SOILING CROPS. 13 



three acres of grass are required to keep a milch cow 

 in good form for six months, it would be possible 

 to grow enough soiling food to keep the same cow 

 all the year. In some sections of the prairie in the 

 far west, where cultivated grasses have not been 

 grown with marked success, the difference would be 

 even greater. In instances, not a few, it has been 

 found possible to grow ample supplies of food on one 

 acre by the soiling system to feed a cow all year. 

 As the population becomes more dense, and as popu- 

 lous cities multiply, the saving in land effected by 

 soiling in either of its forms will increase in impor- 

 tance, and more in the neighborhood of large cities 

 than elsewhere. 



Saving in Fences. Growing soiling foods les- 

 sens the necessity for building fences on farms on 

 which live stock are kept. A marked saving is thus 

 effected in labor and money, the extent of the saving 

 being proportional to the number of animals kept, 

 to the cost of labor and materials for fencing. Unless, 

 where the materials for fencing are very cheap, it is 

 a costly affair, both to build and to maintain fences. 

 It is seldom that any kind of fence, strong enough 

 to secure cattle, can be built for less than twenty-five 

 to fifty cents per rod, when labor and material are 

 included, and in some instances the outlay would be 

 much greater. This outlay, or much of it, must 

 needs be repeated at least every other decade, to say 

 nothing of the sums paid out from time to time in 

 repairs. There is also the further objection that on 

 the strip of land on which the fence stands, weeds 

 are much prone to grow, unless considerable hand 

 labor is expended in keeping them down. 



