CATTLE SOILING AND ENSILAGE. 813 



hard cake, which lies for a year or more on the land, killing out 

 the vegetation under it, and adding but little to the soil. Much 

 of it is washed away by the rains. In soiling we have absolute 

 control of the manure, and can apply it to the crops which most 

 need it and are in the best condition for immediate results. Mr. 

 Quincy found that each cow made a load of manure per month, 

 which he valued at $1.50, and estimated that it would pay all 

 the expense of the extra labor of soiling ; and Mr. Stewart, in 

 his book on " Feeding Animals," says : " From personal experi- 

 ence of more than twenty years, I regard the saving of manure 

 in soiling as worth at least $6.00 per cow, over that of pasture, 

 and fully agree with Mr. Quincy, that it is a full compensation 

 for all the labor, direct and indirect, of soiling." 



Greater Production of Milk. It is the testimony of 

 those who have practiced soiling, that they get a larger amount 

 of milk when the cows are fed in the stable than when allowed 

 to pasture, particularly through the heat of summer, when the 

 flies are troublesome. 



A test, extending over several years, was made by Dr. 

 Rhode, of Eidena Royal Academy of Agriculture of Prussia. 

 " From forty to seventy cows were kept and pastured for seven 

 years, and a separate account kept with each cow. The lowest 

 average during the years of pasturage was 1,385 quarts per 

 cow, in 1855, when seventy cows were kept, and 1,941 quarts 

 in 1859, when forty cows were kept; and the greatest quantity 

 given by one cow, in a year, was 2,988 quarts. The average 

 per cow, for pasturing for the whole seven years, was 1,583 

 quarts. During the seven years of soiling, which began in 

 1860, from twenty-nine to thirty-eight cows were kept, and the 

 lowest average per cow was, in 1862, 2,930 quarts, and the 

 highest in 1866, when it reached 4,000 quarts. The largest 

 quantity given by one cow in a year was 5,110 quarts, and the 

 average per cow for the entire seven years of soiling was 

 3,442 quarts." 



I give the above for what it is worth, for it lacks the data 

 to enable us to tell how much of the increase is due to the soil- 

 ing, and how much to the fact that fewer cows were kept and 



