SOILING CATTLE. 



This is a rather unmeaning expression, and its origin is 

 no more clear than is the fitness of its application ; still it 

 has come into such general use that it is now too late to 

 change it. 



It is applied to the feeding of cattle in yards or in sta- 

 bles, with grass or other green fodder, cut and hauled to 

 them. 



This practice is very rapidly growing in favor in all 

 localities where land is very high priced, where manure is 

 largely used, where the finer class of animals are kept, and 

 where for any reason it is desired to keep a large stock on 

 a small place. It is the best foundation of what is called 

 High Farming. 



It has been found by experiment that if a field bearing 

 luxuriant grass or clover is divided into two equal parts, 

 one half being used as pasture and the crop of the other 

 being cut and fed in the stable as often as it grows to a suf- 

 ficient height, this latter half will support, for the same 

 time, four times as many animals of equal weight as will 

 the depastured portion ; and while the usual, allowance of 

 pasture land is at the rate of two acres for each cow, the 

 allowance of land in soiling, where the system is practised 

 in the best manner, is at the rate of only one-half of an 

 acre for each cow. 



