190 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



take a system of soiling without an ample preparation against 

 such contingencies. Mr. Dickenson s experiment, which I have 

 so fully detailed in a preceding part of this Report, (p. 161,) 

 and the experiments of the cow-feeders near Edinburgh, most 

 clearly show what can be done. 



It does not come within my province, in this case, to detail 

 what has been done in the United States in the way of soiling. 

 The experiments of Josiah Quiricy, Esq.. on his estate in Q,uincy, 

 Mass., made with great intelligence and acuteness, are detailed 

 most fully in the Reports of the Massachusetts Agricultural So 

 ciety. I have in other publications referred to a dairy of Robert 

 Smith, Esq., near Baltimore, where a hundred milch cows were 

 soiled. Another similar establishment I have visited on Long 

 Island, N. Y., where an equal or larger number of cows are 

 soiled. I have likewise, in former reports, mentioned the admi 

 rable experiment of a small farmer, in Waltham, Mass.,. who, from 

 three cows carefully soiled, and allowed to recreate themselves 

 for two hours a day in the barn-yard, produced at the rate of 

 thirty pounds of butter per week, for three months. But I will 

 refer to some cases which have come under my observation 

 here, always finding occasion to regret the extreme difficulty of 

 obtaining from farmers in general very exact accounts of any of 

 their fanning operations. 



I shall give first the experience of Mr. Skilling, the intelligent 

 and skilful manager of the school farm, at Glasnevin, near 

 Dublin. 



At first, he was a country schoolmaster, having the manage 

 ment of four and a half acres of land. &quot; When I adopted the 

 house-feeding system,&quot; he says, &quot; my neighbors laughed at me, and 

 predicted that my cattle would die ; others said the cattle would 

 give no milk. I lived near a village, through which I led my 

 cows twice a day to water. They had a good appearance, as 

 they were well fed ; and they ran through the village wild and 

 full of spirit. This showed they were in no danger of dying; 

 and when they saw (for I was closely watched) firkin after fir 

 kin of butter going to market, they began to think there could 

 be no great deficiency in the milk. I fed them on mangel-wur 

 zel and turnips ; and when other cows were dry, mine were 

 giving milk. During three years, I kept three cows, and 



