of
farm stock prefer ensilage, to the best kind of dry
fodder. This has been repeatedly proven by plac-
ing hay and ensilage side by side in the yard, leav-
ing the cows to choose. This is perhaps a stronger
argument in favor of its superiority over dry fod-
der, than those advanced by some skeptical farmers
opposed to ensilage, who have had no experience
with it. | have no practical knowledge of chemis-
try, therefore will not attempt to dispute the point
that there may be found as much feeding value in
the same amount of forage ensilaged or cured,
that is to say, of two acres of clover of equal
growth, ensilaging one and making hay of the
other. Nevertheless, | do maintain that the animal
food in the ensilage will be more easily assimilated
by the animal, and thus be more profitable to the
feeder. Analysis also shows that some fields con-
tain an abundance of plant food, and yet do not
produce as great a growth of plants as a neighbor-
ing field that has less plant food. Why? Simply
because in the former case, the plant food is insol-
uble, and the plant fails to assimilate sufficient
food to produce as good results as in the second
case, where there is less plant food, but more solu-
ble, and therefore more easily assimilated with the
nature of the plant.

The greatest and most characteristic benefits
to be derived from ensilaging green fodder is,
that by the use of corn, and other grasses, that
produce great quantities of feed, there may be
from 6 to Io times as much feed obtained from
the same number ofacres. Ground that will pro-

—

»

WINTER SOILING. 129

duce one ton of cured hay per acre will, I think,
produce 12 to 20 tons of ensilage, equal to 6 or Io
tons of hay. ,

On this question, z. ¢., the saving of land, it seems
to me there can be no hair-splitting discussion, but
that there is a profit, clear, distinct and undeniable.
It may be asked if it would not be cheaper to cure
ihe corn fodder in the field by shocking it, than to
cut and put it intoa silo. I answer emphatically
no, and for the following reasons: It costs no more
to cut and bind it, than to cut and shock it. It
must in either case, be drawn to the barn. It is
certainly preferable to secure it all at once, where
it is in easy reach of the cows, where the feeding
may be done with ease and comfort, let the weath-
er be what it may, rather than to leave it standing
in the field, or in small stacks near the barn until
wanted for use, exposing it to the weather, freezing
fast to the ground, often being blown over, and cov-
ered with snow and ice when wanted to feed.

Any farmer that has had one year’s practical
experience in this latitude, trying to cure corn
fodder for winter use, is not apt to repeat the ex-
periment, and this is not all, much of the value of
the food is thus wasted, or in the curing process,
and also becomes less valuable for food. I have
tried both ways, and can unhesitatingly say that
the system of ensilaging fodder is more economical
than frying to cure it.

Before opening the silo, we had fed, morning
and night for two weeks, all the cornstalks the cows
would eat, and roots and wheat chaff at noon; but
our butter was white aud lacked flavor. It was a
poor substitute for a first-class article.

We opened the silo November 12th, and forth-
with began to feed ensilage twice a day, morning

9

130 SOILING.

and night, and straw and roots at noon as before.
At the fourth day’s feeding, the quantity of milk
was very nearly doubled, and as to the butter, it
was equal in flavor to, and in color only a few
shades lighter than that made in summer from
green food.

We continued feeding in the last described man-
ner for five or six weeks, and with the same pleas-
ing results. Then, in order to dispose of our
coarse fodder, we substituted cornstalks and barley
straw (cut and fed dry) for the morning feeding of
ensilage. The decrease in the amount of milk was
very marked, the yield shrinking about one-fourth.
The color was also considerably lighter. Hoping
to make up for this deficiency, we added two
quarts of corn meal per head to the ration of dry
fodder, but it did not fully compensate for the full
feeding of ensilage. The quality and color of the
butter was not equal to that made from ensilage
and roots alone, the quantity however, was in-
creased to about the same. The following shows
the cost of ensilaging five and one-half acres of
corn fodder, or one hundred and sixty tons:

Total, |Per acre|Per ton.

7 men. $1. per day, 4 days, $28 oo
Boarding 5 men 2 meals per day, 6 00
Engine and Engineer, $4,00 per
day, 16 00
Fuel and Oil, 4 00
Total cost of labor to secure 160
tons, $54 00 | $ g 82 33
Cost of seed, fitting the ground
and cultivating, 27 50 5 00 ty]

Total Cost, $81 50 | $14 82 50

—s

ee

WINTER SOILING. i131

Upon 5 acres, ina field of 12 acres, I grew 30
tons of ensilage per acre. The remaining 7 acres,
cut for hay, produced less than one ton of hay per
acre. This wasnot a full yield, asthe clover grubs
were very numerous. However, the field has
never, under the most favorable circumstances,
produced over 1% tons ‘of hay per acre. There-
fore I feel safe in saying that land capable of pro-
ducing 2 tons of hay per acre, will grow (without
manure) 30 tons of corn fodder per acre, if the
proper kind of seed is sown.

I have had no way of personally testing the feed-
ing value of ensilage as compared with hay. As
before stated, those that have written upon the
subject, claim that they have discovered by actual
test that “2 tons of ensilage are equal to 1 ton of
the best kind of hay.” But simply for the sake of
comparison, and not to insinuate that I doubt the
truthfulness of the assertion, let us suppose that it
will require four tons of ensilage to equal one of
hay, and as a basis of calculation, say that an acre
of ground capable of producing 30 tons of ensilage
per acre, will produce 2 tons of hay. The com-
parative value of the two crops will be found in
the following table.

132 SOILING.

Table showing the value of 1 acre of Corn Fodder
for Ensilage, as compared with 1 acre of
Grass for Hay.

Ensilage. Hay.

Dr: Cr. Dro Crs

2 tons of hay, feeding value at $15. $30 00
per ton,
Seed 1 acre, $ I oO
Cost of curing and delivering to
barn, $ 2 50
30 tons of Ensilage, equal to 7%
tons of hay at $15. per ton, $102 50
Seed, fitting the ground and culti-
vating, $ 5 00
Labor to cut and secure 30 tons of
Ensilage, $ g 82

Total, $14 82/$102 5o0/$ 3 50/$30 oo
Balance, $ 14 82 3 50
Net Value, $ 87 68 $26 50
Balance, 26 50

Profit of 1 acre of Ensilage over I
of Hay, $ 61 18

The amount of feed that may be produced from
one acre by growing upon it a crop of corn fodder
instead of hay, is where the farmer may look for
the great profit of ensilage over dry feed, and this
profitisso distinct, that he need not hesitate to
adopt the system on account of the fact that analy-
sis shows that there is no more value in an acre of
grass ensilaged, than an acre of grass cured for:

WINTER SOILING. £33

hay. As I have before stated, [ have no reason to
enter into a hair-splitting discussion upon this
view of the subject, because, by growing corn fod-
der and securing it, I am able to show a profit by
the system of ensilage that defies all contradiction,
and is clear and undeniable.

The illustrations on pages 134-5, are designed
to represent the ground plan and elevation of a
moderate sized barn,—upright part 30x4o feet ;
Shed 30x35 tect. manure shed, 14x30 feet.

The plan of cow’s stable is the same as that rep-
re sented on a previous page, where the measure-
ments arecsivem. “Pis:the teed “alley.; Mi My are
mangers ; d d are the drops; P P passages behind
the cows, which open by rolling doors into the
manure shed ; C is the cart in which to draw ensil-
age from the silo along down the feeding alley P,
and in front of the mangers of the box stalls B B,
and the feeding trough of the sheep shed, making
it convenient and easy to feed all the stock.

When soiling, the loads of feed are driven on to
the. barn floor above and thrown down through
the floor into the feed alley P, atc. W is a well
or spring on the line of a fence separating the
yards.

SOILING.
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WINTER SOILING. ee

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136 SOILING.
ENSILAGE SOILING.

In regard to adopting the system of ensilage as
a method of summer soiling, I do not agree with
some writers, who claim that it will be found as
economical as soiling. There is really but one
thing in its favor, whereas the objections are nu-
merous. The only gain is, that a whole field may
be secured at one time.

The objections are, that it is more expensive
than soiling ; when soiling, the crops, when brought
to the barn, may be delivered directly to the stock,
and the labor may be performed by a boy, where-
as, if ensilaged, besides drawing to the barn and
feeding, it must be passed through a cutting ma-
chine, requiring some kind of power, to run it. It
must also be spread, and tightly packed, covered,
weighted, uncovered, cut down, and taken out of
the silo, without adding to the quality of the food.

This extra labor makes it, in my opinion, im-
practicable to adopt the system of ensilage for
summer feeding, instead of soiling. There is
nothing within the four walls of a silo that adds to,
or destroys the feeding value of forage, if properly
secured ; but simply from an economical point of
view, soiling is superior to ensilage.

However, ensilage will be found more profitable
than pasturing. For the purpose of showing the
relative value of the three systems of feeding, z. ¢. ;
by pasturing, by feeding and by soiling, we will
estimate, as a basis of calculation, that it will re-
quire 2 acres of land capable of producing 2 tons
of hay per acre, to support I cow 6 months, or 180
days, and that land equally productive, will pro-
duce 30 tons of ensilage fodder per acre, or that it

ENSILAGE SOILING. 137

will require % of a square rod of corn fodder (as
previously shown) to support I cow a day (or 24
hours). From this hypothesis, we may easily find
the comparative feeding values in dollars and cents,
of 2 acres of land under each of the three systems
of feeding.

Table showing the Comparative feeding value of
Pasturing, Ensilage, and Soiling.

Pasture. Ensilage. Soiling.

—_——— | | ep | — —_— ,

Feeding value of 2 acres by pasture, 50

cents per week, 180 days, $12 00
Feeding value of 2 acres by ensilage,

50 cents per week, 600 days, $43 30
Feeding value of 2 acres by soiling, 50

cents per week, 640 days, $45 50

~ Cost of seed for 2 acres pasture, $2 00

Cost of ensilaging 2 acres corn—60|
tons at 50 cents per ton, $30 00

Cost of soiling 1 cow 640 days, at 1% $9 80
cents per day,

Cost of fitting the land and seed (soil-
ing) $5.00 per acre, $10 00

Total, $2 00)$12 00/$30 00)$43 30) $19 80)$45 50

Balance, 2 00 80 00 19 80

Comparative profits from 2 acres, $10 00 $13 30 $25 70

The above table not only shows that soiling is
much more economical than ensilaging forage for
summer feeding, but it also serves to show the
profit of soiling and ensilage over pasturing.

The table, however, does not represent the en-
tire profit of the system of soiling and ensilage over
pasturing, as the two former should be credited
with

138 SOILING.

1st.— What is saved or gained by the increased
quantity and quality of manure.

2d.—By the greater production of beef, milk or
butter.

3d.—By the better condition and greater com-
fort of farm stock.

4th.—By the saving of fences.

And again, that most valuable consideration re-
sulting from the increased quantity and quality of
manure, z. ¢.,; the increased fertility of the sovl.

————

SYSTEM. 139

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
capital are usually the first to adopt it. It is also
unnecessary that a man should have a large farm
stocked and equipped, because the system is equal-
ly well adapted to a limited number of acres.

It appears in a work recently printed by Orange
Judd c& Co; N. Y. City, on “ Keeping One Cow,”
containing the experience of fifteen different own-
ers of one cow each, all living on small places,
usually village or city lots, that the greatest amount
of land required to keep a cow one year, was 2
acres; the lowest, 1% acres. The greatest amount
required to keep one cow through the summer,
from May Ist to Nov. Ist, was I acre; the lowest,
was % of an acre.

Nor will those only be successful who live near
large cities, where land is high. Whatever may
be the condition of the land, it is safe to say that
the amount of land that will keep one head by pas-
turing, will keep four by soiling. The rule works
as well on cheap iand, as on high-priced land, the
latter not being necessarily more productive
than the former. Therefore, if from land worth
$25.00 per acre, a farmer sellsas many dollars’ worth
ot produce, as on land near the city, worth $200.-
oo per acre, the soiling system is as profitable to
one as to the other. The difference in the profit
from soiling, will be found in the productiveness
of the soil, and not necessarily in the price of the
land. If, on a farm worth $100.00 per acre, a farm-
er can keep 1 cow 1 year from an acre of land, and

140 SOILING.

another, whose farm, on account of its location, is
worth $200.00 per acre, but is only capable of
keeping I cow a year upon 2 acres, the profit in
soiling is greatly in favor of the farmer with the
cheaper land, so far as keeping cows is concerned.
I mention this; because it is often stated, that
“it may pay to soil, where the land is high-priced,”
and to show that the price of the land is notasure
indication that soiling will be found successful in
proportion to its cash value. I can imagine, how-
ever, a farmer, under the most favorable circum-
stances, failing to obtain satisfactory results from
soiling, for the want of system. |
Without system, I can easily imagine that a
farmer ma¥ soon become disheartened, and pro-
nounce the whole thing impracticable.. For in-
stance, by omitting to sow at the proper time, or
the proper amount. Sowing too much at a time,
the stock are unable to consume it in its most
succulent state, continuing to feed until it becomes
tough, when itis only eaten to satisfy intense
hunger. By having too little, his cows must be
turned into the field until the next crop is in con-
dition, thus causing him to become dissatished.
Again, I 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 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
the cows did better at pasture, and thus condemn
the system. |
Again, by not having properly constructed sta-
bles or stalls, they might become very filthy and
unhealthy, and the cow would “ long for pleasant

SYSTEM. 141

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 sys-
tem profess, and he might thus think that the sys-
tem 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 all mixed up, I can imagine the
last state of that man, as worse than the first.

But by so systematizing the work, that every
want will be supplied, I can assure, yes, guarantee,
any man success. He need not, necessarily, follow
in detail the plan I have laid out in the previous
pages, for it is not so perfect but that it may be
improved. I know, if closely followed, the system
will lead to success, therefore I may be pardoned
for saying, that until you can learn by actual expe-
rience, a better way, | would advise the beginner
to adhere to the plan I have pointed out, in all
essential points. I have tried many things that
thought has suggested, that indeed looked asif they
would result in improvements, but, when put to
the test, were found wanting. I have no tear of
contradiction from those who have successfully
practiced soiling, when I say that the principal
requisite necessary to success by soiling, is system.

The work of sowing, cutting and teeding, should
all be placed in the charge of one person, who can
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 per-
formed by a boy; but nothing can be left to chance.

When the proper time comes for sowing, the

142 SOILING.

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.

The stables cannot be neglected for a day or
two without cleaning. It is unnecessary to say
what the results of this neglecting an easy task
would be. With a little practice, and by a person
not entirely destitute of ability to work systemati-
cally, he cannot easily fail of conducting the soil-
ing system with profit, and also to enjoy the many
advantages that it affords. I have never heard of
a man who once thoroughly adopted the system,
who was not, ever afterwards, decidedly pronounc-
ed in its favor.

The methods employed, have a tendency to lead
the farmer to the performance of all other labor on
the farm with more system, and to conduct the
profession more on business principles, and demon-
strate more clearly the force of the old adage,
‘“« Time is money.’ We is not a husbandman in the
true sense of the term, who fails to comprehend
that, by a systematic husbandry of time, he is as
truly practising one of the highest arts of his pro-
fession, as when plowing, sowing or reaping.

I do not mean that husbandry of time consists in
constant hard labor during every hour of the day,
nor in obtaining from farm help an extra hour's
work before sunrise or after sundown, but that it
does consist in so systematizing the work, that his
help will accomplish as much in Io or 12 hours, as
in 14 or 16.

The farmer does not accumulate wealth by grand
speculations and by rapid strides, but by turning
to account the minor details of his business.

Therefore, of all men, the farmer should conduct
his affairs with the most rigid system. I know of no

Stn AEE AINE OE AE ALOT

SYSTEM. 143

profession that suffers more for the want of it. It
is due to this, more than to any other cause, that
farming, as an occupation, is held in disrepute by
certain classes of business men of other professions,
and justly too; forif any other business should be
conducted in the same desultory manner that usual-
ly characterizes farming, failure would inevitably
ensue. On the contrary, were the farmers to con-
duct their business with as much system as is
found in evéry other pursuit, it would not only be
more remunerative, but possess a greater attrac-
tion for young men with business faculties, who
now forsake the farm, and what they term its
drudgery and humdrum, to engage in a pursuit
that offers more attractions, greatly on account of
the systematic way in which it is conducted.

Thus they often throw away the “ pearl of tnde-
pendence,” for a life of unremitting toil, harassing
and perplexing, in comparison of which labor on
the farm is a pleasure.

144 SOILING.

EDUCATION FOR FARMERS.

As Mr. Stewart says, in conducting the soiling
system successfully, “the need is more for head
than hand work.”

I believe 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
farming because he does not know enough to do
anything else. It may be done in the west, where
land may be had forthe asking, and so productive
that by “the slightest effort it will produce an
abundant harvest,’ but in the east, it is not only
essential that a 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 Ausbandman.

Farming is an honorable profession, but he who
tries to obtain by it, something for nothing, is
never a credit to his profession. There scems to
be among some classes of farmers, a great antipa-
thy to what they term dook farmers. Why may
every other man learn what pertains tothe ad-
vancement of his business from books, and not the
farmer? We point with pride to this or that man
in the medical profession, and say he is a well read
physician ; to a lawyer, and say he is a well read
attorney; to a citizen, and remark that he is the
best read man in the place. These are chosen and
preferred for their learning, and their excellence 1s.
measured by the number of books they have
inastered.

EDUCATION. 145

Again, why should farmers subscribe for two or
more papers devoted to folztics, 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 kis 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
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
obtain 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, ora dry goods clerk, but to apply such
knowledge to an agricultural pursuit, is all wrong ;
‘tis book farming, and yet it is knowledge that can
be put to practical use only on a farm.

Do farmers mean to acknowledge that their pro-
fession is less noble and intelligent than others?

W hat 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 ap-
proved 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 depends upon the success of agriculture,

Io

146 SOILING

and requires of its followers, a knowledge that em-
braces a wider and more liberal education than any
-other pursuit.

Said the late President Garfield, ‘“ At the head
of all the sciences and arts; at the head of civili-
zation and progress, stands, not militarism, the
science that kills; not commerce, the art that ac-
cumulates wealth; but agriculture, the mother of
all industry, and the maintener of human life.”

a

CONCLUSION. 147

CONCLUSION.

As I look back to the time when I did not
practice soiling, and reflect upon the condition of
my farm then and now, I am greatly encouraged
to believe, that at no distant day, I shall see the
fertility of the old farm restored, and again witness
its fields bountiful in harvest, and its flocks and
herds greatly increased. Judging from the past,
the time will soon come when, by soiling summer
and winter, I shall be able to keep equal to 100
head of stock upon 50 acres of land, during the en-
tire year, and devote the other fifty to growing
grain.

During the few years that I have practiced soil-
ing, | have been enabled to treble the number of
farm stock, where, by pasturing, 12 head was a
greater number than the farm could profitably sup-
port. Ihave also been enabled to double the num-
ber of acres devoted to crops. This was accom-
plished by soiling four months during the summer,
and preserving five and a half acres of ensilage for
winter feeding. | have never had a sick cow or
horse since I began the system of soiling, and have
never lost a sheep or lamb while soiling them, nor
had one sick, from any cause attributable to that
method of feeding. |

Thus the result, in every respect, has not only
been most satisfactory, but I think no considera-
tion would induce me to again pasture my stock
during the whole season. Nor is my experience
inconsistent with the statements made by European
and American writers on the subject,

I could have no object in presenting this sub-
ject in other than its true light.

&

148 | SOILING.

To others who may begin farming, or who may
now be occupying farms similar to my own, or to
any one who has faith in barnyard manure, as the
best means of enriching the soil, and would be
glad to obtain it “at a cheap and easy rate”; to
the farmer contemplating building new fences or
repairing old ones; to the farmer who is about to
buy more land; to the possessor of an acre or two
of land, living near the city or village, who would
bevvery lad ite ‘could. keep. a ‘com; tocar |
should like to say, give the system of soiling a@
thorough trial, and if it does as well by them as it
has by me and a great many others, I shall feel
that my efforts in trying to persuade them to
adopt the system, will merit at least their good
will and approval.

And to the young men, particularly farmers’
‘sons, to whom this book is dedicated, I wish to
say, that there is no calling that promises to its
followers the same pleasing, honorable, and inde-
pendent life, as zzte/ligent farming.

Though in some respects unpleasant, and means
sometimes dirty work, dirty clothes, coarse boots,
hard, black hands and bronzed faces, and white
gloves and rose water perfume will not disguise
the fact that you are “from the rural districts,”
nevertheless you have a guarantee to better health,
better opportunities for mental improvement, for
more generous hospitality and social intercourse,
than in any other livelihood.

Above all, be intelligent in your business, and
your situation, if even a humble one, will challenge
the respect of all whose opinion is worth having.

The day has gone by, if 1t ever was in this coun-
try, when a young man need hang his head be-
cause of the humbleness of his vocation, if it be a

a

a

CONCLUSION. 149

useful one. Do not leave the farm for a profession
or clerkship in town, unless you are specially
adapted by natural tastes and inclinations to follow
it. Do not throw away the pearl of independence
for toil unremitting, harrassing and perplexing,
in comparison tc which, work on the farm is a
pleasure.

Thousands of men die of broken hearts, who
would have lived happily at the plow.

Thousands more, “ look upon the healthful sh
independent calling of a farmer with chagrin.”

” Gen. A. H. S. Dearborn, of Boston, who had
long been acquainted with the business men of
that city, gave it as his opinion, that only three
men, out of every hundred doing business, were
successful. * * * * A person who looked
through the Probate Office of the same city, found
that ninety per cent. of all estates settled there
were insolvent. Yet more discouraging to the
young man who would enter commercial business,
were the conclusions of Governor Briggs and
Secretary Calhoun, who a few years ago gave itas
their deliberate opinion, after diligent inquiry, that
out of every hundred young men who came from
the country to seek their fortunes in the city, nine-
ty-nine failed of success.” (“Getting On in the
World,” page 305).

A word to the young men who are, or intend
to become farmers: If you have chosen tarming as
a profession, | would advise you to graduate at
some of our Agricultural Colleges, before entering
upon your life work. I mention this, as it is a
daily regret with myself, that I left school at a
very early age, and that I know so little of the
science of Agriculture, as taught at the present

Ebay 8 SOILING.

day in nearly every State. If you are to be a
farmer, you cannot know too much of what per-
tains to the most approved and scientific methods.

You have not the virgin soil that your fathers
had, on which to practice farming, but soil, which
they, through ignorance, have exhausted, and which
will now require your utmost skill to redeem.

Anyone can exhaust the soil, but no one but a
wise man can win it back to its former state of
productiveness.

Ever remembering that your plants, like ‘your
animals, live, feed, grow and die, and, that by feed-
ing them alike plentifully, they will produce
bountifully.

In this respect, it is the liberal hand that maketh
rich.

¢ Eh!

SS

SUMMER SOILING.

PAGE.
Advantages of Soiling..... sells ayeNens step sts wee, 40
1—Saving of Land,...... = oe Peete 38
2—Saving of Fences, Sire Noee apse Ae ele ed
3—Saving of Food, ... aifere 33
4—Better Condition and ‘Comfort of Stock,. ; sierad
5—Greater production of Beef, Butter or Milk, aks 48
6—Increased quantity and quality of Manure, Sovean 152
7—Increased Be ee of the'soil,...; miap ota 54
Commercial Fertilizers,. shes ae statis etiea. 2Q
Cost of, a a. ne 30
Compared with Stable Manure, inte 30, 131
Comparative values of Grains and Forage as Animal and
Plant Food, (tables,) was Seaiees s020;,22; 235 24
Correspondence from Charles Barton,. ikiale eae 104
<+Charles Francis, . Sreiala Syehane 5,49 LOO
Conclusion,. Asters shave alee eseie cneyene 147
Cows,. ee te See sire ays setter ako
Absurd Theories, iets nee siaes aries 17
As a machine, are eva eects eee &
Cost of keeping, (table,) : : sepa Gt kO.
Feeding to produce beef, milk or butter, saree EA hot LO
Crops for Soiling Cattle, .... ss orete cases eeueve 38
Barleyys2). 2% are nice uss Lfecas yas OF
Common Millet, tS ae outs abe eager 69
Clover, <= Aye xe es ts acts eyes Ria 815)
Corn,. Buss Diesel ateeds 63
Hungarian Grass (Millet) Sane sash eie iste eee OG
Lucern, : Sievees elec aie ols 67
Oats, or Oats and Peas, Baie ota BE PR teat O5
RYyGs. vais Lsvaks BYatoua sae we hs 61
Crops for Soiling Sheep,. : ares See Sucre 9/210190
Rape,.. he sre anateis ets a iat 97
Tares (Vetches,). setae sae aes ais tee BOO

Turnips, ca eee eres aera sree 98

152 @

Cutting Soiling Crops,..
Reaper for, : Bere
Drawing green fodder,. ...
Wagon for, Ara
Education for Farmers,. ave
Feeding Soiling Crops (cattle),
Caution in feeding,..
Racks for feeding,
Objéctions to racks,
When and how often to feed, , (example).
Feeding Soiling Crops (sheep, s é
Lamb creep... te
Moveable racks,.....
Rotation of crops, .
When and how to feed, Rites
Feeding Shed for sheep (llustration, jae
Advantages of, : :
Construction and location,

Rotation system,. «aly sree
Hurdling and Folding (sheep,) Seen
Construction of hurdles,.....

Portable fencing,

Rope and Wire Netting (cost of). Behe ae Oe 4

Horses —Soiling,
Advantages,
Brood Mares and Colts,
Influence of food,
Economy in feeding,..
Improvement of farm stock;
Origin of different breeds,
Reproductive yer of animals,
Manure, : yet wae a
Barnyard,..
Green Crops as
Liquid Manure,.....
Absorbents,
Application,
Compared with solid, 1 (table, i:
Saving, :
Value,.
Objections to Soiling,
Extra Labor,.. oe
Want of exercise,.
Permanent Pasture, . ae
Variety of Grasses for,

. .106,

PAGE

Rotation of Soiling Crops,..... As as ihe 75
Amount of Land required,. ae pyr iats Piva P70

How to begin... : wets See 76
Plowing and fitting the e ground, aBs aay ad ee Z
Roots, alte sae ate ern 71
Beets ai... eae FOr pert ates Brae [|
Cabbage, # .s. + A Tatas Beas choi 73

Kohl Rabi, sate Ree sae aberae ates fi
Sheep Soiling, ee palo wien Met ss PEes 92
Advantages, lars patel pokes aie sls 93, 94
Soiling, 510s: : dh ev ol kes 35
Why adopted, ee: ais siais eee Shalt 35
Staples, 2.4. , state Pe Sarai aac 87
Construction, Ghee erelane seas fs Core 135
Fastnings for COWS, soe. bide Sere ath 88
Floor for cows, .... eel) fA es be Pit 7 |
Ventilation of... ae alge een ainete 86
System,... Feed: bee sae, ete wee POA toe

WINTER SOILING.

PAGE.

Advantages,.. ae er Sein avo cwaeus 114
Cutting the fodder, ee ar stale Asche “ves bale 25
Reapertor w.3. aie eae Bievate eee 125
Drawing, “rae 1:3/9)3 ive Mids. D25
Loading and Unloading, ishey! ajels Rebbe 126
Feeding Ensilage, F shies bid he dAares
Compared with hay (table), sidiale ag ae 132

Cost of Ensilage (table),..... dS batts 2 EO
Experiment in Feeding, sioehs okie sitter 129
Growing crops for Ensilage, et: Rew Argh: $e 9E23
Amount of seed per acre, meets Saeee ate 125
Method of culture,... thes Seis hes iva k2d
Number of tons per acre, Se pera: a ra 123
Opening Silo,..... eee fees be aes Ae |
Pressing or yi as te daa rae mere ara she 126
Silos,. ae aise c Bete eae wei eO
How to build,. apacets Sas SEINE apaheg 120
Where to build... UW, siete ase wee cee F200L35
Soiling Ensilage, .... ae 136

Table showing comparative value of Pasturing, Ensil-
age and Soiling,... sicjate se ete = 187

D. M. OSBORNE & CO,,

MANUFACTURERS OF

MOWING AND REAPING MACHINES,

AU BGR N, NacYs

THE INDEPENDENT OSBORNE REAPER,

The No. 3 Reaper has been an acknowledged leader in Reap-
ing Machines for very many years. It has many imitators, but no
equals outside of itsown family. It cuts a wider swath than any
other self-raking reaper, and excels also in its capacity for work.
It has a strong wrought iron frame with a flexible bar and inde-
pendent motion in the axle-plate, giving it great strength and
perfect adjustment, so that the severest strains in work, do not
affect its capacity. Itis a Front-cut reaper, with the driver’s seat
far enough in the rear to give him perfect oversight of the work-
ing of the machine. The driver’s weight balances the machine,
and there is no weight upon the necks of the team, nor any side
draft.

The Rolling-head Rake is used, and is, undoubtedly, the
most perfect form of self-rake now made. The four rakes can be
made to act either as rakes or beaters—any one of them can be
used to rake off, while the other three reel on the grain. Any
number of the rakes, from one to all four, may be used to rake off
or any one or more, may be used to work automatically, without
any attention from the driver.

It is admirable for saving lodged and tangled grain, the for-
ward part of the machine being depressed so that the guards run
close to the ground, and the rakes following, can reach the worst
lodged and flattened grain and bring it to the knives.

It is very light, easily handled and thoroughly durable; well
adapted forany kind of service—wet or dry, rough or smooth.

The No. 3 Osborne Reaper has been widely and successfully
used for cutting all kinds of Green Fodder, for use as Ensilage.

It handles Green Sowed Corn ina very admirable and satis-
factory manner,

Se ee ee ee eee

EP NSEUAG E.

STOCK RAISERS, DAIRY MEN;-ErTc.

———

ei / /

are

YL

ROSS GIANT AND LITTLE GIANT CUTTERS.

“SPHOTA T.. ”’

These Cutters are very HEAVY, STRONG and DURABLE; are
made from the best of material and best of workmanship, and are
what they are intended to be, the very BEsr Cutters it is possible
to build.

They are expressly intended for Ensilage, and Stock Raisers
etc., wishing a good machine.

They are fitted with our Patent Safety Fly Wheels, Extensi-
ble Joints, Universal Action Feeding Rollers, Convex-faced
Gears, Quick Fastenings, Ring Rollers, &c., which relieve the
cutters from all strain, and prevents breakages, and insures safety
to operators. Can be driven upon either side.

The machines cut from 2 to 4 times as rapidly as any other
make ; require little power to drive, and leaves the fodder in
splendid condition,

They are used by the largest Ensilagists in the United States.

Send for Circular, Price Lists and Testimonials.

Bow ROSS & CO:

FULTON, N. Y.

AGRICULTURAL REVIEW
and JOURNAL of the

American Agricultural Association.
Published Quarterly,
(January, April, July and October.)

The Xeview is a Magazine of about 200 pages,
printed in the very best manner. Agriculture,
Commerce, Transportation, and kindred subjects,
are discussed by the most scientific and practical
men of the country. The circulation bas increased
at a most rapid rate, proving that such a publica-
tion was needed. Each Number is a volume in
itself, and worth the price of a year’s subscription.

Among others who have contributed, are Prof.
W. O. Atwater, Middletown, Conn., Dr. E. Lewis,
Sturtevant, N. Y., Experimental Station, Prof.
Arthur L. Yerry, Williamstown, Mass., J. B. Law-
less, L. L. D., Rothamstead, England, Rear Admi-
ral Daniel Ammen, Washington, D. C., Hon. Ed-
ward Atkinson, Boston, Mass., Prof. J. P. Roberts,
Ithaca, N. Y., Dr. Byron D. Halstead, Am. Agri-
culturist, Willis P. Hazard, Westchester, Pa., Prof.
J. M. McBride, Knoxville, Tenn.

Terms $3.00 for this year, including membership
in the American Agricultural Association.

Single copies 50 cents.

The American Agricultural Association having
decided to hold a Grand Exposition of Agricul-
tural Products, the Review and Journal will give
the latest and fullest information thereto, making
it especially zuzeresting and valuable.

Subscriptions should be sent to

JOSEPH H. TEALL, Lditor and Publisher,

26 UNIVERSITY PLACE, : NEW YORK.

}
f
A
id

CORN PLANTING FOR ENSILAGE.

Among the factors most necessary for the profita-
ble production of Ensilage, none command more
earnest consideration than the planting of the
crop from which it is to be made. The first ele-
ment, and lacking which, others are valueless, 1s
the ability to plant the Corn in the best possible
shape, insuring most abundant and rapid growth.
This is unquestionably done by planting in drills.

At the time of planting, putting in the drills Fer-
tilizers, which will add largely to the natural fertil-
ity of the soil. After this, the arranging of proper
distance between the drills is almost as necessary
to secure pronounced success.

Both of these results are readily attained by the
use of the FARMERS’ FAVORITE GRAIN DRILL.

We shall be pleased to answer all inquiries with
reference to this implement, furnish Circulars, and
when desired, furnish these Drills to Farmers, un-
der fullest guarantee of their superiority.

This Drill is Eminently Superior to all others,
for ordinary field work, as well as field planting of
Corn. Address

BICKFORD & HOFFMAN,
Patentees and Manufacturers, MACEDON, Wayne Co,, N. Y

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