20 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



of animals being that department of husbandry to 

 which barbarians are most easily attracted : hence, 

 we cling to Pasturing long after the reason for it has 

 vanished. The radical, incurable vice of Pasturing 

 that of devouring the better plants and leaving the 

 worse to ripen and diffuse seed can never be wholly 

 obviated ; and I deem it safe to estimate that almost 

 any farm will carry twice as much stock if their food 

 be mainly cut and fed to them as it will if they are 

 required to pick it up where and as it grows or grew. 

 I am sure that the general adoption of Soiling instead 

 of Pasturing will add immensely to the annual pro- 

 duct, to the wealth, and to the population, of our 

 older States. And yet, I know right well that many 

 farms are now so rough and otherwise so unsuited to 

 Soiling as to preclude its adoption thereon for many 

 years to come. 



Let me indicate what I mean by Good Farming, 

 through an illustration drawn from the Great "West : 



All over the settled portions of the Yalley of the 

 Upper Mississippi and the Missouri, there are large 

 and small herds of cattle that are provided with little 

 or no shelter. The lea of a fence or stack, the par- 

 tial protection of a young and leafless wood, they 

 may chance to enjoy ; but that it is a ruinous waste 

 to leave them a prey to biting frosts and piercing 

 north-westers, their owners seem not to comprehend. 

 Many farmers far above want will this Winter feed 

 out fields of Corn and stacks of Hay to herds of cat- 

 tle that will not be one pound heavier on the 1st of 



