THE CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



FODDER AND SOILING CROPS. 



The cultivation of fodder crops is one of the indispensa- 

 ble methods of the economical use of land and of the feed- 

 ing of cattle. Cicero observed, in his ancient time, that . 

 "the feeding of cattle was the most important part of agri- 

 culture." But in these days, when the exigencies of our 

 social conditions call for every effort on the part of every 

 producer to decrease his expenses and increase his income j 

 it is necessary to make the land yield the largest produce 

 of the most nutritious food. It must be a very good acre 

 of meadow, and one of pasture, that will together support 

 one cow for a whole year; but by the culture of fodder crops 

 of the right kind, and the use of the silo for preserving 

 these crops green and succulent through the winter, one 

 acre may be made to support two or three head of cattle 

 the year round; thus practically more than trebling the 

 value of the land, by the increased income from it, 



SOILING is by no means a modern practice, for it has 

 been made use of for many centuries. The advantages of 

 it are obvious. It consists in growing green fodder crops, 

 and cutting these for feeding stock in yards or lots, or sheds. 

 There is no waste of food in this way; none is trodden un- 

 der foot or fouled and made useless; and every pound of 

 manure, both liquid and solid, may be saved. In the South, 

 this practice prevailed long before it was introduced into 

 practice in the North, and cow penning has been used for 

 enriching the land and economizing feed, where the climate, 

 but much more the prevailing system of agriculture, forbids 

 the pasturage of stock to any large extent. The author 

 has practiced this system in his dairy for several years, with 

 the results of bringing up a practically barren farm by de- 

 grees, during a few years, into a high state of productive- 

 ness. Objection is made by some persons that it is a costly 



