io. 5. Agricultural Society. — Soiling, or House-feeding Cattle. 



163 



Coiiiiuunicateil for the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Agiicultiiral Society of Chester and 

 IJeliiwaic Counties. 



At an adjourned meeting of this Society, 

 leld ir>tli ult., the following officers wore 

 lectcd : 



President — Abraham R. ]\1cIlvain. 



Vice Presidents — I'aschall \\ ortli, Joseph 

 '. McClellan, Marshall Ilicknian, Townsend 

 laines. 



Treasurer — George Brinton, jr. 



liecording^ Secretary — John Rutter. 



Assistant Recording Secretary — William 

 ^. 'J'ownsend. 



Corresponding Secretary — A L. Elwyn. 



Directors — E. T. Rivinus, John Worth, 

 Levis James, Chalkley Harvey, Joseph Jef- 

 eries, Benjamin Hickman, Lewis P. Iloopes, 

 John S. Bowen, Marshall Hickman. 



On motion, it was resolved that the con- 

 jtitution of the Society be so altered as to 

 ?mbrace within its leading objects, in addi- 

 :ion to agriculture, the interests of horticul- 

 ture, domestic manufactures, and the me- 

 :hanic arts. Manufacturers, mechanics, and 

 the lovers of horticulture, are invited to join 

 the Agricultural Society, and contribute their 

 joint efforts to its success, under its new or- 

 ganization, as it is intended that the annual 

 exhibitions shall hereafter be enlivened by 

 contributions and specimens from all these 

 sources, which will be creditable to the in- 

 telligence and industry, and skill of the two 

 counties. The Fairs of the American Insti- 

 tute, in New York, had but a very small be- 

 ginning — smaller than can now be made by 

 Chester county; and if the proper spirit can 

 be brouofht out, there is no reaf-on why, in 

 course of time, our county exhibition should 

 be inferior to it. 



On motion, it was resolved tliat Dr. A. L. 

 Elwyn and Joseph Jet^eries be appointed a 

 committee to pFepare for the next statf^, 

 meeting an essay on guano, stating the re- 

 Eults of experiments which have been made 

 in this county — if any; its action on par- 

 ticular crops, the mode of its application, 

 and its desirableness to the farmers in this 

 section of country, as regards cheapness and 

 efficiency. 



Dr. George Thomas and Richard I. Down- 

 ing were appointed a committee to prepare 

 for the next stated meeting a similar essay 

 on Poiidrette, with a like examination into 

 its character and efficiency as a manure for 

 the general or particular purposes of the 

 farm. 



Paschal] Worth, Dr. Charles W. Pari.=h, 

 Joshua Embree and Paschall Morris, were 

 appointed a committee to prepare for the 

 next stated meeting an essay on Apples and 



Apple Orchards, with an examination info 

 the causes of the decline in quality and 

 quantity of some of the best known varie- 

 ties in this section, the proper remedy Ibr it, 

 and the most apjirovcd modes of maiiinnu"- 

 and planting orchards, and bringing them 

 forward to early productiveness and thrift. 

 George Brinton, jr., Paschall Worth and 

 Paschall Morris, were appointed a C( inmit- 

 tee to write, for the next stated meeting, an 

 essay on the subject of barn-yard manures; 

 the most advantageous mode of managenient 

 in the yard, and application in the ffeld, to- 

 gether with such fi^icts and evidences as can 

 be collected, to throw light on this import- 

 ant subject. 



Soiling, or House-feeding Cattle. 



At a late meeting of the farmers' Club 

 in Scotland, Mr. Harkness read a comnnuii- 

 cation from Mr. Skilling, of Glasnevin, from 

 which we make the following extracts: 



" How does it happen that the Belgians 

 have kept up in the highest condition an in- 

 different soil, without any such extraneous 

 manures as bones or guano, or any other im- 

 portation of the kind? This they have done 

 for hundreds of years, and yet their land is 

 never poor or exhausted, but in the highest 

 state of productiveness. The reason is obvious. 

 There is no witchery in their management; 

 and if the farmers of Scotland would only 

 follow their example they would find them- 

 selves fully recompensed for their pains. If 

 they would deepen their lands, keep more 

 stock, and chiefly house-feed them, saving 

 the manure — liquid and solid — raise an 

 abundance of crop for soiling summer and 

 winter food, they would make more from 

 their cattle and their land. 



"When I first adopted the house-feeding 

 system, my neighbours laughed at me, and 

 ^predicted that my cattle would die; others 

 said the cows would give no milk; but their 

 predictions were not verified. My cows had 

 a good appearance, and when driven to water 

 twice a day, [not enough — cows need drink 

 four times a day, at least] — they were wild 

 and full of spirit; and when others were 

 dry, mine were giving milk. 



" I have estimated correctly, that a cow 

 fed in the house will make twenty-five tons 

 of liquid manure, which will be sufficient 

 for an acre of ground. I can, on an average, 

 keep a cow on every two British acres. The 

 cows also give much more milk. 



"When my present farm was in pastflre, 

 only eighteen cows could be kept in sum- 

 mer. Now, by the soiling system, it feeds 

 from twenty to twenty-two cows, three 

 horses, and twenty to forty pigs, all the year 



