350 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



The common trefoil or red-clover (see CLOVER) which is 

 mostly cultivated in this Country, is very good tor soiling. 

 The morning's supply of grass should be brought in the af- 

 ternoon, and that for the afternoon, in the morning; though, 

 if it be a tact that dew is nourishing to cattle, it would seem 

 the better way to bring in the whole supply ior the day in 

 the morning. A light hand-cart is to be used for bringing 

 in the grass from the parts of the field nearest the barn. 



After such a field has been brought under complete cul- 

 tivation, and enriched by this mode of culture, it will proba- 

 bly keep, Winter and Summer, about twenty five head of 

 Cows, and fating or working cattle. The lucerne may be 

 made to yield sufficient for soiling about six head per acre, 

 or six or seven tons of hay per acre, if used for that pur- 

 pose. The common red-clover may be made to yield up- 

 wards of four tons of hay, per acre, at two mowings, and 

 is excelent as a lay for other crops. About four hundred 

 loads of the best barn dang would probably be afforded 

 yearly from such a field, which would be at the rate of ten 

 loads per acre each year. 



The extra labor required for cuting and carrying in the 

 grass, and cleaning the stalls of the cattle twice a day, during 

 Summer, would probably employ one Hand two-thirds of his 

 time. In return for this, the Farmer saves the rent of at 

 least twelve acres of the best pasture-land, which may be 

 put at five dollars an acre, and his Cows give more milk, 

 and his fating and working cattle keep better and thrive 

 faster. Here, then, the Farmer is amply repaid for his 

 exira labor. But the great superiority of the soiling-system 

 lies in this; by the great quantity of excelent manure, thus 

 afforded, the Farmer is enabled to carry on a system of 

 field-culture that will be found to average one-halt more of 

 clear profit, than can be expected in the usual mode. 



It will be seen, by the drawing of the field, that it is to 

 be divided into twelve parts, and that the divisions are 

 long and narrow : This renders them more convenient for 

 ploughing. 



It has been observed, however, that those Cows which 

 have been always used to be kept by soiling, during the 

 growing season, are usually more profitable than those 

 \vhich have been newly put to this method ot keeping. 



See APPENDIX, which contains the best system of rotation 

 of crops. 



SOOT. Forty bushels of this to an acre, is a good top- 

 dressing for almost every kind of Summer-crop, or for 

 Winter-crops, when sowed on them in the Spring. Let it 

 be powdered fine before it is applied. It is also very good 

 ior cold grass-lands, 



