212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



survey, instances of extreme hardship and suffering endured by 

 wives and helpless children, fairly chargable to this mania for keep- 

 ing useless horses, sufficient to move deeply the sympathies of any 

 philanthropist, and one would think sufficient to reform the practice 

 of any horse worshipper not thoroughly brutalized. 



These surplus horses are often very convenient — at any rate easily 

 available — conveyances to take their riders into the haunts of rum and 

 revelry. They frequently, in winter, are forced to stand shivering 

 and starving out of doors, while the riders are burning their lives 

 out within. I will name a single instance of the kind, which came 

 within my knowledge, last winter. It happened in this county, not 

 many miles from this town : Six horses owned by one man or one 

 family — rather, kept — for it is quite common for the horses in one 

 man's possession to be mortgaged to another — died from habitual 

 exposure to the chilling winter weather, hard driving, and lack of 

 food, on occasions such as I have alluded to. 



The Soiling System. 



By Calvin Chamberlain, Foxcroft. 



S. L GooDALE, Esq., Secretary^ S^c. 



Dear Sir : — You having wisely devoted considerable space in 

 your report to the subject of stock husbandry as a leading pursuit 

 in the State, and understanding, as I do, that the grasses and the 

 hay crop is to be the prominent topic of the volume you may now 

 have in hand, it seems to me a proper time to direct the attention of 

 your readers to the important subject of soiling. 



This is a comprehensive term that comes to us from the old coun- 

 tries of Europe ; and means the keeping of cattle in stables and 

 yards, all the year, with only a daily or an occasional liberty to 

 ramble over small enclosures, as circumstances may admit. 



This mode of keeping cattle has long been pursued in Germany, 

 France, and other continental countries, and was thence introduced 

 into England, where it has obtained very general adoption, and with 

 profitable results. Many thorough and intelligent farmers of our 

 own country are now practicing it on an extensive scale, with great 

 and decided advantages. 



