SOILING. 3 1 7 



have remained, and the food would have been insufficient in the 

 dryest part of the season. These steers averaged 1,100 pounds 

 per head, and were good light beef cattle, being then worth only" 

 three cents per pound, on foot, and cows at that time being 

 low, the $972 for which the surplus was sold, would have pur- 

 chased the twenty-seven head of cattle, and one of the horses. 

 This latter circumstance is mentioned to show how disastrous, in 

 this particular case, would have been the results of pasturing. 

 But it may be said this case would, perhaps, stand very differ- 

 ently if the labor account were stated I This point was particu- 

 larly cared for in the experiment. It was found that it took 

 three men, two hours each day, to do the labor of cutting for, 

 and feeding these animals. Wages at that time being only $12 

 per month and board, the whole labor account, including board, 

 was only $65. This included all, except the use of a horse to 

 mow and- haul in the grass. We will also deduct the expense 

 of cutting and putting in barn, the sixty-five tons of hay, say 

 $1.25 per ton, or $71.25, to which add the $65 for labor of 

 feeding, and you have $136.25, which, deducted from the $972, 

 shows $835.75 as the net profit of this soiling experiment. But 

 this is not the full statement of the profits, as there were one 

 hundred loads of manure saved, and in the best condition, under 

 cover, worth $100 more. And had the land all been in good 

 condition, the surplus would have been double. To us, this 

 experiment was conclusive, as to the profits of soiling. 



CONDITION OF THE ANIMALS SOILED. 



"The next point to be considered, is the comparative condition 

 of the animal, as soiled or pastured. And here, facts, not theory, 

 are to be considered. The writer has tried some experiments on 

 this point. Five steers and heifers were put into a good pasture 

 and kept for three months, during the best part of the pasturing 

 season, while others of the same age and condition, at the start, 



