SOi 



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403 



soils by certain chemical substances 

 or reagents, we would refer our 

 readers to Davy's Agricultural 

 Chemistry. Lecture iv. 



SOILING, or ASSOILING, 

 feeding animals with new mown 

 grass, or grass not dried, in racks, 

 or otherwise. 



This is commonly practised in 

 some countries, where they put it 

 in racks, either under cover or in 

 yards. Thick grass will ^o much 

 further in this way, than if the cat- 

 tle were turned in upon it to feed 

 it off; as they would destroy and 

 corrupt more by half with their feet 

 and excrements, than they would 

 eat. But when it is given them in 

 racks, they will eat it up clean, 

 without wasting any of it. An acre 

 of rich land, used, in this way, will 

 summer a number of cows. By 

 the time that it has been once cut 

 over as it is wanted, the first part 

 will be fit to cut again. And the 

 labour of doing it is not to be reck- 

 oned as any thing, as the trouble 

 of driving the cows to pasture will 

 be saved. This will be more than 

 a balance for the labour of soiling, 

 if cattle must be otherwise driven 

 to any considerable distance. And 

 it greatly recommends this prac- 

 tice, that a prodigious quantity of 

 manure may be collected by it, 

 which otherwise would be little 

 better than lost, the dung being 

 scattered in pastures, where it eva- 

 porates in the air. 



In feeding cattle with green 

 food there are many advantages in 

 soiling, or supplying them with 

 food, where their manure is pre- 

 served out of the field ; the plants 

 are less iniured when cut. than 



when torn or jagged with the teeth 

 of the cattle, and no seed is wasted 

 by being trod down. 1 hey are 

 likewise obliged to feed without 

 making selection ; and in conse- 

 quence the whole food is consum- 

 ed ; thp attachment or dislike to a 

 particular kind of food exhibited 

 by animals, offers no proof of its 

 nutritive powers. Cattle at first 

 refuse linseed cake, one of the most 

 nutritive substances on which they 

 can be fed. Elements of Agricul- 

 tural Chemistry. 



A rommutiication by the Hon. 

 Josiah Quincy to the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural Journal, publish- 

 ed in Vol. VI. No II. of that work 

 states that " There are six distinct 

 advantages, which those, who ad- 

 vocate soiling, propose to them- 

 selves by the practice, and on which 

 they establish the preference of 

 this mode to the common one of 

 pasturing cattle during the sum- 

 mer. 



" 1st. The saving of land. 2d. 

 The saving of fencing. 3d. The 

 economising of food. 4th. The 

 belter condition and greater com- 

 fort of the cattle. 5th. The great- 

 er product of milk. 6th. The at- 

 tainment of manure. 



" The only offset to all these ad- 

 vantages is the labour of raising 

 and cutting the food, and feeding 

 and taking care of the stock." Ac- 

 cording to European writers the 

 saving of land differs, according to 

 its management, from one to three, 

 to one to seven.'^^ That is, one 

 acre kept for soiling will go as far 

 as three or seven kept for pasture, 

 in the support of stock.^^ The rea- 

 son of this diversity of statement. 



