54 Soiling. 



the system, but the one grand object is and always 

 must be the saving of land or the increased acreage 

 of the farm. 



SAVING OF FENCES. 



In some sections of the old countries where the 

 soiling system is generally practised, the farmers 

 have done away with interior and boundary fences, 

 setting landmarks to indicate lines, and thereby 

 working every foot of land. Says Mr. A. W. 

 Cheever, in " The Country Gentleman " : " Another 

 great advantage I find in soiling over pasturing is 

 the saving of fences. None of my mowing or culti- 

 vated fields are pastured at all, so that I have been 

 enabled to dispense with all inside fences, and lately 

 have been giving up the use of road fencing also." 



No farmer will disagree with me in saying that 

 farm fences are great nuisances, harbors for rats, 

 mice, and vermin, most convenient places for nox- 

 ious weeds and grasses, and great hindrances in 

 every stage of farm work. For instance, if we wish 

 to cultivate two fields adjoining each other but 

 separated by a fence, we must stop and turn about 

 as we approach the fence from either side in plow- 

 ing, harrowing, cultivating, rolling, drilling, reap- 

 ing, and raking. Thus in growing a crop of corn, 

 with a fence forty rods long it would require about 

 1,500 or i, 600 turnings, and for wheat 1,200 or 

 1,400, according to the mode of culture. All this 

 wastes time, besides trampling down the ground and 

 crops. As Mr. Quincy says, " The whole farm may 



