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EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



nure, by using it as an absorbent for a large amount of the liquid 

 portions of the excrements of his cattle. It affords him likewise 

 the power, by properly-constructed gutters and tanks, of saving 

 his liquid manure the best portion, if well managed, and, ac 

 cording to the estimation of many eminent farmers, compared 

 with the solid portions of the manure, in point of value, full two 

 to one. 



The next great advantage of soiling is the increased stock 

 which may be kept upon the same land. From the various 

 facts which have come under my observation, where the soil 

 is carefully and judiciously cultivated, and duly manured, and a 

 proper rotation observed, I believe that on land under artificial 

 grass or esculent crops, three animals may be soiled where one 

 only is now grazed. I believe this may be done with equal or 

 superior advantage to the health and thrift of the animals, and 

 that, in most cases, the increase of valuable manure obtained in 

 this way, will much more than pay for any extraordinary trouble 

 of attendance. 



Another advantage is in the saving of interior fences upon a 

 farm. Where cattle are kept constantly in barns or yards, the 

 necessity of enclosures is of course done away ; and, separate 

 from the saving of expense in the case, the convenience of cul 

 tivating in long lines and open fields, the saving of land, and 

 the superior neatness of the cultivation, are great and obvious 

 advantages. 



The trouble of cutting and carrying the fodder for a large 

 stock presents to many persons an insuperable objection to soil 

 ing. This, however, must depend on local circumstances, which 

 every farmer must take into consideration for himself. Without 

 doubt, in some cases it might be such as to render the experi 

 ment ineligible. The difficulty of finding a supply of green 

 feed sufficiently early in the spring, is likewise made an objec 

 tion. This may be an objection in many localities ; but in Eng 

 land proper, where an ample supply of Swedish turnips, car 

 rots, and mangel-wurzel, are grown, and where winter vetches, 

 rye, Italian rye grass, and lucern, afford an early cutting, this 

 objection does not apply. It has been objected that cows soiled 

 will not give so much milk as when grazed ; on the other hand, 

 the testimony of some individuals, with whom I have become 

 acquainted, establishes the contrary. At Teddesley, in Stafford- 



