SOILING. 



SOOT. 



SOILING. The practice of supporting animals ' 

 in the summer season, with green food, cut daily j 

 and given to them in their houses, stalls, or yards. 

 A number of different plants and grasses are 

 resorted to for this purpose, particularly those 

 which have a quick and luxuriant growth; as lu- 

 cern, sainfoin, tares, clover, maize, turnips, &c. | 



Soiling appears to be highly advantageous, in a 

 variety of ways, by the food being consumed with 

 much less waste, by the great increase of good : 

 manure that is produced, and by the stock feeding 

 with less interruption and inconvenience, from 

 their being more effectually shaded from the ex- ' 

 cessive heat of the sun, and better protected from 

 the attacks of flies and other insects. In all these i 

 respects it would seem to have a great superi- ; 

 ority over that of letting the animals range indis- 

 criminately in the pastures or other grass lands. 



Soiling has been found, by the most careful ex- 

 periments, to answer perfectly both with horses, 

 neat cattle, and swine; and with cows it has been 

 found very beneficial in the trials of Mr. Curwen 

 and several others. 



By an extensive and judicious use of soiling, 

 the farmer may derive benefit in being enabled 

 to have a considerably larger extent of land both 

 under the states of tillage and grass, from the con- 

 siderable increase of manure that is produced. 



That a great saving of food is effected by 

 keeping cattle and other stock in pens, yards, or 

 stables, and supplying them with fresh-cut ureen 

 herbage, is undoubted. Many say that three, 

 and some assert even four animals can be well 

 kept upon the produce of land where soiling is 

 practised, more than the fame land would sus- 

 tain if pastured. Besides the very great advan- 

 tage of enabling double or treble the stock to be 

 kept on a given number of acres, soiling offers 

 another in the greatly increased amount of ma- 

 im i', which is far beyond what would be sup- 

 posed by persons unacquainted with the practice. 

 Where proper arrangements are made and care 

 taken, all the manure of animals may be saved, 

 instead of being scattered and partially lost, as 

 is the case with a large proportion dropped in 

 the lanes or fields. It gives the farmer an op- 

 portunity of applying all his straw and coarse 

 litter to the best advantage, by spreading and 

 using it as an absorbent for the less solid por- 

 tions of the excrements of his animals. A good 

 supply of litter is indispensable in order to de- 

 rive the fullest advantages from soiling. By 

 such means, and properly arranged gutters lead- 

 ing to tanks or cisterns, the farmer has the power 

 of Caving nearly all of the liquid or best portion 

 of the manure of his cattle, his main dependence 

 for keeping up the productiveness of his lands. 

 (See LIQUID MANVRE, and NIGHT-SOIL.) 



Another advantage derived from soiling and 

 a most important one, too is the saving of j 

 fencing in the interior of farms. 



Among the objections urged against the prac- 

 tice, are the great amount of labour required for 

 cutting and carrying the feed for a large stock, 

 and the difficulty of getting a supply of green 

 food fit to mow sufficiently early in the season. 

 It has also been asserted, that cows soiled will 

 not give so much milk as when grazed ; but the 

 experience of others shows results entirely con- 

 trary, and that, by judicious feeding and manage- 

 ment, the amount of milk may be regulated 

 almost at pleasure. The success of the plan 

 depends almost as much upon securing to the 

 animals proper ventilation, cleanliness, and com- 



fort, as upon the nature of the food. Whatever 

 system of soiling may be adopted, it would 

 seem of great importance that the animals should, 

 for the promotion of their health, be occasion- 

 ally turned out into the open air, during some 

 portion or portions of the day. As this cannot 

 be done in many large dairy establishments in 

 or adjacent to large cities, cows are often kept 

 tied up in their stalls for weeks, and many for 

 months together, to the great injury of their 

 health, and deterioration of their milky secretions. 

 In an interesting report made by the Commission- 

 ers on the State of Health in Large Towns in 

 England, the following observation occurs : "It 

 is known that tubercular consumption is very 

 prevalent among the cows which supply milk to 

 the inhabitants of some large towns, where they 

 are immured during part of every year in dairies 

 perfectly closed; and which, being too small for 

 the number of animals which they contain, soon 

 become filled with heated, vitiated air, for the 

 removal of which no provision is made. This 

 is remarkably the case with the cows belonging 

 to the milkmen of Paris, which are annually 

 carried off by consumption in considerable num- 

 bers. A confirmation of the influence of this 

 cause is afforded by the exemption of the horse 

 from consumption, although frequently placed in 

 the same circumstances with the cows, but 

 with intervals of exposure to fresh air, and the 

 enjoyment of exercise. Where a number of 

 horses, however, are collected together in ill 

 ventilated stables, they may become consump- 

 tive. A discovery of this kind was lately made, 

 as to the influence of defective ventilation on 

 the cavalry horses in some of the government 

 barracks in England ; and it is stated that a 

 saving of several thousand pounds per annum 

 was effected by an easy improvement of the 

 ventilation of the barracks near the metropolis." 

 (See VENTILATION.) 



In feeding cows, it must be remembered that 

 they are very capricious in their appetites, and 

 do not like to be kept constantly on the same 

 kind of food. A variety should therefore always 

 be resorted to, when practicable. The food 

 may be given to them several times a day, never 

 less than three times, viz. early morning, noon, 

 and night, and oftener when convenient. Water 

 should be allowed morning and evening, and 

 salt must be at hand, so that they can help 

 themselves at pleasure. 



SOLAR INFLUENCE. See TEMPERA CUKE, 

 LIGHT, and ATMOSPHERE. 



SOOT is very extensively employed in the 

 east of England, as a powerful manure, and pro- 

 duces, when used at the rate of 12 or 20 bushels 

 per acre, most luxuriant crops of wheat and other 

 grain. This valuable fertilizer is composed of 

 a mixture of charcoal, an oil, salts of ammonia, 

 some muriatic acid, lime, magnesia, silica, and 

 other foreign substances ; but the charcoal is by 

 far the largest ingredient, and has a powerful 

 influence on vegetation; and, according to Lie- 

 big, it can "completely replace vegetable mould 

 or humus. Plants thrive in powdered charcoal, 

 and may be brought to blossom and bear fruit if 

 exposed to the influence of rain and the atmo- 

 sphere." (Organ. Chem. p. 61.) All the sub- 

 stances contained in soot are the natural food of 

 vegetables; the carbon gradually combines with 

 the oxygen of the atmosphere, and is converted 

 into carbonic acid gas, which is readily absorbe 

 by the roots arid leaves of plants. 



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