4 . .SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



" * 



dictionaries will probably take some 

 ; to\ -tKese definitions, but the time has 

 certainly come when more precision must be given 

 to at least some of the definitions in agriculture, to 

 prevent confusion of ideas. For instance, the defini- 

 tion of forage crops given in our best authorities 

 would make these include soiling crops also. Such 

 a definition is at variance with common usage, and 

 surely the popular idea when consistent and legiti- 

 mate is of higher authority even than that of the 

 recognized standards. 



Adaptation in Soiling Crops. The growing of 

 soiling crops is chiefly adapted to an intensive 

 cultivation. It may be better associated with the 

 tillage of small rather than of large farms and is 

 better adapted to localities where the population is 

 crowded and markets are near, as, for instance, in 

 the neighborhood of large cities. It was to be 

 expected therefore that the growing of soiling foods 

 would first receive attention in the east, and so it did. 

 But the day is coming, and is near, when in one or the 

 other of its forms it will be most extensively carried 

 on also in the west, and more especially in those 

 sections in which dairying prevails. 



Soiling is, of course, only necessary on farms 

 on which live stock are kept more or less numerously. 

 And even on these it may not be much needed when 

 pastures are plentiful and succulent during the 

 greater part of the grazing season. It is more needed 

 in dry than in moist climates, on poor than on rich 

 lands, and where milk is sought rather than beef. 



Partial and Complete Soiling. Partial soiling 

 means supplementing the pastures with green food 



