destroyed than eaten — bnt if allowed to graze in a field of rape and 

 oats for a while each day the results might be very satisfactory. 

 In the case of the rape and oats the loss from tramping would be 

 comparatively light. In the case of the corn the amount saved by 

 cutting and hauling would more than pay for the labor. Soiling 

 is adapted to high priced, easily tilled fertile lands ; half soil- 

 incr methods mav be advantao^eouslv used under less favorable 

 conditions. 



Succulent hull: y foods promote the health and increase the milk 

 floio of dairy coins. — In Lesson T the term "nutritive" ratio was 

 explained and the reader was told that the food value of a fodder 

 was not completely expressed by its content of albuminoids and 

 carbohydrates. He was told that it is very important that the 

 animal should be supplied with a certain amount of food in bulky 

 coarse form. Food sufhcient to maintain the bodily heat of the 

 animal, repair waste of tissues, form new tissue, perform repro- 

 ductive functions and lay up reserve stores of fat, or produce milk 

 or wool, might l)e given in concentrated form; but it is more than 

 probable that the health of the animal would suffer. The digestive 

 organs of domestic animals need to be distended so that the digestive 

 fluids secreted may be allowed to act. 



Coyisumption of fodder dependent on succulence and p>ciMa- 

 Mlity. — When fodder is green and juicy, cattle like it and eat 

 heartily. This is characteristic of spring pastures. When dry 

 weather comes on the herbage loses water, the fibre is less disguised 

 and cattle do not partake so freely ; nor is the food so digestible. 

 This is characteristic of some dried foddei's, not all, because there is 

 a strikinir difference between a dried fodder and a cured fodder. 

 Many farmers take pains to cure their clover and timothy before 

 liousing it instead of simply drying it. l>ut the curing of hay is 

 another story. The growing of soiling crops then supplements the 

 mure or less dried pastures of summer and autunm with palatable 

 and succulent green fodder ; and by the aid of the silo we may pre- 

 serve these fodders in their green state f(^r use in the winter. 



The plcf'Uts %ohicli may he used for soiling jjurposes include the 

 majority of forage crops^hut corn stands first in importance. — 



344 



