94 AGRICUI.TURE OF MAINE. 



soil, translocate mineral plant food from lower to higher soil 

 levels, and produce considerable amounts of digestible protein 

 if properly harvested and cured. 



SOILING CROPS. 



The production of soiling or green crops as an amendment 

 to the pasture is a practice essential to the highest success in 

 dairying on most farms. There are few pastures, if any, that 

 afford grazing in August and September sufficient to keep up 

 the milk flow. It is no longer a debatable question whether 

 soiling is profitable, for unlimited testimony can be furnished 

 to show that much more food can be produced per acre by 

 this method than by pasturage. ]\Iaine farmers, however, own- 

 ing upland rocky pastures in which grow native grasses of the 

 best quality for dairy animals, could not wisely discard them. 

 Such lands are usually cheap and the labor of supplying food 

 by this method is reduced to a minimum. The crops recom- 

 mended for soiling in this climate are, for early summer, last 

 of June or first of July, winter rye, which should be sown early 

 in August; for last of July and first of August, Canada field 

 peas and oats, which sown together are a very satisfactory crop 

 and furnish more protein than oats alone ; for last of August 

 and first of September, corn and Hungarian grass, either of 

 which yield abundantly under good cultivation and are highly 

 relished by stock when fed green. 



COMMERCIAL FEEDS. 



Notwithstanding the great desirability of producing all the 

 food that our stock needs on the farm and thereby saving a 

 large grain bill, it is not probable that in our climate with its 

 short growing season we will ever be able to do so and conduct 

 a business of any size. If we were farther south where 3 or 4 

 crops of alfalfa or some equally good feed could be grown on 

 the same ground each season, the prospect would be brighter 

 for growing all of our feeds on the farm. About all we can 

 hope to do is to produce all our course fodders such as hay, 

 silage, etc., and a part of our concentrates in corn, oats, peas, 

 barley, etc., depending on tlie West and South for the remain- 

 der. Commercial feeds now, like fertilizers, are quite largely 

 bought on chemical analyses. We have learned through chem- 

 istry that the protein, carbohydrate materials, fat and ash of 



