SOILING, OR HOUSE FEEDING. 199 



first. It is sweeter than the common rye when young, as is 

 shown by its being preferred by the hares and rabbits. Its prin 

 cipal merit is, however, its superior sweetness in advanced growth, 

 and the consequently longer time during which it remains fit for 

 use as spring feed.&quot; 



Mr. Baker, a distinguished farmer of Essex, speaks of having 

 obtained seed from two different seedsmen, and having found 

 that, for spring feed, one was a fortnight earlier than the 

 other, and yielded double the amount of produce. By the use 

 of this plant, he says, he is now able to support all his horses 

 and neat stock for two or three weeks before his neighbors 

 commence. From the middle of April last, (1845,) he has 

 been enabled to maintain upwards of forty horses and colts, and 

 fifty head of neat stock, the former up to the present time, 

 (24th of May,) and the latter until the 14th of this month, almost 

 without the assistance of hay. The chief difficulty he had to 

 contend with, was, to remedy the great waste occasioned by the 

 horses and stock in foddering ; for, as the rye advanced in stem, 

 the stock would eat only the most tender portion, and, if tares 

 were sown in conjunction, would waste the greater part of the 

 rye in the endeavor to extract them while feeding. To remedy 

 this, he cut the whole into chaff, and, by the addition of a small 

 quantity of hay, and about one half of sweet wheat or oat straw, 

 which he gradually diminished as the season advanced, he ob 

 tained a description of food for which, for early use, he knew 

 of nothing as an equivalent, in point of cheapness or utility, be 

 sides the advantage of gradually adopting the change from dry 

 to green food without risk or inconvenience to the animal. The 

 number of acres consumed, to the present time, did not exceed 

 nine ; and the land upon which it was grown was already in a 

 forward state for* turnips. The rye grown by Mr. Baker is un 

 derstood to be different from the St. John s day rye. 



For house feeding, likewise, lucern is sometimes cultivated, 

 although not so extensively in England as I had expected to 

 have found it. This requires to be sown on rich soil ; broadcast, 

 if the land is clean; but in narrow drills, so as to admit of being 

 hoed, if it is likely to be infested with weeds, which, in truth, 

 constitute a principal obstacle to its cultivation. It is believed 

 there is no more nutritious food to be found for cattle and horses. 



